[2] The song narrates the story of an itinerant worker, or "swagman", boiling a billy at a bush camp and capturing a stray jumbuck (sheep) to eat.

[7][8] Extensive folklore surrounds the song and the process of its creation, to the extent that it has its own museum, the Waltzing Matilda Centre in Winton, in the Queensland outback, where Paterson wrote the lyrics.

[9] In 2012, to remind Australians of the song's significance, Winton organised the inaugural Waltzing Matilda Day to be held on 6 April,[10][11] wrongly thought at the time to be the anniversary of its first performance.

He made a journey of at least 5 days to visit Sarah Riley, his fiancée of 7 years, in Winton, central-western Queensland and to see how people lived on the enormous, remote sheep stations in the district.

[15] On arriving in Winton, Banjo attended a gathering where Christina Macpherson, Sarah's friend from school days in St Kilda, Melbourne, played some music to entertain those present.

"[38] Christina managed to get hold of some 12-stave manuscript paper and wrote a first draft, writing down the notes of her song on the stave, as little open circles, at the pitch, and in the order that she remembered them.

Despite this, it is possible to infer, with considerable accuracy, the melody of the tune that Christina recalled when she eventually drafted the manuscript and it established the Scottish origin of the song.

[39][40] In 2001, Australian folk singer, Dave de Hugard, made a recording of the original "Waltzing Matilda" based on his interpretation of the Macpherson/Paterson manuscript.

In the early 1930s, English musician Dr Thomas Wood worked his way around Australia as a music examiner and searched for Australian folk songs.

In 1931, the Argus newspaper reported him saying that 'Waltzing Matilda' was written on a moment's inspiration by Banjo Paterson, his sister composing the music equally spontaneously.

[46] About the same time, for a talk on ABC radio, Paterson wrote that in 1894 the shearers staged a strike by way of expressing themselves, and Macpherson's shearing shed was burnt down, and a man was picked up dead.

In fact, Christina, Jean and Ewen Macpherson left Melbourne on the SS Wodonga on 1 June 1895 and the song was not written until probably late August.

[51] Fitzgerald stated, "the two things aren't mutually exclusive"[51]—a view shared by others, who, while not denying the significance of Paterson's relationship with Macpherson, nonetheless recognise the underlying story of the shearers' strike and Hoffmeister's death in the lyrics of the song.

[52] According to writer, Mathew Richardson, the 'swagman', at his most corporeal, is Frenchy Hoffmeister, who actually committed suicide by a billabong......In a more general way, the swagman represents the 'free citizen, the itinerant with no vote, no award, no arbitration, standing for the union'.

In 2008, Australian writers and historians Peter and Sheila Forrest claimed that the widespread belief that Paterson had penned the ballad as a socialist anthem, inspired by the Great Shearers' Strike, was false and a "misappropriation" by political groups.

[54] The Forrests asserted that Paterson had in fact written the self-described "ditty" as part of his flirtation with Christina Macpherson, despite his engagement to Sarah Riley.

"[56] Graham Seal, Professor of Folklore at Curtain University, WA, wrote that "Waltzing Matilda" is – "let's be honest – a pretty silly ditty about a swaggie knocking off a sheep and throwing himself in the billabong when the squatter and the cops turn up.

Author Matthew Richardson writes that a "direct creative link is indisputable" between the two and that Banjo Paterson would have been familiar with "The Bold Fusilier" and was likely guided by the pattern and sound.

[70] English folklore authority Ralph Vaughan Williams considered that the earlier existence of the song was very doubtful because its language was not appropriate to the early eighteenth century.

Hearsay evidence exists that "Waltzing Matilda" was sung by Australian soldiers in South Africa during the Boer War and that the British troops returned friendly fire by singing "The Gay/Bold Fusilier" as a parody.

In his 1987 book, Richard Magoffin speculated that the music of "Waltzing Matilda" may have been sourced from an Irish Jig, "Go to the Devil and Shake Yourself", which was probably composed by Irishman, John Field, and which began to appear in print about 1797.

[79] Inglis asked Marie Cowan, who was married to his accountant, to 'rejig' the song for use as an advertising jingle for the Billy Tea company, making it nationally famous.

[80] Within two months of Paterson selling the copyright, musicians could buy a copy of Marie Cowan's altered lyrics set to a new arrangement of Christina's music for 9 pence.

[92] Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong Under the shade of a coolibah tree, And he sang as he watched and waited till his "Billy" boiled,[80] "You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."

These include: "Weiter zogen wir durch die Schweiz, um uns in der Genfer Gegend neue Arbeit zu suchen.

[97] A transcript of the original words reads Oh there once was a swagman camped in the billabong Under the shade of a Coolibah tree And he sang as he looked at the old billy boiling Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me

Down came a jumbuck to drink at the water hole Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him in glee And he sang as he put him away in the tucker bag You'll come a waltzing Matilda with me

[109] "Waltzing Matilda" was used at the 1974 FIFA World Cup and, as a response to the New Zealand All Blacks haka, it has gained popularity as a sporting anthem for the Australia national rugby union team.

[112][113] It is used as the quick march of the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment and as the official song of the US 1st Marine Division, commemorating the time the unit spent in Australia during the Second World War.

The performers were Jason Barry-Smith as Banjo Paterson, Guy Booth as Dawson, David Kidd as Smith, Emily Burke as Melba, Zoe Traylor as Moncrieff, and Donna Balson (piano, voice).