Bob,

I wasn't referring to the origins of "Waltzing Matilda" or whether Andrew Paterson actually wrote it. Can we, after all, credit any statements from someone who spent most of his life at racetracks? No, no, I would never slander a national hero! Even one named after a horse.

The quote referred to the text & tune origins of "Fusilier." You wrote: "Nobody mentions it until around WWII, 2 whole generations after Waltzing Matilda was widely published." Ie, that it is a counterfeit. I agree there must be something amiss. The given sequesnce in texts GF --> Craiglea -- > WM but of tunes of C --> WM --> GF is silly. Further, the verse structure for all versions I've seen of GF are identical to WM. Impossible! I would suggest that, being a fragment, the song was never interesting and couldn't be sung until Coe wrote some more verses.

But if GF text and tune came first as the quote suggests then the other Craiglea tunes are offshoots, not progressing to WM. Patterson just forgot wher he got the tune. Or possibly never knew where the actual author got it.

I'd like to find an old tune for GF.