'The Jolly Swagman' - Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia
S 35° 06.558 E 147° 22.204
55H E 533724 N 6114773
This is a representation of the 'Swagman' of the oft repeated poem "Waltzing Matilda", written by Banjo Paterson in January 1895.
Waymark Code: WMZPAV
Location: New South Wales, Australia
Date Posted: 12/13/2018
Views: 3
This sculpture, in Victory Memorial Garden is very close to the Eternal Flame, and other War Memorial tablets - from the Boer War, to the most recent.
A bronze plaque in front of the sculpture reads:
"THE JOLLY SWAGMAN"
This Sculpture was Unveiled by
Alderman B.N. Hedditch
Mayor of Wagga Wagga
on
24th August, 1978.
Aurel Ragus W.R. Ellis
Sculptor Town Clerk
While not much is known (researchable online) about Aurel Ragus, apart from possibly being born in Europe in 1923 (making him 95, if still alive), there is much on the poem and song of "Waltzing Matilda", that 'The Jolly Swagman' is based one.
Wikipedia gives the "Waltzing Matilda" as '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 (sheep) 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." [ex- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waltzing_Matilda ]
Visited: 1521, Friday, 1 June, 2018