Editing Waltzing Matilda (section)

===Christina's manuscripts===
Paterson returned to Sydney in early September. Sometime later, Banjo wrote to Christina and asked her to send him a copy of the music of their song. This presented Christina with a serious problem: Christina played music by ear: she did not use sheet music. Writing down music from memory is quite challenging, even for musicians who read music well. It is extremely challenging for one who does not. In Christina's own words, "I am no musician but did my best."<ref>NLA trove, Papers relating to the song "Waltzing Matilda", circa 1900–1986 [manuscript]. Undated letter from Christina Macpherson to Dr. Thomas Wood (author of Cobbers, 1934) p 3,4 https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-224075769/view</ref> Christina managed to get hold of some 12-stave manuscript paper and wrote a first draft, writing down the notes of her song on the stave, as little open circles, at the pitch, and in the order that she remembered them. Christina would have used a piano to help her do this. She made no effort to indicate the lengths of the notes. In bar 9, Christina wrote the first 2 notes as a C. This was a mistake: they should have been B flat. Christina corrected this in a later manuscript. Christina had a very good ear. Unfortunately, Christina had very limited ability to represent the time value of notes. Her full drafts have many mistakes. Some are minor and easily corrected. Some are fundamentally wrong. Christina's final drafts do not accurately represent the melody that she sang, and as written, they are unplayable. Despite this, it is possible to infer, with considerable accuracy, the melody of the tune that Christina recalled when she eventually drafted the manuscript and it established the Scottish origin of the song.<ref>nla "Who'll come a "Waltzing Matilda" with me. The first manuscripts of "Waltzing Matilda", archived 2011, retrieved 27 Sept 2024, https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20110606173517/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/34755/20110606-1326/www.nla.gov.au/epubs/waltzingmatilda/1-Orig-FirstManuscript.html</ref><ref>O'Keefe, Dennis, "Waltzing Matilda", The Secret History of Australia's Favourite Song, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, London, 83 Alexander Street, Crows Nest, NSW, 2065, Australia, pages 255,256.</ref>

In 2001, Australian folk singer, Dave de Hugard, made a recording of the original "Waltzing Matilda" based on his interpretation of the Macpherson/Paterson manuscript. This can be heard at archived exhibition, "Who'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me?" at the national library of Australia. In 2014, American musician, Robbie Hateley, uploaded his interpretation of Christina's manuscript to YouTube. His upload is based on good quality research mainly from the national library of Australia.  While the singers use different styles, the melody adopted by both is very similar. This melody is probably similar to the melody that Christina and others sang in 1895<ref>de Hugard, Dave. 2001. nla "Who'll come a "Waltzing Matilda" with me". Versions, The Macpherson/Paterson version. Archived 2011, retrieved 1 Oct 2024,  https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20110606173517/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/34755/20110606-1326/www.nla.gov.au/epubs/waltzingmatilda/1-Orig-FirstManuscript.html</ref><ref>Hatley, Robbie. Upload of "Christina Macpherson's Waltzing Matilda" to YouTube, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5-CoBkzCLs</ref>

It is not known when Banjo wrote to Christina or where Christina was when the manuscripts were written. Christina may have still been in Queensland or she may have returned to Melbourne. Christina wrote at least 3 full drafts of the song. She kept one, now known as the Macpherson manuscript. She sent one to Banjo and gave another to W. B. Bartlam, the manager of a station adjoining Dagworth at the time. This one is now known as the Bartlam-Roulston manuscript. The Bartlam-Roulston manuscript has the correct notes at the beginning of bar 9, indicating that it was written after the Macpherson manuscript. The manuscript that she kept was passed down to her sister, Margaret (McArthur) who in turn passed it down to her daughter, Diana (Baillieu). It was made public in 1992 and was later donated it to the National Library of Australia. The Bartlams knew what their manuscript was, but no one believed them until 1971. This allowed some myths about the song to grow. Both full drafts and the first draft are held at the National Library of Australia. The manuscript sent to Paterson was lost.<ref>{{Cite web|title=07 Jun 2011 – Who'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me? – Archived Website|url=http://www.nla.gov.au/epubs/waltzingmatilda/1-Orig-FirstManuscript.html|archive-url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20110606173517/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/34755/20110606-1326/www.nla.gov.au/epubs/waltzingmatilda/1-Orig-FirstManuscript.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2011-06-06|access-date=2024-04-19|via=Trove|language=en}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>