G'day Abby,

"I think that should settle it. "

Well ... no! As I said earlier,

nobody has any shred of evidence of existence of the elusive Fusilier before the late inter-war period. John's belief in pre-existence of some version that the "right-wing bounder" Paterson must have "stolen from the folk ... " was a blend of his political stance and his behaviour as a good country lad in always believing what local elders said. Unfortunately this, by the time he was collecting, in the early 1950s, meant accepting that when his contemporaries rememembered Dad (or Granddad) used to sing a snatch of song like Waltzing Matilda ... then it must older ... and it must be the original. We discussed the matter a few times over the 4 decades I knew him ... agreed to disagree ... and continuing research disagrees more.

It surprises me that John fell in with the determination to create/manufacture a "Good English origin" for our iconic song, given his own Celtic background - but such examples are endemic in countries determined to put their chosen "spin" onto their history ... look at the way the Americans put together a committee to invent an American origin for the old (and long-discarded) English game of baseball!

Regards,

Bob