G'day Barrie,

I can well believe a British Forces parody of Waltzing Matilda might have originated in the Boer War Era ... a lot of the Queenslander bushmen who learned it around Winton in 1895 would have enlisted in Australian colonial units. Richard Magoffin, in his books about the song has maintained the parodies started then ... and "obscenity" runs deep in forces songs. That same reticence to sing - or record - the words is mentioned in accounts of snippets appearing in Australia in the between- and post- war periods.

I stand by my conjecture that a song staying entirely sub rosa for several centuries - then popping up all over the world takes a lot of creditting.

Regards,

Bob Bolton