Australia Day January the 26TH and an old Australian Bushman singing Waltzing Matilda
What better way to celebrate AUSTRALIA DAY, JANUARY THE 26TH than by listening to an old Australian Bushman singing Waltzing Matilda.....
Following the loss of the American Colonies, American War of Independence 1775-1783, Britain needed to find alternative land for a new British colony. Australia was chosen for settlement, and colonisation began in 1788. Rather than resorting to the use of slavery to build the infrastructure for the new colony, convict labour was as a cheap and economically viable alternative. It is commonly reported that the colonisation of Australia was driven by the need to address overcrowding in the British prison system however it is simply not economically viable to transport prisoners half way around the world for this reason alone. Many convicts were either skilled tradesmen or farmers who had been convicted for trivial crimes and were sentenced to 7 years the time required to set up the infrastructure for the new colony. Convicts were often given pardons prior to or on completion of their sentences and were allocated parcels of land to farm. Sir Joseph Banks, the eminent scientist who had accompanied Lieutenant James Cook on his 1770 voyage, recommended Botany Bay as a suitable site. In 1787, the First Fleet of 11 ships and about 1530 people (736 convicts, 17 convicts' children, 211 marines, 27 marines' wives, 14 marines' children and about 300 officers and others) under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip set sail for Botany Bay. The Fleet arrived between 18 and 20 January 1788, but Botany Bay was found to be unsuitable and on 26 January—a date now celebrated as Australia Day—one of the ships in the fleet, the Supply, made a landing at the nearby Sydney Cove. Phillip named the settlement after the Home Secretary, Thomas Townshend, 1st Baron Sydney (Viscount Sydney from 1789). The only people at the flag raising ceremony and the formal taking of possession of the land in the name of King George III were Phillip and a few dozen marines and officers from the Supply, the rest of the ship's company and the convicts witnessing it from on board ship. The remaining ships of the Fleet were unable to leave Botany Bay until later on 26 January because of a tremendous gale. The new colony was formally proclaimed as the Colony of New South Wales on 7 February.
Lyrics to Waltzing Matilda
Once a jolly swagman camped by a Billabong
Under the shade of a Coolabah tree
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
Down come a jumbuck to drink at the water hole
Up jumped a swagman and grabbed him in glee
And he sang as he stowed him away in his tucker bag
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me'.
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
Up rode the Squatter a riding his thoroughbred
Up rode the Trooper - one, two, three
Where's that jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?,
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
But the swagman he up and jumped in the water hole
Drowning himself by the Coolabah tree,
And his ghost may be heard as it sings in the Billabong,
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?