Victoria
'Oberwyl' (Swiss place name) & Waltzing Matilda
A 'journeyman' - a recently qualified tradesman "auf der Walz" - during his Wanderjahre, in the German city of Saarbrücken in 2006.
A Swiss art patron named Elisabeth Anna (Elise) Pfund (formerly Tschaggeny) established a private girls college (for boarders) in an elegant mansion at 35 Burnett St, St Kilda, Melbourne, in 1878. Frau Pfund renamed the mansion 'Oberwyl' after her home village Oberwil im Simmental in the canton of Bern in German-speaking Switzerland.[1] Frau Pfund's college Oberwyl has a connection with a famous part of Australian culture. Christina Macpherson was a former pupil of Oberwyl, and in 1895 she and Banjo Paterson wrote the song 'Waltzing Matilda' at Dagworth Station, a sheep and cattle station near Winton in Central West Queensland owned by the Macpherson family.[2]
You can look at photos of the mansion 'Oberwyl' at Rohan Storey's blog post entitled 'Oberwyl, St Kilda, 1856'.
The title of the song Waltzing Matilda has German origins. The title did not refer originally to a romantic dance with a woman. Researchers think the phrase may have come to Australia with German immigrants. 'Waltzing' means wandering around the countryside, as swagmen did in Australia. 'Waltzing' is related to the German phrase "auf der Walz", which means a centuries-old tradition in the German-speaking countries where apprentices who had finished their formal training in a trade or craft had to go out on the road for three years and one day. During these Wanderjahre (years of wandering around) they were supposed to gain work experience in their trade, explore new ideas and techniques and gather life experience in different towns. The name Matilda is said to originate in the lifestyle of German soldiers during the Thirty Years War in Europe (1618-1648) - it was a nickname for the thick coat that kept the soldiers warm or for the bedroll that they carried on their shoulders. In Australia Matilda was a nickname that swagmen used for their swag, their rolled-up blanket in which they carried their belongings.
♦ Notes:
1. Lindner (2019), pp.28-29
2. Lindner (2019), p.57
♦ Reference:
Lindner, W. Benjamin. (2019). Waltzing Matilda : Australia's accidental anthem : a forensic history. Foreword by Geoffrey Blainey. Tingalpa (QLD) : Boolarong Press.
Pearce, H. H. (1971). On the origins of Waltzing Matilda (expression, lyric, melody). Melbourne: Hawthorn Press. pp.13, 24, 44
'Elisabeth Anna (Tschaggeny) Pfund (1833-1921)'. WikiTree, online at <www.wikitree.com/wiki/Tschaggeny-2>