And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda the younger generation becomes apathetic to the veterans and their cause. At its conclusion, the song incorporates the melody and a few lines of lyrics of the 1895 song "Waltzing Matilda" by Australian poet Banjo Paterson. Many cover versions of the song have been performed and recorded, as well as many versions in foreign languages. The song is an account of the memories of an old Australian man who, as a youngster had travelled across rural Australia with a swag (the so-called Matilda of the title) and tent. In 1915 he had joined the Australian armed forces and been sent
Australian folk music verses often railed against government tyranny. Classic bush songs on such themes include: The Wild Colonial Boy, Click Go The Shears, The Eumeralla Shore, The Drover's Dream, The Queensland Drover, The Dying Stockman and Moreton Bay. Later themes which endure to the present include the experiences of war, of droughts and flooding rains, of Aboriginality and of the railways and trucking routes which link Australia's vast distances. Isolation and loneliness of life in the Australian bush has been another theme. Waltzing Matilda, often regarded as Australia's unofficial national anthem, is a quintessential Australian folk song, influenced by Celtic folk ballads.