A couple of days ago I was searching on YouTube and came arcross a song called "And the band played Waltzing Matilda"

I've since learned that it's a song by Eric Bogle who wrote it in 1972.
In it, he describes the futility, gruesome reality and the destruction of war.

The song's about a young Australian man who loved to take his backpack and roam the Australian outback. Then his country called him to war and - like so many other young men - he was sent to Gallipoli.


The lyrics:


Now when I was a young man I carried the pack
And I lived the free life of the rover
From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over

Then in nineteen fifteen my country said Son
It's time to stop rambling, there's work to be done
And they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As the ship pulled away from the quay
And amidst all the cheers , flag waving and tears
We sailed off for Gallipoli

How well I remember that terrible day
When our blood stained the sands and the water
And off how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter

Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well
Rained us with bullets and he showered us with shells
And in five minutes flat we were all blown to hell
Nearly blew us back home to Australia


And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we stopped to bury our slain
We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
And it started all over again

Those who were living just tried to survive
In that mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
Though around me the corpses piled higher

Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head
And when I awoke in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done, then I wished I were dead
Never knew there were worse things than dying

For no more I'll go waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and near
For to hump tent and pegs,
a man needs both legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me

They collected the wounded, the crippled, the maimed
And they send us all back to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane
Those prowd wounded heroes of Suvla

And when the ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where my legs used to be
And thank Christ there was no one there waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity



And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As they carried us down the gangway
Nobody cheered, they just stood there and stared
Then they turned all their faces away

And so now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
I see my old comrades, how proudly they march
Renewing their dreams of past glory

I see the old men, all tired, stiff and sore
Prowd old heroes of a forgotten war
And the young people ask,
"What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question

And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men still answer the call
But year after year their numbers get fewer
Some day no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by that Billabong
Who'll come-a-waltzing Matilda with me?


One of the verses describes an amphibious landing by Australian troops at Suvla Bay.
That landing was carried out by the British soldiers and was only lightly opposed.
In actual fact, most of the Australian/New Zealand activity at Gallipoli took place around what is now called ANZAC Cove and - like the other Allied troops - they died by the thousands.

I made this picture to commemorate all those who were send of to fight in a war they didn't ask for and still went and did their duty...

"At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them"