Matilda Analysis

Author: A. B. (Banjo) Paterson
Illustrators: Lance Ross & Norman Lindsay

Background Information:
This book was first published in 2004 and combines the illustrations of Norman Lindsay and Lance Ross. There was an interesting approach taken to create this picture book for children as it combines many techniques of text and illustration design and accompanying the text is the music to the song, quite an original concept.

Strengths of Resource:
This is much more than a picture book and provides the reader with extensive historical information. Before Waltzing Matilda is introduced to the reader, we can explore a number of pages that detail many aspects of Australian life.
Lance Ross has included informative pages on:

Early Australian life and definitions of terms such as ‘Swagman’
Background knowledge on Banjo Paterson, introducing ‘Clancy of the Overflow’ and ‘The Man from Snowy River’ to the reader
Background knowledge on the illustrator Norman Lindsay
Historical information on the Shearer's Strike in 1891
Original music score by Christina Macpherson and additional information on the production of the original song

This is a fantastic resource for those wanting to explore versions of Waltzing Matilda further as there is significant information on the Australian identity and culture also. The information provided can assist teachers to plan and introduce many aspects of the curriculum from poetry, history and music to older primary school students.
Illustrative style: Lance Ross has used the technique of ‘bleeding’ pictures in conjunction with a montage effect to bring Waltzing Matilda to life. Ross used real models to pose as the characters depicted in the book and this has resulted in very expressive illustrations. Norman Lindsay’s original pen sketches have been used also.
Layout: There is a montage of images with text and illustration interspersed on the pages of the book. The layout follows no particular pattern with text and illustrations found on various parts of the pages - the top, bottom, left and right side of page for instance.
Colour: There is a strong sense of ‘real life’ within the illustrations and this was achieved through the use of saturated strong tones of colour. Ross has created large expressive images of the swagman using bracelet shading to define his form. Norman Lindsay’s black and white images give the reader a sense of history, time and place as we see images that closely represent a particular time in history.
Text: The standard size 12 font was used on the information pages while the words to Waltzing Matilda is printed much larger.

Weakness of Resource:
While the book gives great historical information to the reader, it is mainly in the form of large amounts of text. I am concerned that there is too much information and children may not want to read great sections of text before coming to the song itself.
The layout of text is such that it is not appropriate for young children, only a reader with competent literacy skills would attempt to read this book.