Waltzing Matilda: the secret history of Australia's favourite song

Description

An expose of two cover-ups: one the death of a swagman by a billabong; the other, a torrid affair between Banjo Paterson and his fiancee's best friend, and how the two events come together in Australia's best-loved national song.Australians know Waltzing Matilda, written by our most popular poet Banjo Paterson, as our most loved song and unofficial national anthem. What Australians don't know is that their song is embroiled in a web of secrecy, violence and a triangular love affair. Written at a pivotal time in Australia's history, Waltzing Matilda is as important to Australian culture as events like the Eureka Stockade and the story of Ned Kelly.In the middle of remote Queensland, shearing sheds were being burnt to the ground by striking union shearers, amid violent gun battles and sheep being burnt to death. A swagman mysteriously died beside a remote billabong, possibly shot by the squatter or one of the three policemen. Then a secret deal was done by...