Australian country music link Australia's vast distances. Isolation and loneliness of life in the Australian bush has been another theme. For much of its history, Australia's bush music belonged to an oral and folkloric tradition, and was only later published in print in volumes such as Banjo Paterson's "Old Bush Songs", in the 1890s. Waltzing Matilda, often regarded as Australia's unofficial National anthem, is a quintessential early Australian country song, influenced more by Celtic folk ballads than by American Country and Western music. The lyrics were composed by the poet Banjo Paterson in 1895. This strain of Australian country music, with lyrics focusing
Tucker bag leather or oilskin. The term tucker bag appears in a number of traditional Australian songs and poems, including the lyrics in "Waltzing Matilda" "Whose is that jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?", reflecting the tucker bag's place in Australian culture and history. The title of the song itself derives from the way a tucker bag swayed to-and-fro on a swagman's back as he walked along, who was said to be out "waltzing Matilda", i.e., the tucker bag. In more modern times, tucker bags have become associated with reusable grocery bags used when shopping or traveling. Modern bags are typically