Freedom
Freedom is personified into a symbolic figure of itinerant tramp slowly making its way across the vastness of Australia and then back again, heralding its arrival in each new town with a shrill cry meant to garner attention and call for assistance. That freedom would be symbolized carrying a tramp’s knacksack and making slow progress on foot also has the implicit effect of casting those in power as enjoying all the entitlements and luxuries that come with tyranny.
Boiling Water
The lines which end the first stanza also situates the progress of freedom as a slow one:
“She’s going to light another fire
And boil another billy.”
The phrase “boil another billy” refers literally to container used to bring water to a boil over an open flame such as the type that someone who is literally crossing the country on foot would require as part of the necessities in their knapsack. The symbolism of freedom being an idea which takes time to catch on and must be allowed to simmer before it can finally boil over is a powerful one any fight against oppression where setbacks are many and the goal can seem futile.
Australia as Rebellion
The entire second stanza is devoted to implicating the very existence of Australia as an inherent act of rebellion against tyranny. The unfairness of those who worked not reaping the benefits those born to privilege is thematically linked to the idea of stealing as an act of rebellion to be punished by exile. So both those who chose exile from Britain and those punished by being exiled are inextricably bound together in the founding of Australia as not just an act of rebellion, but as a symbol of the country’s very identity. As a work of propaganda targeted not just at sectors of the population, but Australia as a whole, this is a very powerful symbol capable of transcending social and economic division as it unites on the basis of history and common values.
British Aristocracy
One cannot be a rebel unless there is an enemy to rebel against. The symbol of tyranny looming largest in the poem is made manifest through terms like “Royalty” and the subtle alliterative linkage of “loafers” with “lords.” The poet does not need to come right out and identify the British aristocracy by name to make his point; in fact, to do so would be counterproductive since the tyranny against which he is calling for rebellion is local. So British royalty here becomes entirely symbolic for the purpose of linking all its negative connotations with the Australian power elites who are the real tyrants. By appealing to the national pride of rebelling against the unfairness of the British aristocracy, he makes any comparison of the Australian tyrants with those of the homeland even more palpable, thus turning up the heat of the flame over which the billy is beginning to boil.
The Wattle
The final line warns that when tyrants seek to oppress citizens they cannot then hope to blame the very rebels they helped to create for any blood that is eventually spilled as the result of conflict:
“If blood should stain the wattle.”
The wattle in this connotation is a symbol of Australia—the real Australia made up of independent, rebellious pioneers who may have fled tyranny once, but don’t intend to leave the country they created. The wattle here references the national flower of Australia, the Golden Wattle.
