Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary School Library

Songs of Peace: And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda

Eric Bogle, an Australian of Scottish birth, wrote this anti-war anthem in 1971. The song is told from the perspective of a veteran of the Gallipoli Campaign of .”The Great War” While Bogle’s own versions are excellent, perhaps the more emotionally powerful cover came from The Pogues in 1985.

Now when I was a young man, I carried me pack
And I lived the free life of the rover
From the Murray’s green basin to the dusty outback
Well, I waltzed my Matilda all over
Then in 1915, my country said “son
It’s time you stopped rambling, there’s work to be done”
So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun
And they marched me away to the war

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As the ship pulled away from the quay
And amidst all the cheers, the flag-waving and tears
We sailed off for Gallipoli

And how well I remember that terrible day
How our blood stained the sand and the water
And of how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Johnny Turk, he was waiting, he’d primed himself well
He showered us with bullets and he rained us with shell
And in five minutes flat, he’d blown us all to hell
Nearly blew us right back to Australia

But the band played Waltzing Matilda
When we stopped to bury our slain
We buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs
Then we started all over again

And those that were left, well we tried to survive
In that mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks, I kept myself alive
Though around me the corpses piled higher
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head
And when I woke up in me hospital bed
And saw what it had done, well I wished I was dead
Never knew there was worse things than dyin’

For I’ll go no more waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and free
To hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me

So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where me legs used to be
And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me
To grieve, to mourn, and to pity

But the band played Waltzing Matilda
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
Then they turned all their faces away

And so now every April, I sit on me porch
And I watch the parades pass before me
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reviving old dreams of past glories
And the old men march slowly, old bones stiff and sore
They’re tired old heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask, “what are they marching for?”
And I ask myself the same question

But the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men still answer the call
But as year follows year, more old men disappear
Someday no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
And their ghosts may be heard
As they march by that billabong
Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?

Other “Songs of Peace” in this series:

November is Peace Month at your School Library

Happy Diwali

Happy Diwali and Bandi Chor Divas

‘Tuhanu Diwali diyan boht both vadhaiyan’

Diwali is celebrated by millions of people in India, Canada and around the world. Hundreds of millions of Hindus celebrate “the Festival of Lights.” Millions of Sikhs, and people of other faiths, also celebrate Diwali.

For Sikhs the festival of Diwali has added significance as it generally coincides with a Sikh celebration known as Bandi Chor Divas. The majority of people here in British Columbia who trace their roots to South Asia are Sikh, and as such Bandi Chor Divas plays a large role in the importance of Diwali here in Surrey.

Many people will celebrate a five day festival from November 6 to 11, with many public celebrations of Diwali in Canada on Saturday, November 7 and Sunday November 8. However, it may be celebrated at different times, and in different ways, here in Canada, and by various groups in India, South Asia, and in the Indian diaspora.

Diwali may also be rendered as Deepavali or Divali.

For more information on Diwali, check out:

Is Your Class Coming to Play Games?

November is International Games Month @ Your Library. Ask your teacher if you will be joining us in your School Library for our 15th annual celebration of the joy of gaming and the educational power of games. Thousands of students at this school have experienced the fun and the power of board games, table games, card games, party games and other live and in person games. And far beyond the confines our school, all over the world thousands of libraries and millions of people have celebrated by getting together to play.

Find out more:

Peace

November is Peace Month at your School Library. On Remembrance Day we will pay our respects, honouring the dead and all who suffer because of war. As we learn more, we recognize the horrors of war and desperately hope for another way forward. Come down to visit us in person, or check back here, for more exploration of all ideas related to the quest for peace.

International Games Month @ Your Library

We will be celebrating board games, card games, table games, and all sorts of live and in person games in your School Library this month. Come down or check back here to find out more.

Libraries are Vital ALWAYS

October was Library Month but libraries are integral to our rights and freedoms throughout the year, as is reading, in all its forms.

Samhain

The Gaelic Festival of Samhain marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. Samhain begins at sundown on October 31 and goes until sundown on November 1.

The roots of Samhain stretch back deep into the prehistoric development of Celtic pagan beliefs. With the arrival of Christianity in what we now know as Ireland and Scotland, the practices of Samhain and All-Saints Day merged over time. Halloween traces many of its roots back to both Samhain and “All-Hallows Eve,” — the night before All Saints Day.

There has been a modern revival in celebrations of Samhain, in part due to the practices of Wiccans and other neo-pagans, as well other people who see it as a as a way to incorporate Celtic rituals into their belief systems. Many others see it as a way to celebrate Irish culture and history. Samhain is often celebrated with feasting and giant bonfires.

Find out more:

7 Haunted Library Stories, From Dublin to Melbourne

Thanks to 1000 Libraries for sharing this article that combines two of our favourite things: scary tales, and stories about libraries!

“Most ghosts, in the stories, make a nuisance of themselves. They slam doors, move furniture and walk the corridors at the hour they died. Library ghosts are different. Almost every one on record is described doing what the living do in the same room: sitting in a favourite chair with a newspaper, taking a volume down from a shelf, turning pages at a table after the lights are out. The building seems to decide what kind of haunting it gets.

What follows are seven of those stories, from Dublin to Melbourne, chosen because each has a name, a date and a witness attached. Whether you believe them is your own affair. The librarians who tell them mostly do not, and tell them anyway….”

Read the full article

October is International School Library Month
October is Canadian Library Month
October is HORROR month in your School Library