Re: Matilda

[Joan McKay <Joan.McKay@cs.anu.edu.au>]

A matilda is a colloquialism for a swag, which is the bundle or roll
of a person's belongings carried across a swagman's shoulders.  A
swagman is a man who travels about the country on foot, earning
money or food from occasional work.  So, Waltzing Matilda means to
wander about as a swagman with a swag. It is derived from 2 German
words: walzen (to move in a circular fashion, as of apprentices
travelling from master to master) and Mathilde (female travelling
companion, bed-roll, from the girl's name;? taken to the goldfields
by German speakers from South Australia).  (Information is from
the Macquarie dictionary.)
By the way, who is Aunt Matilda?

From Joan McKay (Canberra)