I’ve been humming ‘waltzing matilda’ all day today. I have been humming it all week, in fact. I have some very happy memories of that song.

It seems to be a symbol of everything Australian. Australians themselves seem to love it, and sing it regularly. While there, I had the good misfortune to go to watch two cricket matches; while we need not go over the result (I now regard English cricket as truly dead, and Rupert Murdoch the killer), I had great fun watching thee barmy army try to outsing the boony army, and vice versa. Surprisingly, we brits were more vocal than the ausies, singing our themes. However, after a rendition of ‘Jerusalem’, the Australian supporters decided to counter strike with ‘waltzing matilda’. The funny thing is, we joined in! this embodies the relationship between the two nations: the rivalry is a friendly one indeed.

But the most magical occasion when it was sung was on a bus. We were driving back from watching the sun go down at Uluru. If you ever have an opportunity to do this, you must. It is the most magical, beautiful thing ever, sipping wine while watching the awesome red rock glow. Our tour guide, Peter, one of the nicest, most knowledgeable people I’ll ever meet, had just finished talking, and the bus slowly made it’s way through the darkness. Slowly, quietly, someone started singing: ‘once there was a swag man…’ and others joined in. peter happened to have a tape of the song, so he put it in the PA system. That was quite a wonderful end to a wonderful day, and although the details may or may not be wrong, I remember it as being one of the happiest moments of my life. 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 boil,

You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.