Part 15 (1/2)

Sundowner: (Historical) A swagman who arrives at a place too late for work, but looking for food and/or shelter.

Swag: A bundle or roll of bedding and other personal items.

Swagman: A man who travels from place to place looking for work, e.g.

carrying a swag.

Tucker: Food.

Wallaby: One of a number of marsupial species of the genus Wall.a.b.i.a, etc., related to the kangaroo, but smaller; (colloquial) ”on the wallaby (track)”, on the move, on the road.

Waltz Matilda: To wander with a swag. ”Waltz”, to travel in circles.

Warrigal: Originally the dingo, or native dog of Australia; by a.s.sociation, anything wild; brumbies (wild horses).

Water-bag/waterbag: A bag for carrying water, usually canvas.

Wattle: Any of a number of shrubs or trees of the genus Acacia, having off-white or yellow flowers. So named because the branches were used to weave wattle, a type of construction made of interwoven branches and the like.

Wombat: Any of several species of burrowing marsupials, family Vombatidae, which vaguely resemble small bears; (colloquial) an ignorant person.

Yarran: A small tree, Acacia homalophylla, also the b.a.s.t.a.r.d myall, A.

glaucescens.

Notes on the text:

”An Answer to Various Bards” appeared 10 Oct. 1892 as one of a series of poems in the Sydney 'Bulletin', debating what life in the bush was like, or, the city versus the bush (according to the interpretation), primarily between A. B. Paterson and Henry Lawson [1867-1922], who may have staged the debate as a way of selling more poems.

Other writers joined the debate, including Edward Dyson [1865-1931], who, despite Paterson's remark in this poem, also favoured the bush in at least one poem. Another noted partic.i.p.ant was Will Ogilvie [1869-1963] who was in Australia during the 1890's (born in Scotland, returned in 1901, and was in Iowa, U.S.A, from 1905 to 1907).

Other verses from the debate maybe found in ”The Man from Snowy River”

by Paterson and ”In the Days When the World was Wide” by Henry Lawson.

The second stanza was mistakenly broken into two equal parts in the original edition.

”'Shouting' for a Camel”: A number of camels were brought to Australia, with their Afghan handlers, in order to have suitable beasts of burden in the desert regions. There are still wild camels there today. (A similar scheme was tried in America during the 1800's, but no camels remain.)