In Australian historical terms, a swag is a portable shelter that is rolled (usually with belongings inside) and carried on a person's back.
Before motor transport was common, foot travel over long distances was essential to workers who were travelling in the Australian bush and who could not afford a horse. Itinerant workers who travelled from farm to farm shearing sheep in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were called "swagmen" because they carried all their possessions in a swag. This image was immortalised in Australian culture by the song Waltzing Matilda.
