Banjo Paterson has long been considered the creator of the lyrics of ‘Waltzing Matilda’. Some commentators believed he adapted the words from an existing bush ballad, but he is now mostly thought to have written its original song lyrics in 1895 whilst staying with the Macpherson family on the property, Dagworth Station, approximately 100 kilometres north-west of the town of Winton in Queensland.

The origins of the tune are more complex. The discovery around 1970 of an original musical manuscript (today held in the National Library of Australia as MS9065), together with an undated letter by Christina Macpherson to Thomas Wood recalling the events surrounding the creation of the song, has finally led to Christina being accredited as the first ‘creator’ of the music. Yet as Christina openly acknowledged, she simply adapted the tune from an existing folk song.

http://www.nla.gov.au/epubs/waltzingmatilda/1-Orig-Creation.html

 

 

early Diana deco jug