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A. B. 'Banjo' Paterson (1864–1941) wrote a poem called Hay and Hell and Booligal [16] about the district. (concluding lines)Booligal is a village in the Riverina area of western New South Wales (NSW), Australia. It is located on the Cobb Highway, on the Lachlan River north of Hay. Booligal is a part of the Hay Shire Council local government area.
population 42
The name of the village is an Aboriginal word meaning either (1) 'windy place', or (2) 'large swamp', 'place of flooded box trees'.[4]
"Just now there is a howling drought
That pretty near has starved us out—
It never seems to rain at all;
But, if there should come any rain,
You couldn’t cross the black-soil plain—
You’d have to stop in Booligal.”
.....
“We’d have to stop!” With bated breath
We prayed that both in life and death
Our fate in other lines might fall:
“Oh, send us to our just reward
In Hay or Hell, but, gracious Lord,
Deliver us from Booligal!"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waltzing_Matilda Reasons for the strong empathy Australians feel for this song include its appeal to a rural ideal, its featuring of an underdog or anti-hero, its allusions to Australia's origins as a British penal colony, and its status as unofficial. The song also has links to a historic shearers' strike which was crucial to the labour movement in Australia, and uses of many obsolete words and phrases that give native Australian English speakers an insider's knowledge about the song's meaning
"Waltzing Matilda" is probably based on the following story:
In Queensland in 1891 the Great Shearers' Strike brought the colony close to civil war and was broken only after the Premier Samuel Griffith called in the military.
In September 1894, on a station called Dagworth (north of Winton), some shearers were again on strike. It turned violent with the strikers firing their rifles and pistols in the air and setting fire to the woolshed at the Dagworth Homestead, killing dozens of sheep.
The owner of Dagworth Homestead and three policemen gave chase to a man named Samuel Hoffmeister - also called Samuel "French(y)" Hoffmeister. Rather than be captured, Hoffmeister shot and killed himself at the Combo Waterhole.
Bob Macpherson (the brother of Christina) and Paterson are said to have taken rides together at Dagworth. Here they may have passed the Combo Waterhole, where Bob may have told this story to Paterson.
The song itself was first performed on 6 April 1895 at the North Gregory Hotel in Winton, Queensland. The occasion was a banquet for the Premier of Queensland. It became an instant success.
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