Swagman
A swagman (also called a swaggie, sundowner or tussocker) was a transient labourer who travelled by foot from farm to farm carrying his belongings in a swag. The term originated in Australia in the 19th century and was later used in New Zealand.
Swagmen were particularly common in Australia during times of economic uncertainty, such as the 1890s and the Great Depression of the 1930s. Many unemployed men travelled the rural areas of Australia on foot, their few meagre possessions rolled up and carried in their swag. Their swag was frequently referred to as "Matilda", hence Waltzing Matilda refers to walking with their swag. Typically, they would seek work in farms and towns they travelled through, and in many cases the farmers, if no permanent work was available, would provide food and shelter in return for some menial task.
The figure of the "jolly swagman", represented most famously in
Etymology
In the early 1800s, the term swag was used by British thieves to describe any amount of stolen goods. One definition given in
History
Before motor transport became common, the Australian wool industry was heavily dependent on itinerant shearers who carried their swags from farm to farm (called properties or "stations" in Australia), but would not in general have taken kindly to being called "swagmen". Outside of the shearing season their existence was frugal, and this possibly explains the tradition (of past years) of sheep stations in particular providing enough food to last until the next station even when no work was available. Some were especially noted for their hospitality, such as Canowie Station in South Australia which around 1903 provided over 2,000 sundowners each year with their customary two meals and a bed.[6]
A romanticised figure, the swagman is famously referred to in the song "
The economic depressions of the 1860s and 1890s saw an increase in these itinerant workers. During these periods it was seen as 'mobilising the workforce'. At one point it was rumoured that a "Matilda Waltzers' Union" had been formed to give representation to swagmen at the Federation of Australia in 1901.
During the early years of the 1900s, the introduction of the pension and the dole reduced the numbers of swagmen to those who preferred the free lifestyle. During
The numbers of swagmen have declined over the 20th century, but still rising in times of economic depression. Swagmen remain a romantic icon of Australian history and folklore.
Swags are still heavily used, particularly in Australia, by overlanders and campers. There are still a large number of manufacturers actively making both standard and custom-design swags.
Lifestyle
Swagmen were often victims of circumstance who had found themselves homeless. Others were rovers by choice, or else they were on the run from police (
At times they would have been seen in and around urban areas looking for work or a handout. Most eyewitness descriptions of swagmen were written during the period when the country was 'riding on the sheep's back'. At this time, rovers were offered rations at police stations as an early form of the dole payment. They roamed the countryside finding work as sheep shearers or as farm hands. Not all were hard workers. Some swagmen known as sundowners would arrive at homesteads or stations at sundown when it was too late to work, taking in a meal and disappearing before work started the next morning. The New Zealand equivalent of a sundowner was known as a tussocker.[5]
Most existed with few possessions as they were limited by what they could carry. Generally they had a
In Henry Lawson's short story The Romance of the Swag, he describes in detail how to make a dinky-die Aussie swag. Lawson states,"Travelling with the swag in Australia is variously and picturesquely described as "humping bluey", "walking Matilda", "humping Matilda", "humping your drum", "being on the wallaby", "jabbing trotters", and "tea and sugar burglaring".[10]
Swagmen travelled with fellow 'swaggies' for periods, walking where they had to go, hitch hiking or stowing aboard cargo trains to get around. They slept on the ground next to a campfire, in hollowed out trees or under bridges.
Popular culture
In the 19th century, Australian
Coinciding with trends in 19th-century Australian literature, swagmen were popular subjects of contemporary painters and illustrators. Drawings of swagmen, itinerant bush workers, rural nomads and other men "on the wallaby" were prevalent in newspapers and picturesque atlases.
Swagmen and other characters of the bush were popular subjects of the
In the 1946 Sherlock Holmes film Dressed to Kill, a tune called "The Swagman", heard on an old music box, plays an important role in solving the mystery.
The Australian Batman villain Swagman derives his name from the term, but takes more conceptual inspiration from Australian bushranger Ned Kelly, who wore a suit of bulletproof armour during his final shootout with Australian law enforcement.
List of swagman bush ballads
- "Australia's on the Wallaby"
- "Four Little Johnny Cakes"
- "Humping Old Bluey"
- "My Old Black Billy"
- "The Old Bark Hut"
- "The Ramble-eer"
- "The Reedy Lagoon"
- "Snake Gully Swagger"
- "Waltzing Matilda"
- "With My Swag on My Shoulder"
References
- ^ Grose, Francis; Egan, Pierce (1923). Grose's Classical dictionary of the vulgar tongue: revised and corrected, with the addition of numerous slang phrases, collected from tried authorities. London: Sherwood, Neely, and Jones.
- ^ Vaux, Hardy James; Field, Barron (1819). "Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux, Volumes 1–2". Printed by W. Clowes. p. 216
- ISBN 3-11-018194-0, p. 218
- ISBN 90-272-4899-0, pg. 52
- ^ a b Baker, John Sidney (1941). New Zealand slang: a dictionary of colloquialisms, the first comprehensive survey yet made of indigenous English speech in this country—from the argot of whaling days to children's slang in the twentieth century. Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs Limited. pg. 41
- ^ Register newspaper, 14 December 1903, page 8.
- ^ John E. Martin. Slattery, Edmond – Biography, from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Ministry for Culture and Heritage / Te Manatū Taonga. Updated 1 September 2010.
- ^ The Diary of a Welsh Swagman, a treasure of the State Library of Victoria, online.slv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved on 16 January 2011.
- ^ Lee, John Alfred Alexander, D.C.M., from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966.
- ISBN 978-0207197086.
- ISBN 0-19-554501-X
- ISBN 0-03-041796-1.
- ISBN 0-19-553797-1.
- ISBN 0-19-553777-7.
Further reading
- Nixon, Allan M. The Swagmen: Survivors of the Great Depression. Five Mile Press, 1987. ISBN 0-86788-135-6.
- Perkins, Leslie Howard. From a Swagman's Diary. Aussie Outback Publishing, 2008. ISBN 0-646-49111-3.
- Wignell, Edel. A Bluey of Swaggies. ISBN 0-7131-8110-9.
- Wignell, Edel. Swagmen and Sundowners: Carrying the Swag. ISBN 0-7295-0416-6.