Winton and Dagworth. There is photographic evidence of the song, at an advanced stage, being sung at Oonderoo station. Paterson's words were written to suit a tune played by 31‑year‑old Christina Macpherson (1864–1936), one of the family members. The instrument that Christina played was a small, very early model of an instrument called an akkordzither or volkszither in Germany. In America, where it became very popular, it was called an autoharp. On April 24 1894, Christina attended the annual Warrnambool steeplechase meeting in south western Victoria. The music at the meeting was supplied by the Warrnambool Garrison Artillery Band. The first item played by the band was the quick march, “Craigielea”, arranged by English born Australian, Thomas Bulch, in 1893. “Craigielea” was typical contest brass band arrangement with three strains. The first strain was “Bonnie Wood of Craigielea” composed by Glasgow musician, James Barr published in 1818 for Robert Tannahill's 1806 poem, "Thou Bonnie Wood o Craigielea". Christina had a good memory for songs and, when she had the opportunity, tried to play the first strain by ear on piano. Christina’s memory was not perfect. The first strain of "Craigielea" had the musical form AABC. Christina remembered the AAB section but not the C section. To complete her tune, she repeated the second A section. Christina’s tune had the musical form, AABA. This is the musical form of “Waltzing Matilda” sung today. When Christina arrived at Dagworth in June,1895, she found an autoharp, with three or four chord bars, which belonged to the bookkeeper, John Tait Wilson. While at Dagworth, she took up the autoharp and mastered it. She learnt to play the tune that she heard at Warrnambool. About seven weeks later, Christina and her brothers went into Winton for a week or so. Banjo Paterson was in Winton at the same time, visiting his fiancé of seven years, Sarah Riley. In Christina’s own words, “One day I played (from ear) a tune which I had heard played by a band at the races in Warrnambool. Mr Paterson asked me what it was - I could not tell him. He said he thought he could write some lines to it. He then and there wrote the first verse.” The Macphersons invited Paterson and Sarah Riley to return to Dagworth with them. During his stay, Paterson would have seen the places, heard the stories and met the people who inspired