Operation Waltzing Matilda
Rewritten by David Nickarz
With apologies to Eric Bogle

When I was a young man, I carried my pack
And I lived the free life of a rover
From the Murray’s green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over

Then in 2009 my captain said son
It’s time to stop whaling--there’s work to be done
So he gave me an LRAD and a big t-shirt gun
And sent me away to the war;

Operation Waltzing Matilda
As we sailed away from the quay
And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the cheers
We sailed off towards the Ross Sea

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Now those who weren’t sea sick
Did their best to survive
In that mad world of ice, wind and gyre
And for several long days I kept myself alive
While the water around us got higher

Then a big ocean swell knocked me arse over tit
And then I turned green and went to my bed
I was sea sick as hell, Christ, I wished I was dead
Never knew there were worse things than dying

Operation waltzing Matilda
To the green bushes so far away
For to mop floors and heads, a man needs sea legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me

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How well I remember last summer’s campaign
the blood stained my mind and the water
We fought for those Minkes, all of six days
They were butchered like lambs at the slaughter

The whalers was ready, they primed themselves well
They hit us with LRADS, and they sprayed us as well
And with five whales killed, they’d sent us all to hell
Nearly sent us right back to Australia..

That was operation Musashi
We didn’t stop to mourn the slain
Our ship hit theirs and the whalers got scared
They thought twice about doing that again

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It was early new year and we had a new ship,
The Bob Barker came down from Maritius
She was an old whaler, now heavy with fuel
Her hull in the ice it would keep us.

The day we revealed her, the Ady was struck
No body was hurt in a stroke of good luck
With two million lost, ah, who gives a fuck?
Life is worth more than possessions

Operation Waltzing Matilda
It’s a wonder the crew wasn’t killed
The world stopped and read of this violent attack
Captain Pete would deliver the bill

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So we collected the seasick, the wounded and shamed
And shipped them back home to Australia
The weary, the saddened, the partly insane
Three months on the water will do ya

And as our ship pulled into Macquarry quay
I looked at the place where right whales used to be
And sadly, there weren’t any waiting for me
I grieve, I mourn and I pity.

Operation Waltzing Matilda
As we stepped down the gangway
The campaign was done, but the whales had no fun
And most of the crew went away.

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And now every June I sit on my couch
And I watch the Whale Wars on the ‘telly
I see my old comrades, how proudly they fought
Re-edited dreams of reality

I see me old friends, all twisted and torn
The unpaid heroes of a biocentric war
And the young people ask, what are they working for?
And I ask myself the same question

Operation Waltzing Matilda
And the new crew still answer the call
But year after year whale numbers get fewer
Might be none left to fight for at all

Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
Who’ll go a-waltzing Matilda with me?