The heyday of the nickelodeon era spanned the first quarter of the twentieth century. That is not to say the fascination with these beautiful machines has ever fully disappeared. In fact, hobbyists across the nation - and the world - have continued their own exploration of automatic music. One nickelodeon that was made long after the era ended is the Waltzing Matilda. Note that it has a banjo on it but it does not use the plucking technology of the original 19th century banjo-playing machine.  Instead, the Waltzing Matilda was designed to strum the strings.  That action occurs on the left, while the machine creates chords on the right. Unfortunately, this machine has proven somewhat challenging in the creating melody department - but its ingenuity is unquestionable!