Editing Waltzing Matilda (section)

=== Possible inspirations ===
In Queensland, in 1891, the [[1891 Australian shearers' strike|Great Shearers' Strike]] brought the colony close to civil war and was broken only after the [[Premier of Queensland]], [[Samuel Griffith]], called in the military.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Australian National University|title=Archives Library, Shearers|url=https://archives.anu.edu.au/exhibitions/forgotten-trades-selected-records-early-australian-trades/shearers}}</ref> In July and August 1894, as the shearing season approached, the [[Strike action|strike]] broke out again in protest at a wage and contract agreement proposed by the [[Squatting (Australian history)|squatters]]. During July and August, seven shearing sheds in central Queensland were burned by striking union shearers before shearing could begin with [[Scab labour|non-union labour]].<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Brisbane Courier]]|title=THE SHEARING DISPUTE|date=28 August 1894|page=5|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3586279}}</ref> Early on the morning of 2 September, a group of striking union shearers, firing rifles and pistols, set fire to the shearing shed at Dagworth. The fire killed over a hundred sheep. The shed was defended by Constable Michael Daly, Bob Macpherson and his brothers and employees.<ref>Lindner, W Benjamin. Waltzing Matilda ─ Australia's Accidental Anthem. Boolarong Press. Tingalpa, Queensland, Australia. 2019. ISBN 9781925877076 p62.</ref> In the early afternoon of the same day, Senior Constable Austin Cafferty, in Kynuna, was informed that a man had shot himself at a striking shearers' camp in a billabong 4 miles from Kynuna and about 15 miles from Dagworth. When he arrived at the camp, S/C Cafferty found the body of Samuel Hoffmeister, also known as "Frenchy", with a bullet wound through the mouth, in an apparent suicide. Hoffmeister was a known leader of the striking unionists and suspected of being involved in the arson attack at Dagworth on the night before.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Brisbane Courier Mail|date=4 September 1894|page=5|title=THE SHEARING DISPUTE|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3586700}}</ref> Later S/C Cafferty was joined by Constable Michael Daly, who had travelled from Dagworth.<ref>Lindner, W Benjamin. Waltzing Matilda ─ Australia's Accidental Anthem. Boolarong Press. Tingalpa, Queensland, Australia. 2019. ISBN 9781925877076 p 75</ref> Three days later, a Coronial inquest into Hoffmeister's death was held at Kynuna Station.  Police Magistrate, Ernest Eglington, travelled from Winton to conduct it. Dr Welford accompanied him to carry out a post mortem. Evidence was given by shearers who were in the camp when Hoffmeister died.  The coroner found that the cause of Hoffmeister's death was "suicide" – a single gunshot to the mouth. That finding has, in 2010, been questioned.<ref>"Waltzing Matilda an old cold case". Abc.net.au. 12 February 2010. Retrieved 18 May 2018.</ref>

Banjo Paterson was a first-class horseman and loved riding. It is likely that he would have seized any opportunity to go riding at Dagworth. Bob Macpherson (the brother of Christina) and Paterson went riding together and, in Christina's words, "they came to a waterhole (or billabong) & found the skin of a sheep which had been recently killed—all that had been left by a swagman". This incident may have inspired the second verse.<ref>{{cite web|author=Macpherson, Christina|title=Undated letter from Christina Macpherson to Dr Thomas Wood, image 2|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-224075644/view|via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Tom Ryan worked at Dagworth in 1895 and recorded an incident in which Paterson accompanied Dagworth horse breaker, Jack Lawton, when he went to the Combo to bring in a mob of horses. They brought them part of the way in and then put them against a fence running into a waterhole. Lawton then took the saddle from his horse and gave it a swim. He then stripped off and dived from a gum tree into the waterhole. Paterson followed suit. Jack then noticed that the mob of horses were walking away and would probably go back to their starting point. He jumped on his own horse without waiting to don any clothes and galloped after the mob. He was surprised, on looking around, to find his companion had again followed his example. On reaching the station that night, Paterson told him it was the best day's outing he had ever had.<ref>{{cite web|author=Ryan, Tom|title=ORIGIN OF WALTZING MATILDA|publisher=Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Queensland)|date=24 August 1944|page=2|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/56315823}}</ref>

Banjo's stay at Dagworth Station was short. He would have spent at least 16 days travelling during his absence from Sydney.<ref>Lindner, W Benjamin. Waltzing Matilda ─ Australia's Accidental Anthem. Boolarong Press. Tingalpa, Queensland, Australia. 2019. ISBN 9781925877076 p 171, 172</ref> While claims are made that he attended Combo Waterhole, they are not confirmed by Banjo or others who were present at the time of any visit there.  There is no evidence that Banjo made the 52&nbsp;km round trip to the Four Mile Billabong where Hoffmeister's body was found. It is highly unlikely that he would have had time to do so during his short stay at Dagworth Station.