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Probably only in Australia would you find the nation's most popular song and unofficial national anthem centred on a sheep steeler from a vanished world. For the benefit of our overseas visitors, this page starts with an explanation of terms followed by the standard lyric. If you would like more background information, please visit the Ntional Library of Australia site - http://www.nla.gov.au/epubs/waltzingmatilda/.
Defintions
BILLABONG. A blind channel or meander leading out from a river. Sometimes used just to describe a water hole.
BILLY. An open topped tin can, with a wire carrying handle, used as a kettle for boiling water into which tea was thrown. According to Geoffrey Blainey (Black Kettle and Full Moon: daily life in a vanished Australia , Penguin Books, 2004), Australia consumed more tea in the 19th century than all of Europe combined. Tea was a satisfying reviver and also disguised the tase of sometimes muddy water.
COOLIBAH. Sometimes spelled coolabah: a species of gum or eucalyptus tree.
JUMBUCK. A sheep. The term is a corruption of ‘jump up' (Macquarie Dictionary, 3rd rev. ed. Sydney: Macquarie, 2001)
SQUATTER. The term squatter was originally applied to people who took their stock outside the official limits of European settlement and squatted on the land. Many became very wealthy, so that by the time of Waltzing Matilda the term referred to a well-off grazier or landowner. Hence the reference in the poem: "Up rode the Squatter riding on his thoroughbred." 
SWAGMAN. An Australian tramp or itinerant worker, so called on account of the swag he carried.
TROOPER. Mounted policeman. The troopers, also known as traps, were not always popular, a dislike dating back to convict days.
TUCKER BAG. A bag for tucker or food; part of the swag.
WALTZING MATILDA. The act of carrying the ‘swag' (an alternate colloquial term is ‘humping the bluey'). The swag might be chaff bag, containing his billy (see later definition), provisions and blanket. Possessions could also be rolled up in the blanket. See our supporting picture.
Lyrics
Once a jolly swagman camped by a Billabong
Under the shade of a Coolabah tree
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled
"Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?"
Down come a jumbuck to drink at the water hole
Up jumped a swagman and grabbed him in glee
And he sang as he stowed him away in his tucker bag
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me'".
Up rode the Squatter riding on thoroughbred
Up rode the Troopers - one, two, three
"Where's that jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?",
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me".
But the swagman he up and jumped in the water hole
Drowning himself by the Coolabah tree,
And his ghost may be heard as it sings in the Billabong,
"Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?"
Chorus
Waltzing matilda, waltzing matilda
You'll come a waltzing matilda with me
And he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong
You'll come a waltzing matilda with me.