Case file · Folklore / legend
Waltzing Matilda's ghost
Banjo Paterson wrote Waltzing Matilda in 1895 at Dagworth Station, Queensland, after visiting the Combo Waterhole. In the song a swagman drowns himself rather than be arrested, and his ghost haunts the billabong.
1895 CE · -21.70, 142.45 · status: legend
The account
The song may echo the 1894 shearers' strike and the death of unionist Samuel Hoffmeister near Dagworth. Australia's unofficial anthem is, in effect, a ghost story.