Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders “who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations” and “the contribution and suffering of all those who have served”. Observed on 25 April each year, Anzac Day was originally devised to honour the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who served in the Gallipoli Campaign, their first engagement in the Great War (1914–1918)

With the coming of the Second World War, Anzac Day became a day on which to commemorate the lives of Australians and New Zealanders lost in that war as well and in subsequent wars. The meaning of the day has been further broadened to include those killed in all the military operations in which the countries have been involved. Anzac Day was first commemorated at the Australian War Memorial in 1942, but, due to government orders preventing large public gatherings in case of Japanese air attack, it was a small affair and was neither a march nor a memorial service. Anzac Day has been annually commemorated at the Australian War Memorial ever since. In New Zealand, Anzac Day saw a surge in popularity immediately after World War II. – via Wikipedia

This video, Australian soldiers during WW2 singing ‘Waltzing Matilda’ while marching, is moving, and affected me. It reminded me of the huge contributions these countries and their people made towards sustaining freedom.

I thought I’d share it with all WUWT readers.
Thank you to all who have served, past and present.

Lyrics:

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 boiled
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me.

Chorus:
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me,
And he sang as he watched and waited ’til his billy boiled,
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me.

Down came a jumbuck to drink at that billabong,
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee,
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tuckerbag
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me.

Chorus:
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me,
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tuckerbag,
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me.

Up rode the squatter mounted on his thoroughbred,
Down came the troopers – one, two, three,
Whose that jolly jumbuck you’ve got in your tuckerbag?
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me.

Chorus:
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me,
Whose that jolly jumbuck you’ve got in your tuckerbag?
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me.

Up jumped the swagman, and sprang into the billabong,
You’ll never catch me alive said he,
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me.

Chorus:
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me,
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong,
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me.

For us Yanks, some information about the song:

“Waltzing Matilda” is Australia’s best-known bush ballad, and has been described as the country’s “unofficial national anthem”.

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 (ram) to eat. When the jumbuck’s owner, a squatter (landowner), and three mounted policemen pursue the swagman for theft, he declares “You’ll never catch me alive!” and commits suicide by drowning himself in a nearby billabong (watering hole), after which his ghost haunts the site.

The original lyrics were written in 1895 by Australian poet Banjo Paterson, and were first published as sheet music in 1903. Extensive folklore surrounds the song and the process of its creation, to the extent that it has its own museum, the Waltzing Matilda Centre in Winton, in the Queensland outback, where Paterson wrote the lyrics. In 2012, to remind Australians of the song’s significance, Winton organised the inaugural Waltzing Matilda Day to be held on 6 April, the anniversary of its first performance.

The song was first recorded in 1926 as performed by John Collinson and Russell Callow. In 2008, this recording of “Waltzing Matilda” was added to the Sounds of Australia registry in the National Film and Sound Archive which says that there are more recordings of “Waltzing Matilda” than any other Australian song.