Austral English

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS OF NAMES (continued 3)

Reading edition

"Mr. Fitzpatrick followed his kangaroo hounds, and shot his emus, his wild turkeys, and his bronze-wings."

1865. `Once a Week.' `The Bulla-Bulla Bunyip.'

"Hours ago the bronze-wing pigeons had taken their evening draught from the coffee-coloured water-hole beyond the butcher's paddock, and then flown back into the bush to roost on `honeysuckle' and in heather."

1872. C. H. Eden, `My Wife and I in Queensland,' p. 122:

"Another most beautiful pigeon is the `bronze-wing,' which is nearly the size of the English wood-pigeon, and has a magnificent purply-bronze speculum on the wings."

1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 33:

"Both the bronze-wing and Wonga-Wonga pigeon are hunted so keenly that in a few years they will have become extinct in Victoria."

1893. `The Argus,' March 25, p. 4, col. 6:

"Those who care for museum studies must have been interested in tracing the Australian quail and pigeon families to a point where they blend their separate identities in the partridge bronze-wing of the Central Australian plains. The eggs mark the converging lines just as clearly as the birds, for the partridge-pigeon lays an egg much more like that of a quail than a pigeon, and lays, quail fashion, on the ground."

<hw>Brook-Lime</hw>, n. English name for an aquatic plant, applied in Australia to the plant Gratiola pedunculata, R. Br., N.O. Scrophularinae. Also called Heartsease.

<hw>Broom</hw>, n. name applied to the plant Calycothrix tetragona, Lab., N.O. Myrtaceae.

<hw>Broom, Native</hw>, n. an Australian timber, Viminaria denudala, Smith, N.O. Leguminosae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 612:

"Native broom. Wood soft and spongy."

<hw>Broom, Purple</hw>, n. a Tasmanian name for Comesperma retusum, Lab., N.O. Polygaleae.

<hw>Brown Snake</hw>, n. See under Snake.

<hw>Brown-tail</hw>, n. bird-name for the Tasmanian Tit. See Tit.

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. iii, pl. 54:

"Acanthiza Diemenensis, Gould. Brown-tail, colonists of Van Diemen's Land."

<hw>Brown Tree-Lizard</hw>, n. of New Zealand, Naultinus pacificus.

<hw>Browny</hw> or <hw>Brownie</hw>, n. a kind of currant loaf.

1890. E. D. Cleland, `The White kangaroo,' p. 57:

"Cake made of flour, fat and sugar, commonly known as `Browny.'"

1890. `The Argus,' Sept. 20, p. 13, col. 57:

"Four o'clock. `Smoke O!' again with more bread and brownie (a bread sweetened with sugar and currants)."

1892. Gilbert Parker, `Round the Compass,' p. 36:

"Roast mutton and brownie are given us to eat."

<hw>Brumby, Broombie</hw> (spelling various), n. a wild horse. The origin of this word is very doubtful. Some claim for it an aboriginal, and some an English source. In its present shape it figures in one aboriginal vocabulary, given in Curr's `Australian Race' (1887), vol. iii. p. 259. At p. 284, booramby is given as meaning "wild" on the river Warrego in Queensland. The use of the word seems to have spread from the Warrego and the Balowne about 1864. Before that date, and in other parts of the bush ere the word came to them, wild horses were called clear-skins or scrubbers, whilst Yarraman (q.v.) is the aboriginal word for a quiet or broken horse. A different origin was, however, given by an old resident of New South Wales, to a lady of the name of Brumby, viz. "that in the early days of that colony, a Lieutenant Brumby, who was on the staff of one of the Governors, imported some very good horses, and that some of their descendants being allowed to run wild became the ancestors the wild horses of New South Wales and Queensland." Confirmation of this story is to be desired.

1880. `The Australasian,' Dec. 4, p. 712, col. 3:

"Passing through a belt of mulga, we saw, on reaching its edge, a mob of horses grazing on the plains beyond. These our guide pronounced to be `brumbies,' the bush name here [Queensland] for wild horses."

1888. Cassell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol. ii. p. 176:

"The wild horses of this continent known all over it by the Australian name of `brumbies.'"

Ibid. p. 178:

"The untamed and `unyardable' scrub brumby."

1888. R. Kipling, `Plain Tales from the Hills,' p. 160:

"Juggling about the country, with an Australian larrikin; a `brumby' with as much breed as the boy. . . . People who lost money on him called him a `brumby.'"

1888. Rolf Boldrewood, `Robbery under Arms.' p. 67:

"The three-cornered weed he rode that had been a `brumbee.'"

1895. `Chambers' Journal,' Nov. 2, Heading `Australian Brumbie Horses':

"The brumbie horse of Australia, tho' not a distinct equine variety, possesses attributes and qualities peculiar to itself, and, like the wild cattle and wild buffaloes of Australia, is the descendant of runaways of imported stock."

1896. `Sydney Morning Herald,' (Letter from `J. F. G.,' dated Aug. 24):

"Amongst the blacks on the Lower Balonne, Nebine, Warrego, and Bulloo rivers the word used for horse is `baroombie,' the `a' being cut so short that the word sounds as `broombie,' and as far as my experience goes refers more to unbroken horses in distinction to quiet or broken ones (`yarraman')."

1896. H. Lawson, `When the World was Wide,' p. 156:

"Yet at times we long to gallop where the reckless bushman rides In the wake of startled brumbies that are flying for their hides."

<hw>Brush</hw>, n. at first undergrowth, small trees, as in England; afterwards applied to larger timber growth and forest trees. Its earlier sense survives in the compound words; see below.

1820. Oxley, `New South Wales' (`O.E.D.'):

"The timber standing at wide intervals, without any brush or undergrowth."

1833. C. Sturt, `Southern Australia,' (2nd ed.) vol. i. p. 62:

"We journeyed . . . at one time over good plains, at another through brushes."

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. i. Introd. p. 77:

"Jungle, or what in New South Wales would be called brush."

Ibid. vol. v. Pl. 59:

"Those vast primeval forests of New South Wales to which the colonists have applied the name of brushes."

1853. Chas. St. Julian and Edward K. Silvester, `The Productions, Industry, and Resources of New South Wales,' p. 20:

"What the colonists term `brush' lands are those covered with tall trees growing so near each other and being so closely matted together by underwood, parasites, and creepers, as to be wholly impassable."

1883. G. W. Rusden, `History of Australia,' vol. i. p. 67, note:

"Brush was allotted to the growth of large timber on alluvial lands, with other trees intermixed, and tangled vines. The soil was rich, and `brushland' was well understood as a descriptive term. It may die away, but its meaning deserves to be pointed out."

<hw>Brush-Apple</hw>, n. See Apple.

<hw>Brush-Bloodwood</hw>, n. See Bloodwood.

<hw>Brush-Cherry</hw>, n. an Australian tree, Trochocarpa laurina, R. Br., and Eugenia myrtifolia, Simms. Called also Brush-Myrtle.

<hw>Brush-Deal</hw>, n. a slender Queensland tree, Cupania anacardioides, A. Richard. See Brush, above.

<hw>Brusher</hw>, n. a Bushman's name, in certain parts, for a small wallaby which hops about in the bush or scrub with considerable speed. "To give brusher," is a phrase derived from this, and used in many parts, especially of the interior of Australia, and implies that a man has left without paying his debts. In reply to the question "Has so-and-so left the township? "the answer, "Oh yes, he gave them brusher," would be well understood in the above sense.

<hw>Brush-Kangaroo</hw>, n. another name for the Wallaby (q.v.).

1802. G. Barrington, `History of New South Wales,' c. viii. p. 273:

"A place . . . thickly inhabited by the small brush-kangaroo."

1830. `Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society,' i. 29:

"These dogs . . . are particularly useful in catching the bandicoots, the small brush kangaroo, and the opossum."

1832. J. Bischoff, `Van Diemen's Land,' c. ii. p. 28:

"The brush-kangaroo . . . frequents the scrubs and rocky hills."

1884. Rolf Boldrewood, `Melbourne Memories,' c. iii. p. 24:

"Violet was so fast that she could catch the brush-kangaroo (the wallaby) within sight."

<hw>Brush-Myrtle</hw>, i.q. Brush-Cherry (q.v.)

<hw>Brush-Turkey</hw>, n. See Turkey.

<hw>Brush-Turpentine</hw>, n. another name for the tree Syncarpia leptopetala, F. v. M., N.O. Myrtaceae, called also Myrtle (q.v.).

<hw>Bubrush</hw>, n. See Wonga and Raupo.

<hw>Buck</hw>, v. Used "intransitively of a horse, to leap vertically from the ground, drawing the feet together like a deer, and arching the back. Also transitively to buck off." (`O.E.D.') Some say that this word is not Australian, but all the early quotations of buck and cognate words are connected with Australia. The word is now used freely in the United States; see quotation, 1882.

1870. E. B. Kennedy, `Four Years in Queensland,' p. 193:

"Having gained his seat by a nimble spring, I have seen a man (a Sydney native) so much at his ease, that while the horse has been `bucking a hurricane,' to use a colonial expression, the rider has been cutting up his tobacco and filling his pipe, while several feet in the air, nothing to front of him excepting a small lock of the animal's mane (the head being between its legs), and very little behind him, the stern being down; the horse either giving a turn to the air, or going forward every buck."

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 131:

"`Well,' said one, `that fellow went to market like a bird.' `Yes,' echoed another, `Bucked a blessed hurricane.' `Buck a town down,' cried a third. `Never seed a horse strip himself quicker,' cried a fourth."

1882. Baillie-Grohman, `Camps in the Rockies,' ch. iv. p. 102 ('Standard'):

"There are two ways, I understand, of sitting a bucking horse . . . one is `to follow the buck,' the other `to receive the buck.'"

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 55:

"The performance is quite peculiar to Australian horses, and no one who has not seen them at it would believe the rapid contortions of which they are capable. In bucking, a horse tucks his head right between his fore-legs, sometimes striking his jaw with his hind feet. The back meantime is arched like a boiled prawn's; and in this position the animal makes a series of tremendous bounds, sometimes forwards, sometimes sideways and backwards, keeping it up for several minutes at intervals of a few seconds."

<hw>Buck</hw>, n. See preceding verb.

1868. Lady Barker, `Station Life in New Zealand,' p. 224:

"I never saw such bucks and jumps into the air as she [the mare] performed."

1886. H. C. Kendall, `Poems,' p. 206:

"For, mark me, he can sit a buck For hours and hours together; And never horse has had the luck To pitch him from the leather."

<hw>Bucker</hw>, <hw>Buck-jumper</hw>, n. a horse given to bucking or buck-jumping.

1853. H. Berkeley Jones, `Adventures in Australia in 1852 and 1853,' [Footnote] p. 143:

"A `bucker' is a vicious horse, to be found only in Australia."

1884. `Harper's Magazine,' July, No. 301, p. 1 (`O.E.D.'):

"If we should . . . select a `bucker,' the probabilities are that we will come to grief."

1893. Haddon Chambers, `Thumbnail Sketches of Australian Life,' p. 64:

"No buck jumper could shake him off."

1893. Ibid. p. 187:

"`Were you ever on a buck-jumper?' I was asked by a friend, shortly after my return from Australia."

<hw>Buck-jumping</hw>, <hw>Bucking</hw>, verbal nouns.

1855. W. Howitt, `Two Years in Victoria,' vol. i. p. 43:

"At length it shook off all its holders, and made one of those extraordinary vaults that they call buck-jumping."

1859. H. Kingsley, `Geoffrey Hamlyn,' vol. ii. p. 212:

"That same bucking is just what puzzles me utterly."

1859. Rev. J. D. Mereweather, `Diary of a Working Clergyman in Australia and Tasmania, kept during the years 1850-1853,' p. 177:

"I believe that an inveterate buckjumper can be cured by slinging up one of the four legs, and lunging him about severely in heavy ground on the three legs. The action they must needs make use of on such an occasion somewhat resembles the action of bucking; and after some severe trials of that sort, they take a dislike to the whole style of thing. An Irishman on the Murrumbidgee is very clever at this schooling. It is called here `turning a horse inside out.'"

1885. Forman (Dakota), item 26, May 6, 3 (`O.E.D.'):

"The majority of the horses there [in Australia] are vicious and given to the trick of buck jumping." [It may be worth while to add that this is not strictly accurate.]

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `A Colonial Reformer,' p. 94:

"`I should say that buck jumping was produced in this country by bad breaking,' said Mr. Neuchamp oracularly. `Don't you believe it, sir. Bucking is like other vices—runs in the blood.'"

<hw>Buck-shot</hw>, n. a settlers' term for a geological formation. See quotation.

1851. `The Australasian Quarterly,' p. 459:

"The plain under our feet was everywhere furrowed by Dead men's graves, and generally covered with the granulated lava, aptly named by the settlers buck-shot, and found throughout the country on these trappean `formations. Buck-shot is always imbedded in a sandy alluvium, sometimes several feet thick."

<hw>Buddawong</hw>, n. a variation of Burrawang (q.v.).

1877. Australie, `The Buddawong's Crown,' `Australian Poets,' 1788-1888, ed. Sladen, p. 39:

"A Buddawong seed-nut fell to earth, In a cool and mossy glade, And in spring it shot up its barbed green swords, Secure 'neath the myrtle's shade. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

And the poor, poor palm has died indeed. But little the strangers care, `There are zamias in plenty more,' they say, But the crown is a beauty rare."

<hw>Budgeree</hw>, adj. aboriginal word for good, which is common colloquially in the bush. See Budgerigar.

1793. J.Hunter, `Port Jackson,' p. 195:

"They very frequently, at the conclusion of the dance, would apply to us . . . for marks of our approbation . . . which we never failed to give by often repeating the word boojery, good; or boojery caribberie, a good dance."

<hw>Budgerigar</hw>, or <hw>Betcherrygah</hw>, n. aboriginal name for the bird called by Gould the Warbling Grass-parrakeet; called also Shell-parrot and Zebra- Grass-parrakeet. In the Port Jackson dialect budgeri, or boodgeri, means good, excellent. In `Collins' Vocabulary' (1798), boodjer-re = good. In New South Wales gar is common as first syllable of the name for the white cockatoo, as garaweh. See Galah. In the north of New South Wales kaar= white cockatoo. The spelling is very various, but the first of the two above given is the more correct etymologically. In the United States it is spelt beauregarde, derived by `Standard' from French beau and regarde, a manifest instance of the law of Hobson -Jobson.

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 297:

"The betshiregah (Melopsittacus Undulatus, Gould) were very numerous."

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. v. Pl. 44:

"Melopsittacus Undulatus. Warbling Grass-Parrakeet. Canary Parrot—colonists. Betcherrygah—natives of Liverpool Plains."

1857. Letter, Nov.17, in `Life of Fenton J. A. Hort' (1896), vol. i. p. 388:

"There is also a small green creature like a miniature cockatoo, called a Budgeragar, which was brought from Australia. He is quaint and now and then noisy, but not on the whole a demonstrative being."

1857. W. Howitt, `Tallangetta,' vol. i. p. 48:

"Young paroquets, the green leeks, and the lovely speckled budgregores."

1865. Lady Barker, `Station Life in New Zealand,' p. 7:

"I saw several pairs of those pretty grass or zebra parroquets, which are called here by the very inharmonious name of `budgereghars.'"

2890. Lyth, `Golden South,' c. xiv. p. 127:

"The tiny budgeriegar, sometimes called the shell parrot."

<hw>Bugle</hw>, n. name given to the Australian plant Ajuga australis, R. Br., N.O. Labiatae.

<hw>Bugler</hw>, n. a name given in Tasmania to the fish Centriscus scolopax, family Centriscidae; called in Europe the Trumpet-fish, Bellows-fish, the latter name being also used for it in Tasmania. The structure of the mouth and snout suggests a musical instrument, or, combined with the outline of the body, a pair of bellows. The fish occurs also in Europe.

<hw>Bugong</hw>, or <hw>Bogong</hw>, or <hw>Bougong</hw>, n. an Australian moth, Danais limniace, or Agrotis spina, eaten by the aborigines.

1834. Rev. W. B. Clarke, `Researches in the Southern Gold Fields of New South Wales' (second edition), p. 228:

"These moths have obtained their name from their occurrence on the `Bogongs' or granite mountains. They were described by my friend Dr. Bennett in his interesting work on `New South Wales,' 1832-4, as abundant on the Bogong Mountain, Tumut River. I found them equally abundant, and in full vigour, in December, coming in clouds from the granite peaks of the Muniong Range. The blacks throw them on the fire and eat them."

1859. H. Kingsley, `Geoffrey Hamlyn,' p. 355:

"The westward range is called the Bougongs. The blacks during summer are in the habit of coming thus far to collect and feed on the great grey moths (bougongs) which are found on the rocks."

1871. `The Athenaeum,' May 27, p. 660:

"The Gibbs Land and Murray districts have been divided into the following counties: . . . Bogong (native name of grubs and moths)."

1878. R. Brough Smyth, `The Aborigines of Victoria,' vol. i. p. 207

"The moths—the Bugong moths(Agrolis suffusa) are greedily devoured by the natives; and in former times, when they were in season, they assembled in great numbers to eat there, and they grew fat on this food." [Also a long footnote.]

1890. Richard Helms, `Records of the Australian Museum,' vol. i. No. 1:

"My aim was to obtain some `Boogongs,' the native name for the moths which so abundantly occur on this range, and no doubt have given it its name."

1896. `Sydney Mail,' April 4, Answers to Correspondents:

"It cannot be stated positively, but it is thought that the name of the moth `bogong' is taken from that of the mountain. The meaning of the word is not known, but probably it is an aboriginal word."

<hw>Bull-a-bull</hw>, or <hw>Bullybul</hw>, n. a child's corruption of the Maori word Poroporo (q.v.), a flowering shrub of New Zealand. It is allied to the Kangaroo-Apple (q.v.).

1845. `New Plymouth's National Song,' in Hursthouse's `New Zealand,' p. 217:

"And as for fruit, the place is full Of that delicious bull-a-bull."

<hw>Bullahoo</hw>, n. See Ballahoo.

<hw>Bull-ant</hw>, n. contracted and common form of the words Bull-dog Ant (q.v.).

<hw>Bull-dog Ant</hw>, n. (frequently shortened to Bull-dog or Bull-ant), an ant of large size with a fierce bite. The name is applied to various species of the genus Myrmecia, which is common throughout Australia and Tasmania.

1878. Mrs. H. Jones, `Long Years in Australia,' p. 93:

"Busy colonies of ants (which everywhere infest the country). . . One kind is very warlike—the `bull-dog': sentinels stand on the watch, outside the nest, and in case of attack disappear for a moment and return with a whole army of the red-headed monsters, and should they nip you, will give you a remembrance of their sting never to be forgotten."

1888. Alleged `Prize Poem,' Jubilee Exhibition:

"The aborigine is now nearly extinct, But the bull-dog-ant and the kangaroo rat Are a little too thick—I think."

1896. A. B. Paterson, `Man from Snowy River,' p. 142:

"Where the wily free-selector walks in armour-plated pants, And defies the stings of scorpion and the bites of bull-dog ants."

<hw>Bull-dog Shark</hw>, i.q. Bull-head (1) (q.v.).

<hw>Bull-head</hw>, n. The name is applied to many fishes of different families in various parts of the world, none of which are the same as the following two. (1) A shark of Tasmania and South Australia of small size and harmless, with teeth formed for crushing shells, Heterodontus phillipi , Lacep., family Cestraciontidae; also called the Bull-dog Shark, and in Sydney, where it is common, the Port-Jackson Shark : the aboriginal name was Tabbigan. (2) A freshwater fish of New Zealand, Eleotris gobioides, Cuv.and Val., family Gobiidae. See Bighead.

<hw>Bulln-Bulln</hw>, n. an aboriginal name for the Lyre-bird (q.v.). This native name is imitative. The most southerly county in Victoria is called Buln-Buln; it is the haunt of the Lyre-bird.

1857. D. Bunce, `Travels with Leichhardt in Australia,' p. 70:

"We afterwards learned that this was the work of the Bullen Bullen, or Lyre-bird, in its search for large worms, its favourite food."

1871. `The Athenaeum,' May 27, p. 660:

"The Gipps Land and Murray districts have been divided into the following counties: . . . Buln Buln (name of Lyre-bird)."

<hw>Bull-Oak</hw>, n. See Oak.

<hw>Bullocky</hw>, n. and adj. a bullockdriver." In the bush all the heavy hauling is done with bullock-drays. It is quite a common sight up the country to see teams of a dozen and upwards." (B. and L.)

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Colonial Reformer,' c. xii. p. 121:

"By George, Jack, you're a regular bullocky boy."

<hw>Bull-puncher</hw>, or <hw>Bullock-puncher</hw>, n. slang for a bullockdriver. According to Barrere and Leland's `Slang Dictionary,' the word has a somewhat different meaning in America, where it means a drover. See Punch.

1872. C. N. Eden, `My Wife and I in Queensland,' p. 49:

"The `bull-puncher,' as bullock-drivers are familiarly called."

1873. J. Mathew, song `Hawking,' in `Queenslander,' Oct. 4:

"The stockmen and the bushmen and the shepherds leave the station, And the hardy bullock-punchers throw aside their occupation."

1889. Cassell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol. iv. p. 143:

"These teams would comprise from five to six pairs of bullocks each, and were driven by a man euphoniously termed a `bull-puncher.' Armed with a six-foot thong, fastened to a supple stick seven feet long. . . ."

<hw>Bull-rout</hw>, n. a fish of New South Wales, Centropogon robustus, Guenth., family Scorpaenidae.

1882. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Fish of New South Wales,' p. 48:

"It emits a loud and harsh grunting noise when it is caught. . . . The fisherman knows what he has got by the noise before he brings his fish to the surface. . . . When out of the water the noise of the bull-rout is loudest, and it spreads its gills and fins a little, so as to appear very formidable. . . . The blacks held it in great dread, and the name of bull-rout may possibly be a corruption of some native word."

<hw>Bull's-eye</hw>, n. a fish of New South Wales, Priacanthus macracanthus, Cuv.and Val. Priacanthus, says Guenther, is a percoid fish with short snout, lower jaw and chin prominent, and small rough scales all over them and the body generally. The eye large, and the colour red, pink, or silvery.

1884. E. P. Ramsay, `Fisheries Exhibition Literature,' vol. v. p. 311:

"Another good table-fish is the `bull's-eye,' a beautiful salmon-red fish with small scales. . . . At times it enters the harbours in considerable numbers; but the supply is irregular."

<hw>Bulls-wool</hw>, n. colloquial name for the inner portion of the covering of the Stringybark-tree (q.v.). This is a dry finely fibrous substance, easily disintegrated by rubbing between the hands. It forms a valuable tinder for kindling a fire in the bush, and is largely employed for that purpose. It is not unlike the matted hair of a bull, and is reddish in colour, hence perhaps this nickname, which is common in the Tasmanian bush.

<hw>Bully</hw>, n. a Tasmanian fish, Blennius tasmanianus, Richards., family Blennidae.

<hw>Bulrush</hw>, n. See Wonga and Raupo.

<hw>Bung, to go</hw>, v. to fail, to become bankrupt. This phrase of English school-boy slang, meaning to go off with an explosion, to go to smash (also according to Barrere and Leland still in use among American thieves), is in very frequent use in Australia. In Melbourne in the times that followed the collapse of the land-boom it was a common expression to say that Mr. So-and-so had "gone bung," sc. filed his schedule or made a composition with creditors; or that an institution had "gone bung," sc. closed its doors, collapsed. In parts of Australia, in New South Wales and Queensland, the word "bung" is an aboriginal word meaning "dead," and even though the slang word be of English origin, its frequency of use in Australia may be due to the existence of the aboriginal word, which forms the last syllable in Billabong (q.v.), and in the aboriginal word milbung blind, literally, eye-dead.

(a) The aboriginal word.

1847. J. D. Lang, `Cooksland,' p. 430:

"A place called Umpie Bung, or the dead houses." [It is now a suburb of Brisbane, Humpy-bong.]

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. ii. p. 175 [in Blacks' pigeon English]:

"Missis bail bong, ony cawbawn prighten. (Missis not dead, only dreadfully frightened.)"

1882. A. J. Boyd, `Old Colonials,' p. 73:

"But just before you hands 'im [the horse] over and gets the money, he goes bong on you" (i.e. he dies).

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p: 142:

"Their [the blacks'] ordinary creed is very simple. `Directly me bung (die) me jump up white feller,' and this seems to be the height of their ambition."

1895. `The Age,' Dec. 21, p. 13, col. 6:

"`Then soon go bong, mummy,' said Ning, solemnly.

`Die,' corrected Clare. You mustn't talk blacks' language.'

`Suppose you go bong,' pursued Ning reflectively, `then you go to Heaven.'"

(b) The slang word.

1885. `Australian Printers' Keepsake,' p. 40:

"He was importuned to desist, as his musical talent had `gone bung,' probably from over-indulgence in confectionery."

1893. `The Argus,' April 15 (by Oriel), p. 13, col. 2:

"Still change is humanity's lot. It is but the space of a day Till cold is the damask cheek, and silent the eloquent tongue, All flesh is grass, says the preacher, like grass it is withered away, And we gaze on a bank in the evening, and lo, in the morn 'tis bung."

1893. Professor Gosman, `The Argus,' April 24, p. 7, col. 4:

"Banks might fail, but the treasures of thought could never go `bung.'"

1893. `The Herald' (Melbourne), April 25, p. 2, col. 4:

"Perhaps Sydney may supply us with a useful example. One member of the mischief-making brotherhood wrote the words `gone bung' under a notice on the Government Savings Bank, and he was brought before the Police Court charged with damaging the bank's property to the extent of 3d. The offender offered the Bench his views on the bank, but the magistrates bluntly told him his conduct was disgraceful, and fined him L 3 with costs, or two months' imprisonment."

<hw>Bunga</hw> or <hw>Bungy</hw>, n. a New Zealand settlers' corruption of the Maori word punga (q.v.).

<hw>Bunt</hw>, n. a Queensland fungus growing on wheat, fetid when crushed. Tilletia caries, Tul., N.O. Fungi.

<hw>Bunya-Bunya</hw>, n. aboriginal word. [Bunyi at heads of Burnett, Mary, and Brisbane rivers, Queensland; baanya, on the Darling Downs.] An Australian tree, Araucaria bidwillii, Hooker, with fruit somewhat like Bertholletia excelsa, N.O. Coniferae. Widgi-Widgi station on the Mary was the head-quarters for the fruit of this tree, and some thousands of blacks used to assemble there in the season to feast on it; it was at this assembly that they used to indulge in cannibalism ; every third year the trees were said to bear a very abundant crop. The Bunya-Bunya mountains in Queensland derive their name from this tree.

1843. L. Leichhardt, Letter in `Cooksland, by J. D. Lang, p. 82:

"The bunya-bunya tree is noble and gigantic, and its umbrella-like head overtowers all the trees of the bush."

1844. Ibid. p. 89:

"The kernel of the Bunya fruit has a very fine aroma, and it is certainly delicious eating."

1844. `Port Phillip Patriot,' July 25:

"The Bunya-Bunya or Araucaria on the seeds of which numerous tribes of blacks are accustomed to feed."

1879. W. R. Guilfoyle, `First Book of Australian Botany,' p. 58:

"A splendid timber tree of South Queensland, where it forms dense forests, one of the finest of the Araucaria tribe, attaining an approximate height of 200 feet. The Bunya-Bunya withstands drought better than most of the genus, and flourishes luxuriantly in and around Melbourne."

1887. J. Mathew, in Curr's `Australian Race,' vol. iii. p. 161:

[A full account.] "In laying up a store of bunyas, the blacks exhibited an unusual foresight. When the fruit was in season, they filled netted bags with the seeds, and buried them."

1889. Hill, quoted by J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 7:

"The cones shed their seeds, which are two to two and a half inches long by three-quarters of an inch broad; they are sweet before being perfectly ripe, and after that resemble roasted chestnuts in taste. They are plentiful once in three years, and when the ripening season arrives, which is generally in the month of January, the aborigina&ls assemble in large numbers from a great distance around, and feast upon them. Each tribe has its own particular set of trees, and of these each family has a certain number allotted, which are handed down from generation to generation with great exactness. The bunya is remarkable as being the only hereditary property which any of the aborigines are known to possess, and it is therefore protected by law. The food seems to have a fattening effect on the aborigines, and they eat large quantities of it after roasting it at the fire."

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 377:

"The `Bunya-bunya' of the aboriginals—a name invariably adopted by the colonists."

1892. J. Fraser, `Aborigines of New South Wales,' p. 50:

"The Bunya-bunya tree, in the proper season, bears a fir cone of great size—six to nine inches long-and this, when roasted, yields a vegetable pulp, pleasant to eat and nutritious."

1893. `Sydney Morning Herald,' Aug. 19, p. 7, col. 1:

"There is a beautiful bunya-bunya in a garden just beyond, its foliage fresh varnished by the rain, and toning from a rich darkness to the very spring tint of tender green."

<hw>Bunyip</hw>, n. (1) the aboriginal name of a fabulous animal. See quotations. For the traditions of the natives on this subject see Brough Smyth, `Aborigines of Victoria,' vol. i. p. 435.

1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 391:

"Certain large fossil bones, found in various parts of Australia Felix, have been referred by the natives, when consulted on the subject by the colonists, to a huge animal of extraordinary appearance, called in some districts the Bunyup, in others the Kianpraty, which they assert to be still alive. It is described as of amphibious character, inhabiting deep rivers, and permanent water-holes, having a round head, an elongated neck, with a body and tail resembling an ox. These reports have not been unattended to, and the bunyup is said to have been actually seen by many parties, colonists as well as aborigines. . . .[A skull which the natives said was that of a `piccinini Kianpraty' was found by Professor Owen to be that of a young calf. The Professor] considers it all but impossible that such a large animal as the bunyup of the natives can be now living in the country. [Mr. Westgarth suspects] it is only a tradition of the alligator or crocodile of the north."

1849. W. S. Macleay, `Tasmanian journal,' vol. iii. p. 275:

"On the skull now exhibited at the Colonial Museum of Sydney as that of the Bunyip."

1855. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes,' p. 214:

"Did my reader ever hear of the Bunyip (fearful name to the aboriginal native!) a sort of `half-horse, half-alligator,' haunting the wide rushy swamps and lagoons of the interior?"

1859. H. Kingsley, `Geoffrey Hamlyn,' p. 258:

"The river is too deep, child, and the Bunyip lives in the water under the stones."

1865. `Once a Week,' Dec. 31, p. 45, The Bulla Bulla Bunyip':

"Beyond a doubt, in `Lushy Luke's' belief, a Bunyip had taken temporary lodgings outside the town. This bete noire of the Australian bush Luke asserted he had often seen in bygone times. He described it as being bigger than an elephant, in shape like a `poley' bullock, with eyes like live coals, and with tusks like a walrus's. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"What the Bunyip is, I cannot pretend to say, but I think it is highly probable that the stories told by both old bushmen and blackfellows, of some bush beast bigger and fiercer than any commonly known in Australia, are founded on fact. Fear and the love of the marvellous may have introduced a considerable element of exaggeration into these stories, but I cannot help suspecting that the myths have an historical basis."

1872. C. Gould, `Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania,' 1872, p. 33:

"The belief in the Bunyip was just as prevalent among the natives in parts hundreds of miles distant from any stream in which alligators occur. . . . Some other animal must be sought for." . . . [Gould then quotes from `The Mercury' of April 26, 1872, an extract from the `Wagga Advertiser']: "There really is a Bunyip or Waa-wee, actually existing not far from us . . . in the Midgeon Lagoon, sixteen miles north of Naraudera . . . I saw a creature coming through the water with tremendous rapidity . . . . The animal was about half as long again as an ordinary retriever dog, the hair all over its body was jet black and shining, its coat was very long." [Gould cites other instances, and concludes that the Bunyip is probably a seal.]

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 202:

"In the south-eastern part of Australia the evil spirit of the natives is called Bunjup, a monster which is believed to dwell in the lakes. It has of late been supposed that this is a mammal of considerable size that has not yet been discovered . . . is described as a monster with countless eyes and ears. . . . He has sharp claws, and can run so fast that it is difficult to escape him. He is cruel, and spares no one either young or old."

1894. `The Argus,' June 23, p. 11, col. 4:

"The hollow boom so often heard on the margin of reedy swamps —more hollow and louder by night than day—is the mythical bunyip, the actual bittern."

(2) In a secondary sense, a synonym for an impostor.

1852. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes' (edition 1855), p. 214:

"One advantage arose from the aforesaid long-deferred discovery —a new and strong word was adopted into the Australian vocabulary: Bunyip became, and remains a Sydney synonoyme for impostor, pretender, humbug, and the like. The black fellows, however, unaware of the extinction, by superior authority, of their favourite loup-garou, still continue to cherish the fabulous bunyip in their shuddering imagination."

1853. W. C. Wentworth—Speech in August quoted by Sir Henry Parkes in `Fifty Years of Australian History' (1892), vol. i. p. 41:

"They had been twitted with attempting to create a mushroom, a Brummagem, a bunyip aristocracy; but I need scarcely observe that where argument fails ridicule is generally resorted to for aid."

<hw>Burnet, Native</hw>, n. The name is given in Australia to the plant Acaena ovina, Cunn., N.O. Rosaceae.

<hw>Burnett Salmon</hw>, n. one of the names given to the fish Ceratodus forsteri, Krefft. See Burramundi.

<hw>Burnt-stuff</hw>, n. a geological term used by miners. See quotation.

1853. Mrs. Chas. Clancy, `Lady's Visit to Gold Diggings,' p. 112:

"The top, or surface soil, for which a spade or shovel is used, was of clay. This was succeeded by a strata almost as hard as iron—technically called `burnt-stuff'—which robbed the pick of its points nearly as soon as the blacksmith had steeled them at a charge of 2s. 6d. a point."

<hw>Bur</hw>, n. In Tasmania the name is applied to Acaena rosaceae, Vahl., N.O. Rosaceae.

<hw>Burramundi</hw>, or <hw>Barramunda</hw>, n. a fresh-water fish, Osteoglossum leichhardtii, Guenth., family Osteoglossidae, found in the Dawson and Fitzroy Rivers, Queensland. The name is also incorrectly applied by the colonists to the large tidal perch of the Fitzroy River, Queensland, Lates calcarifer, Guenth., a widely distributed fish in the East Indies, and to Ceratodus forsteri, Krefft, family Sirenidae, of the Mary and Burnett Rivers, Queensland. Burramundi is the aboriginal name for O. leichhardtii. The spelling barramunda is due to the influence of barracouta (q.v.). See Perch.

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 189:

"There is a fish too at Rockhampton called the burra mundi,— I hope I spell the name rightly,—which is very commendable."

1880. Guenther, `Study of Fishes,' p. 357:

"Ceratodus. . . . Two species, C. forsteri and C. miolepis, are known from fresh-waters of Queensland. . . . Locally the settlers call it `flathead,' `Burnett or Dawson salmon,' and the aborigines `barramunda,' a name which they apply also to other largescaled fresh-water fishes, as the Osteoglossum leichhardtii. . . . The discovery of Ceratodus does not date farther back than the year 1870."

1882. W. Macleay, `Descriptive Catalogue of Australian fishes' ('Proceedings of the Linnaean Society of New South Wales,' vol. vi. p. 256):

"Osteoglossum leichhardtii, Gunth. Barramundi of the aborigines of the Dawson River."

1892. Baldwin Spencer, `Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria,' vol. iv. [Note on the habits of Ceratodus forsterii]

"It has two common names, one of which is the `Burnett Salmon' and the other the `Barramunda" . . . the latter name . . . is properly applied to a very different form, a true teleostean fish (Osteoglossum leichhardtii) which is found . . . further north . . . in the Dawson and Fitzroy . . . Mr. Saville Kent states that the Ceratodus is much prized as food. This is a mistake, for, as a matter of fact, it is only eaten by Chinese and those who can afford to get nothing better."

<hw>Burrawang</hw>, or <hw>Burwan</hw>, n. an Australian nut-tree, Macrozamia spiralis, Miq.

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. i. p. 221:

"The burwan is a nut much relished by our natives, who prepare it by roasting and immersion in a running stream, to free it from its poisonous qualities."

1851. J. Henderson, `Excursions in New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 238

"The Burrowan, which grows in a sandy soil, and produces an inedible fruit, resembling the pine-apple in appearance."

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 41:

"Burrawang nut, so called because they used to be, and are to some extent now, very common about Burrawang, N.S.W. The nuts are relished by the aboriginals. An arrowroot of very good quality is obtained from them."

<hw>Bush</hw>, n. Not originally an Australian application. "Recent, and probably a direct adoption of the Dutch Bosch, in colonies originally Dutch" (`O.E.D.'), [quoting (1780) Forster, in `Phil. Trans.' lxxi. 2, "The common Bush-cat of the Cape;" and (1818) Scott, `Tapestr. Chamber,' "When I was in the Bush, as the Virginians call it"]. "Woodland, country more or less covered with natural wood applied to the uncleared or untitled districts in the British Colonies which are still in a state of nature, or largely so, even though not wooded; and by extension to the country as opposed to the towns." (`O.E.D.')

1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 48:

"I have spent a good deal of my time in the woods, or bush, as it is called here.'

1836. Ross, `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 85:

"With the exception of two or three little farms, comprising about 20 or 30 acres of cultivation, all was `bush' as it is colonially called. The undergrowth was mostly clear, being covered only with grass or herbs, with here and there some low shrubs."

1837. J. D. Lang, `New South Wales,' vol. i. p. 253:

"His house was well enough for the bush, as the country is generally termed in the colony."

1855. From a letter quoted in Wathen's `The Golden Colony,' p. 117:

"`The Bush,' when the word is used in the towns, means all the uninclosed and uncultivated country . . . when in the country, `the Bush' means more especially the forest. The word itself has been borrowed from the Cape, and is of Dutch origin."

1857. `The Argus,' Dec. 14, p. 5, col. 7:

"`Give us something to do in or about Melbourne, not away in the bush,' says the deputation of the unemployed."

1861. T. McCombie,' Australian Sketches,' p. 123:

"At first the eternal silence of the bush is oppressive, but a short sojourn is sufficient to accustom a neophyte to the new scene, and he speedily becomes enamoured of it."

1865. J. F. Mortlock, `Experiences of a Convict,' p. 83:

"The `bush,' a generic term synonymous with `forest' or `jungle,' applied to all land in its primaeval condition, whether occupied by herds or not."

1872. A. McFarland, `Illawarra and Manaro,' p. 113:

"All the advantages of civilized life have been surrendered for the bush, its blanket and gunyah."

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 250:

"The technical meaning of the word `bush.' The bush is the gum-tree forest, with which so great a part of Australia is covered, that folk who follow a country life are invariably said to live in the bush. Squatters who look after their own runs always live in the bush, even though their sheep are pastured on plains. Instead of a town mouse and a country mouse in Australia, there would be a town mouse and a bush mouse; but mice living in the small country towns would still be bush mice."

Ibid. c. xx. p. 299:

"Nearly every place beyond the influence of the big towns is called `bush,' even though there should not be a tree to be seen around."

1883. G. W. Rusden, `History of Australia,' vol. i. p. 67, n.:

"Bush was a general term for the interior. It might be thick bush, open bush, bush forest, or scrubby bushterms which explain themselves."

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 40:

"The first thing that strikes me is the lifeless solitude of the bush. . . . There is a deep fascination about the freedom of the bush."

1890. E. W. Hornung [Title]:

"A Bride from the Bush."

1896. `Otago Daily Times,' Jan. 27, p. 2, col. 5:

"Almost the whole of New South Wales is covered with bush. It is not the bush as known in New Zealand. It is rather a park-like expanse, where the trees stand widely apart, and where there is grass on the soil between them."

<hw>Bush</hw>, adj. or in composition, not always easy to distinguish, the hyphen depending on the fancy of the writer.

1836. Ross, `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 75:

"The round trundling of our cart wheels, it is well known, does not always improve the labours of Macadam, much less a bush road."

1848. Letter by Mrs. Perry, given in Canon Goodman's `Church in Victoria, during Episcopate of Bishop Perry,'p. 75:

"A hard bush sofa, without back or ends."

1849. J. Sidney, `Emigrants' Journal, and Travellers' Magazine,' p. 40 (Letter from Caroline Chisholm):

"What I would particularly recommend to new settlers is `Bush Partnership'—Let two friends or neighbours agree to work together, until three acres are cropped, dividing the work, the expense, and the produce—this partnership will grow apace; I have made numerous bush agreements of this kind . . . I never knew any quarrel or bad feeling result from these partnerships, on the contrary, I believe them calculated to promote much neighbourly good will; but in the association of a large number of strangers, for an indefinite period, I have no confidence."

1857. W. Westgarth, `Victoria,' c. xi. p. 250:

"The gloomy antithesis of good bushranging and bad bush-roads."

[Bush-road, however, does not usually mean a made-road through the bush, but a road which has not been formed, and is in a state of nature except for the wear of vehicles upon it, and perhaps the clearing of trees and scrub.]

1864. `The Reader,' April 2, p. 40, col. 1 (`O.E.D.'):

"The roads from the nascent metropolis still partook mainly of the random character of `bush tracks.'"

1865. W. Hewitt, `Discovery in Australia,' vol. ii. p. 211:

"Dr. Wills offered to go himself in the absence of any more youthful and, through bush seasoning, qualified person."

1880. `Blackwood's Magazine,' Feb., p. 169 [Title]:

"Bush-Life in Queensland."

1881. R. M. Praed, `Policy and Passion,' c. i. p. 59:

"The driver paused before a bush inn."

[In Australia the word "inn" is now rare. The word "hotel" has supplanted it.]

1889. Cassell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol. iv.p. 3:

"Not as bush roads go. The Australian habit is here followed of using `bush' for country, though no word could be more ludicrously inapplicable, for there is hardly anything on the way that can really be called a bush."

1894. `Sydney Morning Herald' (exact date lost):

"Canada, Cape Colony, and Australia have preserved the old significance of Bush—Chaucer has it so—as a territory on which there are trees; it is a simple but, after all, a kindly development that when a territory is so unlucky as to have no trees, sometimes, indeed, to be bald of any growth whatever, it should still be spoken of as if it had them."

1896. Rolf Boldrewood, in preface to `The Man from Snowy River':

"It is not easy to write ballads descriptive of the bushland of Australia, as on light consideration would appear."

1896. H. Lawson, `While the Billy boils,' p. 104:

"About Byrock we met the bush liar in all his glory. He was dressed like—like a bush larrikin. His name was Jim."

<hw>Bush-faller</hw>, n. one who cuts down timber in the bush.

1882. `Pall Mall Gazette,' June 29, p. 2, col. 1:

"A broken-down, deserted shanty, inhabited once, perhaps, by rail-splitters or bush-fallers." [`O.E.D.,' from which this quotation is taken, puts (?) before the meaning; but "To fall" is not uncommon in Australia for "to fell."]

<hw>Bush-fire</hw>, n. forests and grass on fire in hot summers.

1868. C. Dilke, `Greater Britain,' vol. ii. part iii. c. iii. p. 32:

"The smoke from these bush-fires extends for hundreds of miles to sea."

1884. Rolf Boldrewood, `Melbourne Memories,' c. xxii. p. 156:

"A reserve in case of bush-fires and bad seasons."

<hw>Bush-lawyer</hw>, n. (1) A Bramble. See Lawyer.

(2) Name often used for a layman who fancies he knows all about the law without consulting a solicitor. He talks a great deal, and `lays down the law.'

1896. H. G. Turner, `Lecture on J. P. Fawkner':

"For some years he cultivated and developed his capacity for rhetorical argument by practising in the minor courts of law in Tasmania as a paid advocate, a position which in those days, and under the exceptional circumstances of the Colony, was not restricted to members of the legal profession, and the term Bush Lawyer probably takes its origin from the practice of this period."

<hw>Bush-magpie</hw>, n. an Australian bird, more commonly called a Magpie (q.v.).

1888. Cassell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol. ii. p. 235:

". . . the omnipresent bush-magpie. Here he may warble all the day long on the liquid, mellifluous notes of his Doric flute, fit pipe indeed for academic groves . . . sweetest and brightest, most cheery and sociable of all Australian birds."

<hw>Bushman</hw>, n. (1) Settler in the bush. Used to distinguish country residents from townsfolk.

1852. `Blackwood's Magazine,' p. 522 (`O.E.D.'):

"Where the wild bushman eats his loathly fare."

1880. J. Mathew, song, `The Bushman:'

"How weary, how dreary the stillness must be! But oh! the lone bushman is dreaming of me."

1886. Frank Cowan: `Australia; a Charcoal Sketch':

"The bushman . . . Gunyah, his bark hovel; Damper, his unleavened bread baked in the ashes; Billy, his tea-kettle, universal pot and pan and bucket; Sugar-bag, his source of saccharine, a bee-tree; Pheasant, his facetious metaphoric euphism for Liar, quasi Lyre-bird; Fit for Woogooroo, for Daft or Idiotic; Brumby, his peculiar term for wild horse; Scrubber, wild ox; Nuggeting, calf-stealing; Jumbuck, sheep, in general; an Old-man, grizzled wallaroo or kangaroo; Station, Run, a sheep- or cattle-ranch; and Kabonboodgery—an echo of the sound diablery for ever in his ears, from dawn to dusk of Laughing Jackass and from dusk to dawn of Dingo—his half-bird -and-beast-like vocal substitute for Very Good. . . ."

1896. H.Lawson, `While the Billy boils,' p. 71:

"He was a typical bushman, . . . and of the old bush school; one of those slight active little fellows, whom we used to see in cabbage-tree hats, Crimean shirts, strapped trousers, and elastic-side boots."

(2) One who has knowledge of the bush, and is skilled in its ways. A "good bushman" is especially used of a man who can find his way where there are no tracks.

1868. J. Bonwick, `John Batman, Founder of Victoria,' pp. 78, 79:

"It is hardly likely that so splendid a bushman as Mr. Batman would venture upon such an expedition had he not been well. In fact a better bushman at this time could not be met with."

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. ii. p. 3:

"The worst bushman had to undertake the charge of the camp, cook the provisions, and look after the horses, during the absence of the rest on flying excursions."

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 40:

"Very slight landmarks will serve to guide a good bushman, for no two places are really exactly alike."

1891. Rolf Boldrewood, `Sydney-side Saxon,' p. 78:

"One of the best bushmen in that part of the country: the men said he could find his way over it blindfold, or on the darkest night that ever was."

(3) Special sense. See quotation.

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 80:

"Some were what is termed, par excellence, bushmen—that is, men who split rails, get posts, shingles, take contracts for building houses, stockyards, etc.—men, in fact, who work among timber continually, sometimes felling and splitting, sometimes sawing."

<hw>Bushmanship</hw>, n. knowledge of the ways of the bush.

1882. A. J. Boyd, `Old Colonials,' p. 261:

"A good laugh at the bushmanship displayed."

<hw>Bushranger</hw>, n. one who ranges or traverses the bush, far and wide; an Australian highwayman; in the early days usually an escaped convict. Shakspeare uses the verb `to range' in this connection.

"Then thieves and robbers range abroad unseen In murders and in outrage, boldly here." (`Richard II.,' III. ii. 39.)

"Ranger" is used in modern English for one who protects and not for one who robs; as `the Ranger' of a Park.

1806. May 4, `Sydney Gazette' or `New South Wales Advertiser, given in `History of New South Wales,' p. 265:

"Yesterday afternoon, William Page, the bushranger repeatedly advertised, was apprehended by three constables."

1820. W. C. Wentworth, `Description of New South Wales,' p. 166:

[The settlements in Van Diemen's Land have] "been infested for many years past by a banditti of runaway convicts, who have endangered the person and property of every one. . . . These wretches, who are known in the colony by the name of bushrangers. . ."

1820. Lieut. Chas. Jeffreys, `Van Dieman's [sic] Land,' p. 15:

"The supposition . . . rests solely on the authority of the Bush Rangers, a species of wandering brigands, who will be elsewhere described."

1838. T. L. `Mitchell, `Three Expeditions,' vol. i. p. 9:

"Bushrangers, a sub-genus in the order banditti, which happily can now only exist there in places inaccessible to the mounted police."

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 81:

"This country [Van Diemen's Land] is as much infested as New South Wales with robbers, runaway convicts, or, as they are termed, Bush-rangers."

1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 77:

"The whole region was infested by marauding bands of bush-rangers, terrible after nightfall."

1887. J. F. Hogan, `The Irish in Australia, p. 252:

"Whilst he was engaged in this duty in Victoria, a band of outlaws—'bushrangers' as they are colonially termed— who had long defied capture, and had carried on a career of murder and robbery, descended from their haunts in the mountain ranges."

<hw>Bush-ranging</hw>, n. the practice of the Bushranger (q.v.).

1827. `Captain Robinson's Report,' Dec. 23

"It was a subject of complaint among the settlers, that their assigned servants could not be known from soldiers, owing to their dress; which very much assisted the crime of `bush-ranging.'"

<hw>Bush-scrubber</hw>, n. a bushman's word for a boor, bumpkin, or slatternly person. See Scrubber.

1896. Modern. Up-country manservant on seeing his new mistress:

"My word! a real lady! she's no bush-scrubber!"

<hw>Bush-telegraph</hw>, n. Confederates of bushrangers who supply them with secret information of the movements of the police.

1878. `The Australian,' vol. i. p. 507:

"The police are baffled by the false reports of the confederates and the number and activity of the bush telegraphs."

1893. Kenneth Mackay, `Out Back,' p. 74:

"A hint dropped in this town set the bush telegraphs riding in all directions."

<hw>Bushwoman</hw>, n. See quotation.

1892. `The Australasian,' April 9, p. 707, col. 1:

"But who has championed the cause of the woman of the bush— or, would it be more correct to say bushwoman, as well as bushman?—and allowed her also a claim to participate in the founding of a nation?"

<hw>Bush-wren</hw>, n. See Wren.

1888. W. L. Buller, `Birds of New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 108:

[A full description.]

<hw>Bushed</hw>, adj., quasi past participle, lost in the bush; then, lost or at a loss.

1661. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 115:

"I left my seat to reach a shelter, which was so many miles off, that I narrowly escaped being `bushed.'"

1865. W. Howitt, `Discovery in Australia,' vol. i. p. 283:

"The poor youth, new to the wilds, had, in the expressive phrase of the colonials, got bushed, that is, utterly bewildered, and thus lost all idea of the direction that he ought to pursue."

1885. R. M. Praed, `Australian Life,' p. 29:

"I get quite bushed in these streets."

1896. `The Argus,' Jan. 1, p. 4, col. 9:

"The Ministry did not assume its duty of leading the House, and Mr. Higgins graphically described the position of affairs by stating that the House was `bushed;' while Mr. Shiels compared the situation to a rudderless ship drifting hither and thither."

<hw>Bustard</hw>, n. "There are about twenty species, mostly of Africa, several of India, one of Australia, and three properly European." (`Century.') The Australian variety is Eupodotis australis, Gray, called also Wild Turkey, Native Turkey, and Plain Turkey. See Turkey.

<hw>Buster, Southerly</hw>, n. The word is a corruption of `burster,' that which bursts. A sudden and violent squall from the south. The name, used first in Sydney, has been adopted also in other Australian cities. See Brickfielder.

1863. F. Fowler, in `Athenaeum,' Feb. 21, p. 264, col. 1:

"The cold wind or southerly buster which . . . carries a thick cloud of dust . . . across the city."

1878. `The Australian,' vol. i. p. 587:

"Southerly Busters by `Ironbark.'"

1886. F. Cowan, `Australia, a Charcoal Sketch':

"The Buster and Brickfielder: austral red-dust blizzard; and red-hot Simoom."

1889. Rev. J. H. Zillmann, `Australian Life,' p. 40:

"Generally these winds end in what is commonly called a `southerly buster.' This is preceded by a lull in the hot wind; then suddenly (as it has been put) it is as though a bladder of cool air were exploded, and the strong cool southerly air drives up with tremendous force. However pleasant the change of temperature may be it is no mere pastime to be caught in a `southerly buster,' but the drifting rain which always follows soon sets matters right, allays the dust, and then follows the calm fresh bracing wind which is the more delightful by contrast with the misery through which one has passed for three long dreary days and nights."

1893. `The Australasian,' Aug. 12, p. 302, col. 1:

"You should see him with Commodore Jack out in the teeth of the `hard glad weather,' when a southerly buster sweeps up the harbour."

1896. H. A.Hunt, in `Three Essays on Australian Weather' (Sydney), p. 16:

An Essay on Southerly Bursters, . . . with Four Photographs and Five Diagrams."

[Title of an essay which was awarded the prize of L 25 offered by the Hon. Ralph Abercrombie.]

<hw>Butcher</hw>, n. South Australian slang for a long drink of beer, so-called (it is said) because the men of a certain butchery in Adelaide used this refreshment regularly; cf. "porter" in England, after the drink of the old London porters.

<hw>Butcher-bird</hw>, n. The name is in use elsewhere, but in Australia it is applied to the genus Cracticus. The varieties are—

The Butcher-bird— Cracticus torquatus, Lath.; formerly C. destructor, Gould.

Black B.— C. quoyi, Less.

Black-throated B.— C. nigrigularis, Gould.

Grey B. (Derwent Jackass)— C. cinereus, Gould (see Jackass).

Pied B.— C. picatus, Gould.

Rufous B.— C. rufescens, De Vis.

Silver-backed B.— C. argenteus, Gould.

Spalding's B.— C. spaldingi, Masters.

White-winged B.— C. leucopterus, Cav.

The bird is sometimes called a Crow-shrike.

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 213:

"Mr. Caley observes—Butcher-bird. This bird used frequently to come into some green wattle-trees near my house, and in wet weather was very noisy; from which circumstance it obtained the name of `Rain-bird.'"

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. ii. Pl. 52:

"Cracticus Destructor. Butcher Bird, name given by colonists of Swan River, a permanent resident in New South Wales and South Australia. I scarcely know of any Australian bird so generally dispersed."

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 50:

"Close to the station one or two butcher-birds were piping their morning song, a strange little melody with not many notes, which no one who has heard it will ever forget."

<hw>Buttercup</hw>, n. The familiar English flower is represented in Australia and Tasmania by various species of Ranunculus, such as R. lappaceus, Sm., N.O. Ranunculaceae.

<hw>Butter-fish</hw>, n. a name given in Australia to Oligorus mitchellii, Castln. (see Murray Perch); in Victoria, to Chilodactylus nigricans, Richards. (see Morwong); in New Zealand, to Coridodax pullus, Forst., called also Kelp-fish. The name is in allusion to their slippery coating of mucus. See Kelp-fish.

1850. J. B. Clutterbuck, `Port Phillip,' vol. iii. p. 44:

"In the bay are large quantities of . . . butter-fish."

1880. Guenther, `Study of Fishes,' p. 533:

"The `butter-fish,' or `kelp-fish' of the colonists of New Zealand (C. pullus), is prized as food, and attains to a weight of four or five pounds."

<hw>Butterfly-conch</hw>, n. Tasmanian name for a marine univalve mollusc, Voluta papillosa, Swainson.

<hw>Butterfly-fish</hw>, n. a New Zealand sea-fish, Gasterochisma melampus, Richards., one of the Nomeidae. The ventral fins are exceedingly broad and long, and can be completely concealed in a fold of the abdomen. The New Zealand fish is so named from these fins; the European Butterfly-fish, Blennius ocellaris, derives its name from the spots on its dorsal fin, like the eyes in a peacock's tail or butterfly's wing.

<hw>Butterfly-Lobster</hw>, n. a marine crustacean, so called from the leaf-like expansion of the antennae. It is "the highly specialized macrourous decapod Ibacus Peronii." (W. A. Haswell.)

1880. Mrs. Meredith, `Tasmanian Friends and Foes,' p. 248:

"Those curious crustaceans that I have heard called `butterfly lobsters'. . . the shell of the head and body (properly known as the carapace) expands into something like wing-forms, entirely hiding the legs beneath them."

<hw>Butterfly-Plant</hw>, n. a small flowering plant, Utricularia dichotoma, Lab., N.O. Leutibularina.

<hw>Button-grass</hw>, n. Schaenus sphaerocephalus, Poiret, N.O. Cyperaceae. The grass is found covering barren boggy land in Tasmania, but is not peculiar to Tasmania. So called from the round shaped flower (capitate inflorescence), on a thin stalk four or five feet long, like a button on the end of a foil.

<hw>Buzzard</hw>, n. an English bird-name applied in Australia to Gypoictinia melanosternon, Gould, the Black-breasted Buzzard.

C

<hw>Cabbage Garden</hw>, a name applied to the colony of Victoria by Sir John Robertson, the Premier of New South Wales, in contempt for its size.

1889. Rev. J. H. Zillmann, `Australian Life,' p. 30:

"`The cabbage garden,' old cynical Sir John Robertson, of New South Wales, once called Victoria, but a garden notwithstanding. Better at any rate `the cabbage garden' than the mere sheep run or cattle paddock."

<hw>Cabbage-Palm</hw>, n. same as Cabbage-tree (1) (q.v.).

<hw>Cabbage-tree</hw>, n (1)Name given to various palm trees of which the heart of the young leaves is eaten like the head of a cabbage. In Australia the name is applied to the fan palm, Livistona inermis, R. Br., and more commonly to Livistona australis, Martius. In New Zealand the name is given to various species of Cordyline, especially to Cordyline indivisa. See also Flame-tree (2).

1769. `Capt. Cook's Journal,' ed. Wharton (1893), p. 144:

"We likewise found one Cabage Tree which we cut down for the sake of the cabage."

1802. G.Barrington, `History of New South Wales,' p. 60:

"Even the ships crews helped, except those who brought the cabbage trees."

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discovery in Australia,' vol. ii. c. iv. p. 132:

"Cabbage-tree . . . grew in abundance."

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 72:

"Several of my companions suffered by eating too much of the cabbage-palm."

1865. W. Howitt, `Discovery in Australia,' vol. i. p. 414:

"Clumps of what the people of King George's Sound call cabbage-trees."

1867. F. Hochstetter, `New Zealand,' p. 240:

"There stands an isolated `cabbage-tree' (Ti of the natives; Cordyline Australis) nearly thirty feet high, with ramified branches and a crown of luxuriant growth."

(2) A large, low-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, made out of the leaves of the Cabbage-tree (Livistona).

1802. G. Barrington, `History of New South Wales,' 335:

"This hat, made of white filaments of the cabbage-tree, seemed to excite the attention of the whole party."

1852. G. F. P., `Gold Pen and Pencil Sketches,' xv.:

"With scowl indignant flashing from his eye, As though to wither each unshaven wretch, Jack jogs along, nor condescends reply, As to the price his cabbage-tree might fetch."

1864. `Once a Week,' Dec. 31, p. 45, The Bulla Bulla Bunyip':

"Lushy Luke endeavoured to sober himself by dipping his head in the hollowed tree-trunk which serves for the water-trough of an up-country Australian inn. He forgot, however, to take off his `cabbage-tree' before he ducked, and angry at having made a fool of himself, he gave fierce orders, in a thick voice, for his men to fall in, shoulder arms, and mark time."

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. pp. 160, 161:

"The cabbage-palm was also a new species, called by Mr. Brown the Livistonia inermis. It was abundant; but the cabbage (the heart of the young budding leaves) too small to be useful as an article of food, at least to a ship's company. But the leaves were found useful. These dried and drawn into strips were plaited into hats for the men, and to this day the cabbage-tree hat is very highly esteemed by the Australians, as a protection from the sun, and allowing free ventilation." [Note]: "A good cabbage-tree hat, though it very much resembles a common straw hat, will fetch as much as L3."

1878. `The Australian,' vol. i. p. 527:

". . . trousers, peg-top shaped, and wore a new cabbage-tree hat."

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 33:

"A brand-new cabbage-tree hat protected his head."

<hw>Cabbage-tree Mob</hw>, and <hw>Cabbagites</hw>, obsolete Australian slang for modern Larrikins (q.v)., because wearing cabbage-tree hats.

1852. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes `(edition 1855), p. 17:

"There are to be found round the doors of the Sydney Theatre a sort of `loafers' known as the Cabbage-tree mob,—a class who, in the spirit of the ancient tyrant, one might excusably wish had but one nose in order to make it a bloody one. . . . Unaware of the propensities of the cabbagites he was by them furiously assailed."

<hw>Cad</hw>, n. name in Queensland for the Cicada (q.v.).

1896. `The Australasian,' Jan. 11, p. 76, col. 1:

"From the trees sounds the shrill chirp of large green cicada (native cads as the bushmen call them)."

<hw>Caddie</hw>, n. a bush name for the slouch-hat or wide-awake. In the Australian bush the brim is generally turned down at the back and sometimes all round.

<hw>Cadet</hw>, n. term used in New Zealand, answering to the Australian Colonial Experience, or jackaroo (q.v.).

1866. Lady Barker, `Station Life in New Zealand,' p. 68:

"A cadet, as they are called—he is a clergyman's son learning sheepfarming under our auspices."

1871. C. L. Money, `Knocking About in New Zealand,' p. 6:

"The military designation of cadet was applied to any young fellow who was attached to a sheep or cattle station in the same capacity as myself. He was `neither flesh nor fowl nor good red herring,' neither master nor man. He was sent to work with the men, but not paid."

<hw>Caloprymnus</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus called the Plain Kangaroo-Rat. (Grk. kalos, beautiful, and prumnon, hinder part.) It has bright flanks. See Kangaroo-Rat.

<hw>Camp</hw>, n. (1) A place to live in, generally temporary; a rest.

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' pp. 46, 47:

" I was shown my camp, which was a slab but about a hundred yards away from the big house. . . . I was rather tired, and not sorry for the prospect of a camp."

(2) A place for mustering cattle.

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 64:

"All about the run, at intervals of fire or six miles, are cattle-camps, and the cattle that belong to the surrounding districts are mustered on their respective camps."

1896. A. B. Paterson, `Man from Snowy River,' p. 26:

"There was never his like in the open bush, And never his match on the cattle-camps."

(3) In Australia, frequently used for a camping-out expedition. Often in composition with "out," a camp-out.

1869. `Colonial Monthly,' vol. iv.p. 289:

"A young fellow with even a moderate degree of sensibility must be excited by the novelty of his first `camp-out' in the Australian bush."

1880. R. H. Inglis, `Australian Cousins,' p. 233:

"We're going to have a regular camp; we intend going to Port Hocking to have some shooting, fishing, and general diversion."

(4) A name for Sydney and for Hobart, now long obsolete, originating when British military forces were stationed there.

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 70:

"It is the old resident—he who still calls Sydney, with its population of twelve thousand inhabitants, the camp,—that can appreciate these things: he who still recollects the few earth-huts and solitary tents scattered through the forest brush surrounding Sydney Cove (known properly then indeed by the name of `The Camp')."

1852. Mrs. Meredith, `My Home in Tasmania,' vol. i. p. 193:

"Living during the winter in Hobarton, usually called `the camp,' in those days."

<hw>Camp</hw>, v. (1) Generally in composition with "out," to sleep in the open air, usually without any covering. Camping out is exceedingly common in Australia owing to the warmth of the climate and the rarity of rain.

1867. Lady Barker, `Station Life in New Zealand,' p. 125:

"I like to hear of benighted or belated travellers when they have had to `camp out,' as it is technically called."

1875. R. and F. Hill, `What we saw in Australia,' p. 208:

"So the Bishop determined to `camp-out' at once where a good fire could be made."

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. ii. p. 43:

"There is room here for fifty, rolled up on the floor; and should that fail them, there is no end of other places; or the bush, as a fall back, where, indeed, some of them prefer camping as it is."

1891. `The Australasian,' Nov. 14, p. 963, col. 1: `A Lady in the Kermadecs':

"For three months I `camped out' there alone, shepherding a flock of Angoras."

(2) By extension, to sleep in any unusual place, or at an unusual time.

1893. `Review of Reviews' (Australasian ed. ), March, p. 51:

"The campaign came to an abrupt and somewhat inglorious close, Sir George Dibbs having to `camp' in a railway carriage, and Sir Henry Parkes being flood-bound at Quirindi."

1896. Modern:

"Visitor,—`Where's your Mother?' `Oh, she's camping.'" [The lady was enjoying an afternoon nap indoors.]

(3) To stop for a rest in the middle of the day.

1891. Mrs. Cross (Ada Cambridge), `The Three Miss Kings,' p. 180:

"We'll have lunch first before we investigate the caves—if it's agreeable to you. I will take the horses out, and we'll find a nice place to camp before they come."

(4) To floor or prove superior to. Slang.

1886. C. H. Kendall, `Poems,' p. 207:

"At punching oxen you may guess There's nothing out can camp him. He has, in fact, the slouch and dress, Which bullock-driver stamp him."

<hw>Camphor-wood</hw>, n. an Australian timber; the wood of Callitris (Frenea) robusta, Cunn., N.O. Coniferae. Called also Light, Black, White, Dark, and Common Pine, as the wood varies much in its colouring. See Pine.

<hw>Canajong</hw>, n. Tasmanian aboriginal name for the plants called Pig-faces (q.v.).

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 44:

"Pig-faces. It was the canajong of the Tasmanian aboriginal. The fleshy fruit is eaten raw by the aborigines: the leaves are eaten baked."

<hw>Canary</hw>, n. (1) A bird-name used in New Zealand for Clitonyx ochrocephala, called also the Yellow-head. Dwellers in the back-blocks of Australia apply the name to the Orange-fronted Ephthianura (E. aurifrons, Gould), and sometimes to the White-throated Gerygone (Gerygone albigularis).

1888. W. L. Buller, `Birds of New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 56:

"Clitonyx Ochrocephala. Yellow-head. `Canary' of the colonists."

(2) Slang for a convict. See quotations. As early as 1673, `canary-bird' was thieves' English for a gaol-bird.

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 117:

"Convicts of but recent migration are facetiously known by the name of canaries, by reason of the yellow plumage in which they are fledged at the period of landing."

1870. T. H. Braim, `New Homes,' c. ii. p. 72:

"The prisoners were dressed in yellow-hence called `canary birds.'"

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Colonial Reformer,' c. vi. p. 49:

"Can't you get your canaries off the track here for about a quarter of an hour, and let my mob of cattle pass ?"

<hw>Candle-nut</hw>, n. The name is given in Queensland to the fruit of Aleurites moluccana, Willd., N.O. Euphorbiaceae. The nuts are two or more inches diameter. The name is often given to the tree itself, which grows wild in Queensland and is cultivated in gardens there under the name of A. triloba, Forst. It is not endemic in Australia, but the vernacular name of Candle-nut is confined to Australia and the Polynesian Islands.

1883. F. M. Bailey, `Synopsis of Queensland Flora,' p. 472:

"Candle-nut. The kernels when dried and stuck on a reed are used by the Polynesian Islanders as a substitute for candles, and as an article of food in New Georgia. These nuts resemble walnuts somewhat in size and taste. When pressed they yield a large proportion of pure palatable oil, used as a drying-oil for paint, and known as country walnut-oil and artists' oil."

<hw>Cane-grass</hw>, n. i.q. Bamboo-grass (q.v.).

<hw>Cape-Barren Goose</hw>, n. See Goose.

1852. Mrs. Meredith, `My Home in Tasmania,' vol. i. p. 114, [Footnote]:

"The `Cape Barren Goose' frequents the island from which it takes its name, and others in the Straits. It is about the same size as a common goose, the plumage a handsome mottled brown and gray, somewhat owl-like in character."

[Cape Barren Island is in Bass Strait, between Flinders Island and Tasmania. Banks Strait flows between Cape Barren Island and Tasmania. The easternmost point on the island is called Cape Barren.]

<hw>Cape-Barren Tea</hw>, n. a shrub or tree, Correa alba, Andr., N.O. Rutaceae.

1834. Ross, `Van Diemen's Land Annual,' p. 134:

"Leptospermum lanigerum, hoary tea-tree; Acacia decurrens, black wattle; Correa alba, Cape Barren tea. The leaves of these have been used as substitutes for tea in the colony."

<hw>Cape Lilac</hw>, n. See Lilac.

<hw>Cape Weed</hw>, n. In Europe, Roccella tinctoria, a lichen from the Cape de Verde Islands, from which a dye is produced. In New Zealand, name given to the European cats-ear, Hypaechoris radicata. In Australia it is as in quotation below. See `Globe Encyclopaedia,' 1877 (s.v.).

1878. W. R. Guilfoyle, `First Book of Australian Botany,' p. 60:

"Cape Weed. Cryptostemma Calendulaceum. (Natural Order, Compositae.) This weed, which has proved such a pest in many parts of Victoria, was introduced from the Cape of Good Hope, as a fodder plant. It is an annual, flowering in the spring, and giving a bright golden hue to the fields. It proves destructive to other herbs and grasses, and though it affords a nutritious food for stock in the spring, it dies off in the middle of summer, after ripening its seeds, leaving the fields quite bare."

<hw>Caper-tree</hw>, n. The Australian tree of this name is Capparis nobilis, F. v. M., N.O. Capparideae. The Karum of the Queensland aboriginals. The fruit is one to two inches in diameter. Called also Grey Plum or Native Pomegranate. The name is also given to Capparis Mitchelli, Lindl. The European caper is Capparis spinosa, Linn.

1894. `Melbourne Museum Catalogue, Economic Woods,' p. 10:

"Native Caper Tree or Wild Pomegranate. Natural Order, Capparideae. Found in the Mallee Scrub. A small tree. The wood is whitish, hard, close-grained, and suitable for engraving, carving, and similar purposes. Strongly resembles lancewood."

<hw>Captain Cook</hw>, or <hw>Cooker</hw>, n. New Zealand colonists' slang. First applied to the wild pigs of New Zealand, supposed to be descended from those first introduced by Captain Cook; afterwards used as term of reproach for any pig which, like the wild variety, obstinately refused to fatten. See Introduction.

1879. W. Quin, `New Zealand Country Journal,' vol. iii. p. 55:

"Many a rare old tusker finds a home in the mountain gorges. The immense tusks at Brooksdale attest the size of the wild boars or Captain Cooks, as the patriarchs are generally named."

1894. E. Wakefield, `New Zealand after Fifty Years,' p. 85:

"The leanness and roughness of the wild pig gives it quite a different appearance from the domesticated variety; and hence a gaunt, ill-shaped, or sorry-looking pig is everywhere called in derision a `Captain Cook.'"

<hw>Carbora</hw>, n. aboriginal name for (1) the Native Bear. See Bear.

(2) A kind of water worm that eats into timber between high and low water on a tidal river.

<hw>Cardamom</hw>, n. For the Australian tree of this name, see quotation.

1890. C. Lumholtz,' Among Cannibals,' p. 96:

"The Australian cardamom tree." [Footnote]: "This is a fictitious name, as are the names of many Australian plants and animals. The tree belongs to the nutmeg family, and its real name is Myristica insipida. The name owes its existence to the similarity of the fruit to the real cardamom. But the fruit of the Myristica has not so strong and pleasant an odour as the real cardamom, and hence the tree is called insipida."

<hw>Carp</hw>, n. The English fish is of the family Cyprinidae. The name is given to different fishes in Ireland and elsewhere. In Sydney it is Chilodactylus fuscus, Castln., and Chilodactylus macropterus, Richards.; called also Morwong (q.v.). The Murray Carp is Murrayia cyprinoides, Castln., a percoid fish. Chilodactylis belongs to the family Cirrhitidae, in no way allied to Cyprinidae, which contains the European carps. Cirrhitidae, says Guenther, may be readily recognized by their thickened undivided lower pectoral rays, which in some are evidently auxiliary organs of locomotion, in others, probably, organs of touch.

<hw>Carpet-Shark</hw>, n. i.q. Wobbegong (q.v.)

<hw>Carpet-Snake</hw>, n. a large Australian snake with a variegated skin, Python variegata, Gray. In Whitworth's `Anglo-Indian Dictionary,' 1885 (s.v.), we are told that the name is loosely applied (sc. in India) to any kind of snake found in a dwelling-house other than a cobra or a dhaman. In Tasmania, a venomous snake, Hoplocephalus curtus, Schlegel. See under Snake.

<hw>Carrier</hw>, n. a local name for a water-bag.

1893. A. F. Calvert, `English Illustrated,' Feb., p. 321:

"For the water-holders or `carriers' (made to fit the bodies of the horses carrying them, or to `ride easily' on pack-saddles)."

<hw>Carrot, Native</hw>, (1) Daucus brachiatus, Sieb., N.O. Umbelliferae. Not endemic in Australia.

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 64:

"The native carrot . . . was here withered and in seed."

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 124:

"Native carrot. Stock are very fond of this plant when young. Sheep thrive wonderfully on it where it is plentiful. It is a small annual herbaceous plant, growing plentifully on sandhills and rich soil; the seeds, locally termed `carrot burrs,' are very injurious to wool, the hooked spines with which the seeds are armed attaching themselves to the fleece, rendering portions of it quite stiff and rigid. The common carrot belongs, of course, to this genus, and the fact that it is descended from an apparently worthless, weedy plant, indicates that the present species is capable of much improvement by cultivation."

(2) In Tasmania Geranium dissectum, Linn., is also called "native carrot."

<hw>Cascarilla, Native</hw>, n. an Australian timber, Croton verreauxii, Baill., N.O. Euphorbiaceae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 408:

"Native cascarilla. A small tree; wood of a yellowish colour, close-grained and firm."

<hw>Cassowary</hw>, n. The word is Malay, the genus being found in "the Islands in the Indian Archipelago." (`O.E.D.') The Australian variety is Casuarius australis, Waller. The name is often erroneously applied (as in the first two quotations), to the Emu (q.v.), which is not a Cassowary.

1789. Governor Phillip, `Voyage,' c. xxii. p. 271:

"New Holland Cassowary. [Description given.] This bird is not uncommon to New Holland, as several of them have been seen about Botany Bay, and other parts. . . . Although this bird cannot fly, it runs so swiftly that a greyhound can scarcely overtake it. The flesh is said to be in taste not unlike beef."

1802. G. Barrington, `History of New South Wales,' c. xi. p. 438:

"The cassowary of New South Wales is larger in all respects than the well-known bird called the cassowary."

1869. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia' (Supplement):

"Casuarius Australis, Wall., Australian Cassowary, sometimes called Black Emu."

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 73:

"One day an egg of a cassowary was brought to me; this bird, although it is nearly akin to the ostrich and emu, does not, like the latter, frequent the open plains, but the thick brushwood. The Australian cassowary is found in Northern Queensland from Herbert river northwards, in all the large vine-scrubs on the banks of the rivers, and on the high mountains of the coasts."

Ibid. p. 97.

"The proud cassowary, the stateliest bird of Australia . . . this beautiful and comparatively rare creature.'"

1891. `Guide to Zoological Gardens, Melbourne':

"The Australian cassowary. . . . They are somewhat shorter and stouter in build than the emu."

<hw>Casuarina</hw>, n. the scientific name of a large group of trees common to India, and other parts lying between India and Australasia, but more numerous in Australia than elsewhere, and often forming a characteristic feature of the vegetation. They are the so-called She-oaks (q.v.). The word is not, however, Australian, and is much older than the discovery of Australia. Its etymology is contained in the quotation, 1877.

1806. `Naval Chronicles,' c. xv. p. 460:

"Clubs made of the wood of the Casuarina."

1814. R. Brown, `Botany of Terra Australis,' in M. Flinders' `Voyage to Terra Australis,' vol. ii. p. 571:

"Casuarinae. The genus Casuarina is certainly not referable to any order of plants at present established . . . it may be considered a separate order. . . . The maximum of Casuarina appears to exist in Terra Australis, where it forms one of the characteristic features of the vegetation."

1855. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes,' p. 160:

"The dark selvage of casuarinas fringing its bank."

1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 10:

"The vegetation assumed a new character, the eucalyptus and casuarina alternating with the wild cherry and honeysuckle."

1877. F. v. Mueller, `Botanic Teachings,' p. 34:

"The scientific name of these well-known plants is as appropriate as their vernacular appellation is odd and unsuited. The former alludes to the cassowary (Casuarius), the plumage of which is comparatively as much reduced among birds, as the foliage of the casuarinas is stringy among trees. Hence more than two centuries ago Rumph already bestowed the name Casuarina on a Java species, led by the Dutch colonists, who call it there the Casuaris-Boom. The Australian vernacular name seems to have arisen from some fancied resemblance of the wood of some casuarinas to that of oaks, notwithstanding the extreme difference of the foliage and fruit; unless, as Dr. Hooker supposes, the popular name of these trees and shrubs arose from the Canadian `Sheack.'"

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 397:

"From a fancied resemblance of the wood of casuarinas to that of oak, these trees are called `oaks,' and the same and different species have various appellations in various parts."

1890. C. Lumholtz; `Among Cannibals,' p. 33:

"Along its banks (the Comet's) my attention was drawn to a number of casuarinas—those leafless, dark trees, which always make a sad impression on the traveller; even a casual observer will notice the dull, depressing sigh which comes from a grove of these trees when there is the least breeze.'"

<hw>Cat-bird</hw>, n. In America the name is given to Mimus carolinensis, a mocking thrush, which like the Australian bird has a cry resembling the mewing of a cat. The Australian species are—

The Cat-bird— Ailuraedus viridis, Lath.

Spotted C.— Ailuraedus maculosus, Ramsay. Pomatostomus rubeculus, Gould.

Tooth-billed C.— Scenopaeus dentirostris, Ramsay.

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. iv. pl. 11:

"Its loud, harsh and extraordinary note is heard; a note which differs so much from that of all other birds, that having been once heard it can never be mistaken. In comparing it to the nightly concert of the domestic cat, I conceive that I am conveying to my readers a more perfect idea of the note of this species than could be given by pages of description. This concert, like that of the animal whose name it bears, is performed either by a pair or several individuals, and nothing more is required than for the hearer to shut his eyes from the neighbouring foliage to fancy himself surrounded by London grimalkins of house-top celebrity."

1888. D.Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 36:

"One of the most peculiar of birds' eggs found about the Murray is that of the locally-termed `cat-bird,' the shell of which is veined thickly with dark thin threads as though covered with a spider's web."

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals.' p. 96:

"The cat-bird (AEluraedus maculosus), which makes its appearance towards evening, and has a voice strikingly like the mewing of a cat."

1893. `The Argus,' March 25:

"Another quaint caller of the bush is the cat-bird, and its eggs are of exactly the colour of old ivory."

1896. G. A. Keartland, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,' pt. ii. Zoology, p. 92:

"Their habit of mewing like a cat has gained for them the local cognomen of cat-birds."

<hw>Cat-fish</hw>, n. The name is applied in the Old World to various fishes of the family Siluridae, and also to the Wolf-fish of Europe and North America. It arises from the resemblance of the teeth in some cases or the projecting "whiskers" in others, to those of a cat. In Victoria and New South Wales it is a fresh-water fish, Copidoglanis tandanus, Mitchell, brought abundantly to Melbourne by railway. It inhabits the rivers of the Murray system, but not of the centre of the continent. Called also Eel-fish and Tandan (q.v.). In Sydney the same name is applied also to Cnidoglanis megastoma, Rich., and in New Zealand Kathetostoma monopterygium. Cnidoglanis and Cnidoglanis are Siluroids, and Kathetostoma is a"stargazer," i.e. a fish having eyes on the upper surface of the head, belonging to the family Trachinidsae.

1851. J. Henderson, `Excursions in New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 207:

"The Cat-fish, which I have frequently caught in the McLeay, is a large and very ugly animal. Its head is provided with several large tentacatae, and it has altogether a disagreeable appearance. I have eat its flesh, but did not like it."

1880. Mrs. Meredith, `Tasmanian Friends and Foes,' p. 213 [Footnote]:

"Mr. Frank Buckland . . . writing of a species of rock-fish, says—`I found that it had a beautiful contrivance in the conformation of its mouth. It has the power of prolongating both its jaws to nearly the extent of half-an-inch from their natural position. This is done by a most beautiful bit of mechanism, somewhat on the principle of what are called `lazy tongs.' The cat-fish possesses a like feature, but on a much larger scale, the front part of the mouth being capable of being protruded between two and three inches when seizing prey.'"

<hw>Cat, Native</hw>, n. a small carnivorous marsupial, of the genus Dasyurus. The so-called native cat is not a cat at all, but a marsupial which resembles a very large rat or weasel, with rather a bushy tail. It is fawn-coloured or mouse-coloured, or black and covered with little white spots; a very pretty little animal. It only appears at night, when it climbs fences and trees and forms sport for moonlight shooting. Its skin is made into fancy rugs and cloaks or mantles.

The animal is more correctly called a Dasyure (q.v.). The species are—

Black-tailed Native Cat Dasyurus geoffroyi, Gould.

Common N.C. (called also Tiger Cat, q.v.)— D. viverrimus, Shaw.

North Australian N.C.— D. hallucatus, Gould.

Papuan N.C.— D. albopienetatus, Schl.

Slender N.C.— D. gracilis, Ramsay.

Spotted-tailed N.C. (called also Tiger Cat)— D. maculatus, Kerr.

1880. Mrs. Meredith, `Tasmanian Friends and Foes,' p. 67:

"The native cat is similar [to the Tiger Cat; q.v.] but smaller, and its for is an ashy-grey with white spots. We have seen two or three skins quite black, spotted with white, but these are very rare."

1885. H. H.Hayter, `Carboona,' p. 35:

"A blanket made of the fur-covered skins of the native cat."

1894. `The Argus,' June 23, p. 11, col. 4:

"The voices of most of our night animals are guttural and unpleasing. The 'possum has a throaty half-stifled squeak, the native cat a deep chest-note ending with a hiss and easily imitated." [See Skirr.]

<hw>Catholic Frog</hw>, n. name applied to a frog living in the inland parts of New South Wales, Notaden bennettii, Guenth., which tides over times of drought in burrows, and feeds on ants. Called also "Holy Cross Toad." The names are given in consequence of a large cross-shaped blackish marking on the back.

1801. J. J. Fletcher, `Proceedings of the Linnaean Society, New South Wales,' vol. vi. (2nd series), p. 265:

"Notaden bennettii, the Catholic frog, or as I have heard it called the Holy Cross Toad, I first noticed in January 1885, after a heavy fall of rain lasting ten days, off and on, and succeeding a severe drought."

<hw>Cat's Eyes</hw>, n. Not the true Cat's-eye, but the name given in Australia to the opercula of Turbo smaragdus, Martyn, a marine mollusc. The operculum is the horny or shelly lid which closes the aperture of most spiral shell fish.

<hw>Cat's-head Fern</hw>, n. Aspidium aculeatum, Sw.:

1880. Mrs. Meredith, `Tasmanian Friends and Foes,' p. 220:

"The cat's-head fern; though why that name was given to it I have not the remotest idea. . . . It is full of beauty—the pinnules so exquisitely formed and indented, and gemmed beneath with absolute constellations of Spori Polystichum vestitum."

<hw>Catspaw</hw>, n. a Tasmanian plant, Trichinium spathulatum, Poir., N.O. Amarantaceae.

<hw>Cat's Tail</hw>, n. See Wonga.

<hw>Cattle-bush</hw>, n. a tree, Atalaya hemiglauca, F. v. M., N.O. Sapindacea. It is found in South Australia, New South Wales, and Queensland, and is sometimes called Whitewood.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 117:

"Cattle-bush . . . The leaves of this tree are eaten by stock, the tree being frequently felled for their use during seasons of drought."

<hw>Cattle-duffer</hw>, n. a man who steals cattle (usually by altering their brands). See also Duffer.

1886. `Melbourne Punch,' July 15, Cartoon Verses:

"Cattle-duffers on a jury may be honest men enough, But they're bound to visit lightly sins in those who cattle duff."

<hw>Cattle-racket</hw>, n. Explained in quotation.

1852. `Settlers and Convicts; or Recollections of Sixteen Years' Labour in the Australian Backwoods,' p. 294:

"A Cattle-racket. The term at the head of this chapter was originally applied in New South Wales to the agitation of society which took place when some wholesale system of plunder in cattle was brought to light. It is now commonly applied to any circumstance of this sort, whether greater or less, and whether springing from a felonious intent or accidental."

<hw>Caustic-Creeper</hw>, n. name given to Euphorbia drummondii, Boiss., N.O. Euphorbiaceae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 127:

"Called `caustic-creeper' in Queensland. Called `milk-plant' and `pox-plant' about Bourke. This weed is unquestionably poisonous to sheep, and has recently (Oct. 1887) been reported as having been fatal to a flock near Bourke, New South Wales. . . . When eaten by sheep in the early morning, before the heat of the sun has dried it up, it is almost certain to be fatal. Its effect on sheep is curious. The head swells to an enormous extent, becoming so heavy that the animal cannot support it, and therefore drags it along the ground; the ears suppurate. (Bailey and Gordon.)"

<hw>Caustic-Plant</hw>, or <hw>Caustic-Vine</hw>, n. Sarcostemma australis, R. Br., N.O. Asclepiadea. Cattle and sheep are poisoned by eating it.

<hw>Cavally</hw>, n. the original form of the Australian fish-name Trevally (q.v.). The form Cavally is used to Europe, but is almost extinct in Australia; the form Trevally is confined to Australia.

<hw>Cedar</hw>,</hw> n. The true Cedar is a Conifer (N.O. Coniferae) of the genus Cedrus, but the name is given locally to many other trees resembling it in appearance, or in the colour or scent of their wood. The New Zealand Cedar is the nearest approach to the true Cedar, and none of the so-called Australian Cedars are of the order Coniferae. The following are the trees to which the name is applied in Australia:—

Bastard Pencil Cedar— Dysoxylon rfum, Benth., N.O. Meliaceae.

Brown C.— Ehretia acuminata, R. Br., N.O. Asperifoliae.

Ordinary or Red C.— Cedrela australis, F. v. M. Cedrela toona, R. Br., N.O. Meliaceae. [C. toona is the "Toon" tree of India: its timber is known in the English market as Moulmein Cedar; but the Baron von Mueller doubts the identity of the Australian Cedar with the "Toon" tree; hence his name australis.]

Pencil C.— Dysoxylon Fraserianum, Benth., N.O. Meliaceae.

Scrub White C.— Pentaceras australis, Hook. and Don., N.O. Rutacea.

White C.— Melia composita, Willd., N.O. Meliaceae.

Yellow C.— Rhus rhodanthema, F. v. M., N.O. Anacardiacae.

In Tasmania, three species of the genus Arthrotaxis are called Cedars or Pencil Cedars; namely, A. cupressoides, Don., known as the King William Pine; A. laxifolza, Hook., the Mountain Pine; and A. selaginoides, Don., the Red Pine. All these are peculiar to the island.

In New Zealand, the name of Cedar is applied to Libocedrus bidwillii, Hook., N.O. Coniferae; Maori name, Pahautea.

1838. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions, vol. i. p. 328:

"The cedar of the colony (Cedrela toona, R. Br.), which is to be found only in some rocky gullies of the coast range."

1883. F. M. Bailey, `Synopsis of Queensland Flora,' p. 63:

"Besides being valuable as a timber-producing tree, this red cedar has many medicinal properties. The bark is spoken of as a powerful astringent, and, though not bitter, said to be a good substitute for Peruvian bark in the cure of remitting and intermitting fevers."

1883. J. Hector, `Handbook of New Zealand,' p. 123:

"Pahautea, Cedar. A handsome conical tree sixty to eighty feet high, two to three feet in diameter. In Otago it produces a dark-red, freeworking timber, rather brittle . . . frequently mistaken for totara."

<hw>Celery, Australian</hw>, or <hw>Native</hw>, n. Apium australe, Thon. Not endemic in Australia. In Tasmania, A. prostratum, Lab., N.O. Umbelliferae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 7:

"Australian Celery. This plant may be utilised as a culinary vegetable. (Mueller.) It is not endemic in Australia."

<hw>Celery-topped Pine</hw>. n. See Pine. The tree is so called from the appearance of the upper part of the branchlets, which resemble in shape the leaf of the garden celery.

1889. T. Kirk, `Forest Flora of New Zealand,' p. 9:

"The tanekaha is one of the remarkable `celery-topped pines,' and was discovered by Banks and Solander during Cook's first voyage."

<hw>Centaury, Native</hw>, n. a plant, Erythraea australis, R. Br., N.O. Gentianeae. In New South Wales this Australian Centaury has been found useful in dysentery by Dr. Woolls.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 175:

"Native centaury . . . is useful as a tonic medicine, especially in diarrhoea and dysentery. The whole plant is used and is pleasantly bitter. It is common enough in grass-land, and appears to be increasing in popularity as a domestic remedy."

<hw>Centralia</hw>, n. a proposed name for the colony South Australia ,(q.v.).

1896. J. S. Laurie, `Story of Australasia,' p. 299:

"For telegraphic, postal, and general purposes one word is desirable for a name—e.g. why not Centralia; for West Australia, Westralia; for New South Wales, Eastralia?"

<hw>Cereopsis</hw>, n. scientific name of the genus of the bird peculiar to Australia, called the Cake Barren Goose. See Goose. The word is from Grk. kaeros, wax, and 'opsis, face, and was given from the peculiarities of the bird's beak. The genus is confined to Australia, and Cereopsis novae-hollandiae is the only species known. The bird was noticed by the early voyagers to Australia, and was extraordinarily tame when first discovered.

<hw>Channel-Bill</hw>, n. name given to a bird resembling a large cuckoo, Scythrops novae-hollandiae, Lath. See Scythrops.

<hw>Cheesewood</hw>, n. a tree, so-called in Victoria (it is also called Whitewood and Waddywood in Tasmania), Pittosporum bicolor, Hook., N.O. Pittosporeae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 588:

"Cheesewood is yellowish-white, very hard, and of uniform texture and colour. It was once used for clubs by the aboriginals of Tasmania. It turns well, and should be tested for wood engraving. (`Jurors' Reports, London International Exhibition of 1862.') It is much esteemed for axe-handles, billiard-cues, etc."

<hw>Cherry, Herbert River</hw>, n. a Queensland tree, Antidesma dallachyanum, Baill., N.O. Euphorbiaceae. The fruit is equal to a large cherry in size, and has a sharp acid flavour.

<hw>Cherry, Native</hw>, n. an Australian tree, Exocarpus cupressiformis, R. Br., N.O. Santalaceae.

1801. `History of New South Wales' (1818), p. 242:

"Of native fruits, a cherry, insipid in comparison of the European sorts, was found true to the singularity which characterizes every New South Wales production, the stone being on the outside of the fruit."

1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 411:

"The shrub which is called the native cherry-tree appears like a species of cyprus, producing its fruit with the stone united to it on the outside, the fruit and the stone being each about the size of a small pea. The fruit, when ripe, is similar in colour to the Mayduke cherry, but of a sweet and somewhat better quality, and slightly astringent to the palate, possessing, upon the whole, an agreeable flavour."

1852. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes' (edition 1851, p. 219:

"The cherry-tree resembles a cypress but is of a tenderer green, bearing a worthless little berry, having its stone or seed outside, whence its scientific name of exocarpus."

1855. W. Howitt, `Two Years in Victoria,' vol. i. p. 33:

"We also ate the Australian cherry, which has its stone, not on the outside, enclosing the fruit, as the usual phrase would indicate, but on the end with the fruit behind it. The stone is only about the size of a sweet-pea, and the fruit only about twice that size, altogether not unlike a yew-berry, but of a very pale red. It grows on a tree just like an arbor vitae, and is well tasted, though not at all like a cherry in flavour."