A billy is a small metal can used for boiling water over an open fire. It's short for billycan. It almost always means to 'make tea' but if you are sitting around an open fire (camping for example) and someone says “I'll boil the billy” this can just mean “boil some water” for coffee, tea or washing up water.
The true story behind Waltzing Matilda involves a complicated love triangle, and the rumoured murder of a striking shearer. It all took place in a time when Australia was close to a civil war in the outback. These conversations were recorded in the Waltzing Matilda Centre in Winton.
So, what did the man boil in his billy? Billabong water, of course! And, naturally, he threw in some tea leaves from his “tucker bag” (the bag that held his food stuffs) and let them boil and simmer in the water.
The title was Australian slang for travelling on foot (waltzing) with one's belongings in a "matilda" (swag) slung over one's back. The song narrates the story of an itinerant worker, or "swagman", making a drink of billy tea at a bush camp and capturing a stray jumbuck (sheep) to eat.
"Waltzing Matilda" tells the story of a swagman in the outback. A swagman is a man that drifts or waltzes from one job to another carrying a blanket roll known as Matilda. It is believed that the slang term Matilda had "Teutonic origins and means Mighty Battle Maiden.
Chuck a wobbly is first recorded in 1986. In 1992 it appears in the record of a parliamentary debate in the Australian Senate, when one senator chastises another: 'Stop chucking a wobbly, Senator Ray. Behave yourself. You will have a heart attack.
jumbuck. Jumbuck is an Australian word for a 'sheep'. It is best known from Banjo Paterson's use of it in Waltzing Matilda.
It was a mutual love affair for the guys who left their homes in the U.S. to fight with and for the Aussies. On George Washington's birthday, Feb. 22, 1943, the Marines marched a parade through Melbourne. During this parade, the 1st Marine Division Band decided to play the Australian folk favorite, Waltzing Matilda.
The figure of the "jolly swagman", represented most famously in Banjo Paterson's bush poem "Waltzing Matilda", became a folk hero in 19th-century Australia, and is still seen today as a symbol of anti-authoritarian values that Australians considered to be part of the national character.
Waltzing Matilda has been labelled Australia's 'unofficial' national anthem. The song (originally a poem) was written by Australian poet, Banjo Paterson in the late 19th Century while he was staying at Dagworth Station, a cattle station near Winton in Central West Queensland.
The billy is an Australian term for a metal container used for boiling water, making tea or cooking over a fire. By the end of the 19th century the billy had become as natural, widespread and symbolic of bush life as the gum tree, the kangaroo and the wattle.
The term likely came from the slang for crowbar. A “billy club” is what burglars called their prying tool of choice. It could have also been a play on the term “bully club,” which has a slightly more involved etymology across the pond.
The term 'Waltzing' is slang for travelling on foot, and often you will be travelling with your belongings in a 'Matilda'.
Billabong is a term that derives from the language of the Wiradjuri people in south western New South Wales, and describes a pond or pool of water that is left behind when a river alters course or after floodwaters recede3.
Combo Waterhole is a waterhole (billabong) on the Diamantina River at Kynuna, Queensland, Australia. The song "Waltzing Matilda" is probably based on a real incident that happened there in the 1890s.
There are versions in the popular styles of the 30s and 40s, jazz improvisations, classical and choral arrangements as well as those in the style of rock 'n' roll, broadway musicals, dance crazes such as the Twist, 80s big hair and lycra power ballads and some so truly strange that they defy categorisation.
chiefly Australia. : drifter. especially : one who carries a swag when traveling.
a tramp, hobo, or vagabond.
10. $12.50. Description: Prime Juicy lamb cooked in a sensational mint & rosemary sauce.
As strange as it may sound, the real reason could be that “Waltzing Matilda” is still under copyright in some countries. And the winner is … not the writer, A.B. (Banjo) Paterson, who sold the rights to “Waltzing Matilda”, some time in or before 1903.
attle-weary and in poor health following the Guadalcanal campaign, an important turning point in the Allied fight against the Japanese, the men of the First Marine Division, United States Marine Corps were shipped to Melbourne for nine months recuperation in January 1943.
The "Matilda" animal was actually an Australian male kangaroo character despite having the female name of "Matilda".
fanging. hungry, craving: I'm fanging for a steak. Contributor's comments: I've also heard the term "I'm hanging for a fanging" to mean hungry - or more correctly "hangin' for a fangin'". Good on the fang means having a good appetite.
Nippers are young surf lifesavers, usually aged between 5 and 14 years old, in clubs across Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Unlike senior surf lifesavers, the majority of them do not patrol the beaches. The focus for Nippers tends to be on fun, and surf awareness.
crazy: you're womba. Contributor's comments: This is a term I have heard throughout Queensland, particularly, South East, and all up the coast, as well as Darling Downs and Western Queensland. It is mainly used by young Aboriginal people.