Musical Dispatch From the Front – Waltzing Matilda – February 2026
Frank Baarda
Oid Mortales el grito Sagrado
¡Libertad! ¡Libertad! ¡Libertad!
Oid el ruido de rotas cadenas
Ved en trono a la noble Igualdad
(Hear ye mortals the sacred cry
Liberty! Liberty! Liberty!
See on her throne noble Equality)
Those are some of the words of Argentina’s national anthem, I grew up with.
Later in life, for me, those words lost some of their shine when I became aware that General José de San Martín, hadn’t crossed the Andes to liberate Argentina from the Spaniards for the people, but merely to transfer control of the country to the home grown terratenientes (land owners) and oligarcas. So too, when I realized that my enchanted childhood was a consequence of my father being employed by a Dutch bank that took part in the transfer of wartime profits. This flight of capital being responsible for keeping generations of Argentines in poverty. Say nothing of the so-called ‘dirty war’ when an estimated thirty thousand human beings were extinguished. All of this sorry history to be culminated by the bizarre spectacle of Argentina’s President gifting a gold plated chainsaw to Elon Musk.
Nonetheless El Himno Nacional is a beautiful and inspiring piece of music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh9DwsDvgmM
♫ ♫ ♫ "Himno nacional argentino" (con letra)
I’m still able to sing the Argentine national anthem. The Dutch national anthem, on the other hand, only had minimal impact on me. My father, the proud owner of a long play record of Oid mortales, was very dismissive of Het Wilhelmus
Wilhelmus (Latinized William) van Nassau (the house of Orange-Nassau) ben ik van Duitse bloed (am I of German blood)
And, De Koning van Spanje heb ik altijd geëerd (The King of Spain I have always esteemed)
Dad didn’t see doffing the cap to former enemies as a source of inspiration or pride.
Seventy years ago (on the 11th February 1956) the Baarda family disembarked in Melbourne. We embraced a new national anthem. Prior to watching a movie God save the Queen was played. The audience stood up in the theatre and some of us sang along. It was an easy to learn sort of okay song.
Increasing nationalistic fervour gradually made it politically advantageous for the Australian government to hold a National Song plebiscite.
Fewer than 3000 Territorians voted in the 1977 National Song plebiscite. We voted for Waltzing Matilda.
That Girt by Sea romped it in told my smug superior egocentric self that it proved Australia’s communal musical nouse left a bit to be desired.
I like to think Waltzing Matilda better expresses Australia’s Zeitgeist. The idea of a sheep thief not surrendering to the troopers, one, two, three, and preferring to jump in the billabong, rather appeals to my Australianness.
It is reminiscent of that anthem of the US Civil Rights movement
And before I'd be a slave
I'd be buried in my grave
And go home to my Lord and be free
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veiJLhXdwn8&list=RDveiJLhXdwn8&start_radio=1
♫ ♫ ♫ Oh Freedom! - The Golden Gospel Singers (Lyrics in Description)
Our younger son has a theory regarding Banjo Patterson’s song. He reckons the Jolly Swagman is actually a blackfellow who is shot by the troopers one two three who then come up with a bullshit story (the Jolly Swagman jumping into the billabong) to cover their crime. Euphemisms were nothing new in the Australian colonial frontier.
The more I think about it, the more I think our son could be right.
As for girt by sea, the feedback from Dispatchees attests to the fact that most Australians don’t know the words. My own observation of the rendering of the anthem is as follows:
♫ ♫ ♫ mumble, mumble, mumble. Mumble, mumble. mumble. Mumble, mumble, mumble. Mumble, mumble (Wait for it …) ADVANCE AUSTRALIA FAIR !!!
One of the Dispatchees expressed concern for Education Minister Jo Hersey who had announced the policy of mandatory singing of the Australian National Anthem, in English, at NT schools. Is she ok? She wanted to know.
♫ ♫ ♫ Oh juremos con gloria morir ...
Frank
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E9Nu8JinM0
♫ ♫ ♫ Joan Baez - And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda