WALTZING MATILDA CENTRE

The centre takes an interactive approach and uses sound and light to recreate the atmosphere and explain the significance of the Banjo Paterson song. The centre also includes the Qantilda Museum dedicated to Qantas, a gallery and a café.

Inspired by a true story, the song, written in 1895, tells the story of aswagman during the Depression of the 1890s, which threw thousands of farm workers onto the roads. The swagmen called their wandering on foot through the Outback "waltzing the matilda". All their possessions were in a blanket called a swag or matilda, tied into a bundle. They would travel from place to place, waltzing their matilda across the country in search of seasonal work. The song was first sung publicly at the North Gregory Hotel in Winton, where a statue is erected in honour of its author Banjo Paterson. Australians are very fond of these big-hearted folk heroes, a little rough around the edges but clever and always opposed to authority.

" Waltzing Matilda. Oh! There once was a swagman camped in a billabong under the shade of a coolibah tree. And he sang as he looked at his old billy boiling. Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me? " Banjo Paterson, 1895.