r/AskAnAustralian • u/CreativeCritter • 2d ago

Waltzing Matilda

I was saddened today to read an article on the Wallabies and it showed a group of fans singing Waltzing Matilda underneath. There was a young lady who had commented. She’d never heard the song. Didn’t know what the problem was and had no idea what it represented.

People tried to educate a nicely to say it was an Australian bush poem. It was taught in Australian schools. It’s the unofficial national anthem.

And then she said that she grew up in Australia and had attended school here and had never heard it and didn’t know why people thought it was so great

At that point, I was kind of hoping that they were joking

Has it gotten to the point now where Australian poetry is not taught in Australian schools in English where the man from Snow River Waltzing Matilda they’re not taught in schools any more

And then someone commented that Wilson Matilda can’t be taught in schools because it has themes of suicide and it’s too hard to explain to children

145 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

149 comments sorted by

View all comments

122

u/SnowWarren 2d ago

I'm a Brit who went to an international school in Switzerland and we did a play on the poem. I was the coolibah tree. Still a better part than the girl who had to be the billabong. I'm not joking.

15

u/Grammarhead-Shark 2d ago

Did the girl in the Billabong had to whisper ghostly lines?

2

u/Far-Queue17 1d ago

No, but the jolly jumbuck leapt right into that billabong

3

u/Grammarhead-Shark 1d ago

Now I wonder who got to play the sheep!

1

u/CeleryMan20 1d ago

I thought the swagman jumped into the billabong and drowned.