Now when I was ayoung man I carried me pack,
And I lived the free life of a rover,
From the Murrays Green Basin to the dusty outback,
I waltzed my Matilda all over,
Then in 1915 my country said, Son,
Itґs time to stop rambling, thereґs work to be done,
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun,
And they sent me away to the war.
And the band played Waltzing Matilda,
As the ship pulled away from the quay,
And amid all the tears, flag waving and cheers,
We sailed off for Gallipoli.
Itґs well I remember that terrible day,
When our blood stained the sand and the water,
And how in that hell they call Suvla Bay,
We were butchered like lambs in the slaughter,
Johnny Turk he was ready, oh he primed himself well,
He rained us with bullets and he showered us with shell,
And in five minutes flat we were all blown to hell,
Nearly blew us back home to Australia.
And the band played Waltzing Matilda,
When we stopped to bury our slain,
And when we buried ours, the Turks buried theirs,
Then it started all over again.
Those that were living just tried to survive,
In that mad world of blood, death and fire,