James Barr (composer) James Barr (composer) James Barr (1779–1860) was a Scottish composer who composed the tune which inspired the tune now used for the Australian traditional song "Waltzing Matilda." Born in Tarbolton in South Ayrshire, Barr taught music and worked for a publisher in Glasgow. Barr set several poems by his friend Robert Tannahill to music. According to Christina Macpherson, "Waltzing Matilda" was created in the sitting room of Dagworth Station in January 1895 with the help of a young solicitor and poet, "Banjo" Paterson. Tannahill wrote the words in 1805 and in 1818 Barr set them to music, possibly based on
Banjo Paterson Dying" and "Last Week". These were also published by Angus & Robertson between the years 1895 to 1899. In 1905, the same publishers released "Old Bush Songs", a collection of bush ballads Paterson had been assembling since 1895. Although for most of his adult life, Paterson lived and worked in Sydney, his poems mostly presented a highly romantic view of the bush and the iconic figure of the bushman. Influenced by the work of another Australian poet John Farrell, his representation of the bushman as a tough, independent and heroic underdog became the ideal qualities underpinning the national character. His