Waltzing Matilda 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
Waltzing Matilda called "Matilda". In 1995, it was reported that at least 500 artists in Australia and overseas had released recordings of "Waltzing Matilda", and according to Peter Burgis of the National Film and Sound Archive, it is "one of the most recorded songs in the world". Among the artists and bands who have covered the song include Rod Stewart, Chubby Checker, Liberace, Harry Belafonte, Bill Haley and the Comets, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Helmut Lotti, Wilf Carter (Montana Slim), the Irish Rovers, and Burl Ives, The Swingle Singers and the Red Army Choir. Jimmie Rodgers had a US#41 pop hit with