Austral English

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS OF NAMES (continued 4)

Reading edition

1877. F. v. Mueller, `Botanic Teachings,' p. 40:

"The principal of these kinds of trees received its generic name first from the French naturalist La Billardiere, during D'Entrecasteaux's Expedition. It was our common Exocarpus cupressiformis, which he described, and which has been mentioned so often in popular works as a cherry-tree, bearing its stone outside of the pulp. That this crude notion of the structure of the fruit is erroneous, must be apparent on thoughtful contemplation, for it is evident at the first glance, that the red edible part of our ordinary exocarpus constitutes merely an enlarged and succulent fruit-stalklet (pedicel), and that the hard dry and greenish portion, strangely compared to a cherry-stone, forms the real fruit, containing the seed."

1889. J. H. `Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 30:

"The fruit is edible. The nut is seated on the enlarged succulent pedicel. This is the poor little fruit of which so much has been written in English descriptions of the peculiarities of the Australian flora. It has been likened to a cherry with the stone outside (hence the vernacular name) by some imaginative person."

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

"Grass-trees and the brown brake-fern, whips of native cherry, and all the threads and tangle of the earth's green russet vestment hide the feet of trees which lean and lounge between us and the water, their leaf heads tinselled by the light."

<hw>Cherry-picker</hw>, n. bird-name. See quotation.

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. iv. p. 70:

"Melithreptus Validirostris, Gould. Strong-billed Honey-eater [q.v.]. Cherry-picker, colonists of Van Diemen's Land."

<hw>Chestnut Pine</hw>, n. See Pine.

<hw>Chewgah-bag</hw>, n. Queensland aboriginal pigeon-English for Sugar-bag (q.v.).

<hw>Chinkie</hw>, n. slang for a Chinaman. "John," short for John Chinaman, is commoner.

1882. A. J. Boyd, `Old Colonials,' p. 233:

"The pleasant traits of character in our colonialised `Chinkie,' as he is vulgarly termed (with the single variation `Chow')."

<hw>Chock-and-log</hw>, n. and adj. a particular kind of fence much used on Australian stations. The Chock is a thick short piece of wood laid flat, at right-angles to the line of the fence, with notches in it to receive the Logs, which are laid lengthwise from Chock to Chock, and the fence is raised in four or five layers of this chock-and-log to form, as it were, a wooden wall. Both chocks and logs are rough-hewn or split, not sawn.

1872. G. S. Baden-Powell,'New Homes for the Old Country,' p. 207:

"Another fence, known as `chock and log,' is composed of long logs, resting on piles of chocks, or short blocks of wood."

1890. `The Argus.' Sept. 20, p. 13, col. 5:

"And to finish the Riverine picture, there comes a herd of kangaroos disturbed from their feeding-ground, leaping through the air, bounding over the wire and `chock-and-log' fences like so many india-rubber automatons."

<hw>Choeropus</hw>, n. the scientific name for the genus of Australian marsupial animals with only one known species, called the Pigfooted-Bandicoot (q.v.), and see Bandicoot. (Grk. choiros, a pig, and pous, foot.) The animal is about the size of a rabbit, and is confined to the inland parts of Australia.

<hw>Christmas</hw>, n. and adj. As Christmas falls in Australasia at Midsummer, it has different characteristics from those in England, and the word has therefore a different connotation.

1852. Mrs. Meredith, `My Home in Tasmania,' p. 184:

"Sheep-shearing in November, hot midsummer weather at Christmas, the bed of a river the driest walk, and corn harvest in February, were things strangely at variance with my Old-World notions."

1896. H. Lawson, `When the World was Wide,' p. 164:

"One Christmas time when months of drought Had parched the western creeks, The bush-fires started in the north And travelled south for weeks."

<hw>Christmas-bush</hw>, n. an Australian tree, Ceratopetalum gummiferum, Smith, N.O. Saxifrageae. Called also Christmas-tree (q.v.), and Officer-bush.

1888. Mrs. McCann, `Poetical Works,' p. 226:

"Gorgeous tints adorn the Christmas bush with a crimson blush."

<hw>Christmas-tree</hw>, n. In Australia, it is the same as Christmas-bush (q.v.). In New Zealand, it is Metrosideros tomentosa, Banks, N.O. Myrtaceae; Maori name, Pohutukawa (q.v.).

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

"Some few scattered Pohutukaua trees (Metrosideros tomentosa), the last remains of the beautiful vegetation . . . About Christmas these trees are full of charming purple blossoms; the settler decorates his church and dwelling with its lovely branches, and calls the tree `Christmas-tree'! "

1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 186:

"The Christmas-tree is in a sense the counterpart of the holly of the home countries. As the scarlet berry gives its ruddy colour to Christmas decorations in `the old country,' so here the creamy blossoms of the Christmas-tree are the only shrub flowers that survive the blaze of midsummer."

1889. E. H. and S. Featon, `New Zealand Flora,' p. 163:

"The Pohutukawa blossoms in December, when its profusion of elegant crimson-tasselled flowers imparts a beauty to the rugged coast-line and sheltered bays which may fairly be called enchanting. To the settlers it is known as the `Christmas-tree,' and sprays of its foliage and flowers are used to decorate churches and dwellings during the festive Christmastide. To the Maoris this tree must possess a weird significance, since it is related in their traditions that at the extreme end of New Zealand there grows a Pohutukawa from which a root descends to the beach below. The spirits of the dead are supposed to descend by this to an opening, which is said to be the entrance to `Te Reinga.'"

<hw>Chucky-chucky</hw>, n. aboriginal Australian name for a berry; in Australia and New Zealand, the fruit of species of Gaultheria. See Wax Cluster.

1885. R. M. Praed, `Australian Life,' p. 146:

"To gather chucky-chuckies—as the blacks name that most delicious of native berries."

1891. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' `New Zealand Country Journal,' vol. xv. p. 198:

"When out of breath, hot and thirsty, how one longed for a handful of chuckie-chucks. In their season how good we used to think these fruits of the gaultheria, or rather its thickened calyx. A few handfuls were excellent in quenching one's thirst, and so plentifully did the plant abound that quantities could soon be gathered. In these rude and simple days, when housekeepers in the hills tried to convert carrots and beet-root into apricot and damson preserves, these notable women sometimes encouraged children to collect sufficient chuckie-chucks to make preserve. The result was a jam of a sweet mawkish flavour that gave some idea of a whiff caught in passing a hair-dresser's shop."

<hw>Chum</hw>, n. See New Chum.

<hw>Chy-ack</hw>, v. simply a variation of the English slang verb, to cheek.

1874. Garnet Walch, `Adamanta,' Act ii. sc. ii. p. 27:

"I've learnt to chi-ike peelers."

[Here the Australian pronunciation is also caught. Barere and Leland give "chi-iked (tailors), chaffed unmercifully," but without explanation.]

1878. `The Australian,' vol. i. p. 742 :

"The circle of frivolous youths who were yelping at and chy-acking him."

1894. E. W. Hornung, `Boss of Taroomba,' p. 5:

"It's our way up here, you know, to chi-ak each other and our visitors too."

<hw>Cicada</hw>, n. an insect. See Locust.

1895. G. Metcalfe, `Australian Zoology,' p. 62:

"The Cicada is often erroneously called a locust. . . . It is remarkable for the loud song, or chirruping whirr, of the males in the heat of summer; numbers of them on the hottest days produce an almost deafening sound."

<hw>Cider-Tree</hw>, or </hw>Cider-Gum, n. name given in Tasmania to Eucalyptus gunnii, Hook., N.O. Myrtaceae. See Gum.

1830. Ross, `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 119:

"Specimens of that species of eucalyptus called the cider-tree, from its exuding a quantity of saccharine liquid resembling molasses. . . . When allowed to remain some time and to ferment, it settles into a coarse sort of wine or cider, rather intoxicating if drank to any excess."

<hw>City</hw>, n. In Great Britain and Ireland the word City denotes "a considerable town that has been, (a) an episcopal seat, (b) a royal burgh, or (c) created to the dignity, like Birmingham, Dundee, and Belfast, by a royal patent. In the United States and Canada, a municipality of the first class, governed by a mayor and aldermen, and created by charter." (`Standard.') In Victoria, by section ix. of the Local Government Act, 1890, 54 Victoria, No. 1112, the Governor-in-Council may make orders, #12:

"To declare any borough, including the city of Melbourne and the town of Geelong, having in the year preceding such declaration a gross revenue of not less than twenty thousand pounds, a city."

<hw>Claim</hw>, n. in mining, a piece of land appropriated for mining purposes: then the mine itself. The word is also used in the United States. See also Reward-claim and Prospecting-claim.

1858. T. McCombie, `History of Victoria,' c. xiv. p. 213:

"A family named Cavanagh . . . entered a half-worked claim."

1863. H. Fawcett, `Political Economy,' pt. iii. c. vi. p. 359 (`O.E.D.'):

"The claim upon which he purchases permission to dig."

1887. H. H. Hayter, `Christmas Adventure,' p. 3:

"I decided . . . a claim to take up."

<hw>Clay-pan</hw>, n. name given, especially in the dry interior of Australia, to a slight depression of the ground varying in size from a few yards to a mile in length, where the deposit of fine silt prevents the water from sinking into the ground as rapidly as it does elsewhere.

1875. John Forrest, `Explorations in Australia,' p. 260:

"We travelled down the road for about thirty-three miles over stony plains; many clay-pans with water but no feed."

1896. Baldwin Spencer, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,' Narrative, vol. i. p. 17:

"One of the most striking features of the central area and especially amongst the loamy plains and sandhills, is the number of clay-pans. These are shallow depressions, with no outlet, varying in length from a few yards to half a mile, where the surface is covered with a thin clayey material, which seems to prevent the water from sinking as rapidly as it does in other parts."

<hw>Clean-skins</hw>, or <hw>Clear-skins</hw>, n. unbranded cattle or horses.

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 206:

"These clean-skins, as they are often called, to distinguish them from the branded cattle."

1884. Rolf Boldrewood, `Melbourne Memories,' c. xv. p. 109:

"Strangers and pilgrims, calves and clear-skins, are separated at the same time."

1889. Rev. J. H. Zillmann, `Australian Life,' p. 82:

"`Clear-skins,' as unbranded cattle were commonly called, were taken charge of at once."

1893. `The Argus,' April 29, p.4, col. 4:

"As they fed slowly homeward bellowing for their calves, and lowing for their mates, the wondering clean-skins would come up in a compact body, tearing, ripping, kicking, and moaning, working round and round them in awkward, loblolly canter."

<hw>Clearing lease</hw>, n. Explained in quotation.

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. i. c. x. p. 321:

"[They] held a small piece of land on what is called a clearing lease—that is to say, they were allowed to retain possession of it for so many years for the labour of clearing the land."

<hw>Clematis</hw>, n. the scientific and vernacular name of a genus of plants belonging to the N.O. Ranunculaceae. The common species in Australia is C. aristata, R. Br.

1834. Ross, `Van Diemen's Land Annual,' p. 124:

"The beautiful species of clematis called aristata, which may be seen in the months of November and December, spreading forth its milk-white blossoms over the shrubs . . . in other places rising up to the top of the highest gum-trees."

<hw>Clianthus</hw>, n. scientific name for an Australasian genus of plants, N.O. Leguminosae, containing only two species—in Australia, Sturt's Desert Pea (q.v.), C. dampieri; and in New Zealand, the Kaka-bill (q.v.), C. puniceus. Both species are also called Glory-Pea, from Grk. kleos, glory, and anthos, a flower.

1892. `Otago Witness,' Nov.24, `Native Trees':

"Hooker says the genus Clianthus consists of the Australian and New Zealand species only, the latter is therefore clearly indigenous. `One of the most beautiful plants known' (Hooker). Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Solandel found it during Cook's first voyage."

<hw>Climbing-fish</hw>, n. i.q. Hopping-fish (q.v.).

<hw>Climbing-Pepper</hw>, n. See Pepper.

<hw>Clitonyx</hw>, n. the scientific name of a genus of New Zealand birds, including the Yellow-head (q.v.) and the White-head (q.v.); from Greek klinein, root klit, to lean, slant, and 'onux, claw. The genus was so named by Reichenbach in 1851, to distinguish the New Zealand birds from the Australian birds of the genus Orthonyx (q.v.), which formerly included them both.

<hw>Clock-bird</hw>, n. another name for the Laughing Jachass. See Jackass.

<hw>Clock, Settlers'</hw>, n. i.q. Clock-bird, (q.v.)

<hw>Cloudy-Bay Cod</hw>, n. a New Zealand name for the Ling (q.v.). See also Cod.

<hw>Clover-Fern</hw>, n. another name for the plant called Nardoo (q.v.).

<hw>Clover, Menindie</hw>, n. an Australian fodder plant, Trigonella suavissima, Lind., N.O. Leguminoseae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 143:

`From its abundance in the neighbourhood of Menindie, it is often called Menindie-clover.' It is the `Australian shamrock' of Mitchell. This perennial, fragrant, clover-like plant is a good pasture herb."

<hw>Clover-Tree</hw>, n. a Tasmanian tree, called also Native Laburnun. See under Laburnum.

<hw>Coach</hw>, n. a bullock used as a decoy to catch wild cattle. This seems to be from the use of coach as the University term for a private tutor.

1874. W. H. L. Ranken, `Dominion of Australia,' c. vi. p. 110:

"To get them [sc. wild cattle] a party of stockmen take a small herd of quiet cattle, `coaches.'"

<hw>Coach</hw>, v. to decoy wild cattle or horses with tame ones.

1874. W. H. L. Ranken, `Dominion of Australia,' c. vi. p. 121:

"Here he [the wild horse] may be got by `coaching' like wild cattle."

<hw>Coach-whip Bird</hw>, n. Psophodes crepitans, V. and H. (see Gould's `Birds of Australia,' vol. iii. pl. 15); Black-throated C.B., P. nigrogularis, Gould. Called also Whipbird and Coachman.

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 330:

"This bird is more often heard than seen. It inhabits bushes. The loud cracking whip-like noise it makes (from whence the colonists give it the name of coachwhip), may be heard from a great distance."

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 158:

"If you should hear a coachwhip crack behind, you may instinctively start aside to let the mail pass; but quickly find it is only our native coachman with his spread-out fantail and perked-up crest, whistling and cracking out his whip-like notes as he hops sprucely from branch to branch."

1844. Mrs. Meredith, `Notes and Sketches of New South Wales,' p. 137:

"Another equally singular voice among our feathered friends was that of the `coachman,' than which no title could be more appropriate, his chief note being a long clear whistle, with a smart crack of the whip to finish with."

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 177:

"The bell-bird, by the river heard; The whip-bird, which surprised I hear, In me have powerful memories stirred Of other scenes and strains more dear; Of sweeter songs than these afford, The thrush and blackbird warbling clear." —Old Impressions.

1846. G. H. Haydon, `Five Years in Australia Felix,' p. 71:

"The coach-whip is a small bird about the size of a sparrow, found near rivers. It derives its name from its note, a slow, clear whistle, concluded by a sharp jerking noise like the crack of a whip."

1855. W. Howitt, `Two Years in Victoria,' vol. ii. p. 76:

"The whip-bird, whose sharp wiry notes, even, are far more agreeable than the barking of dogs and the swearing of diggers."

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 24:

"That is the coach-whip bird. There again. Whew-ew-ew-ew-whit. How sharply the last note sounds."

1887. R. M. Praed, `Longleat of Kooralbyn,' c. vi. p. 54:

"The sharp st—wt of the whip-bird . . . echoed through the gorge."

1888. James Thomas, `May o' the South,' `Australian Poets 1788-1888' (ed. Sladen), p. 552:

"Merrily the wagtail now Chatters on the ti-tree bough, While the crested coachman bird `Midst the underwood is heard."

<hw>Coast</hw>, v. to loaf about from station to station.

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Squatter's Dream,' xxv. 295:

"I ain't like you, Towney, able to coast about without a job of work from shearin' to shearin'."

<hw>Coaster</hw>, n. a loafer, a Sundowner (q.v.).

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Squatter's Dream,' viii. 75:

"A voluble, good-for-nothing, loafing impostor, a regular `coaster.'"

<hw>Cobb</hw>, n. sometimes used as equivalent to a coach. "I am going by Cobb." The word is still used, though no Mr. Cobb has been connected with Australian coaches for many years. See quotation.

1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 184:

"Mr. Cobb was an American, and has returned long ago to his native country. He started a line of conveyances from Melbourne to Castlemaine some time after the gold discoveries. Mr. Cobb had spirit to buy good horses, to get first-class American coaches, to employ good Yankee whips, and in a couple of years or so he had been so extensively patronised that he sold out, and retired with a moderate fortune." [But the Coaching Company retained . . . the style of Cobb & Co.]

1879 (about). `Queensland Bush Song':

"Hurrah for the Roma Railway! Hurrah for Cobb and Co.! Hurrah, hurrah for a good fat horse To carry me Westward Ho!"

<hw>Cobbler</hw>, n. (1) The last sheep, an Australian shearing term. (2) Another name for the fish called the Fortescue (q.v.)

1893. `The Herald' (Melbourne), Dec. 23, p. 6, col. 1:

"Every one might not know what a `cobbler' is. It is the last sheep in a catching pen, and consequently a bad one to shear, as the easy ones are picked first. The cobbler must be taken out before `Sheep-ho' will fill up again. In the harvest field English rustics used to say, when picking up the last sheaf, `This is what the cobbler threw at his wife.' `What?' `The last,' with that lusty laugh, which, though it might betray `a vacant mind,' comes from a very healthy organism."

<hw>Cobblers-Awl</hw>, n. bird-name. The word is a provincial English name for the Avocet. In Tasmania, the name is applied to a Spine-Bill (q.v.) from the shape of its beak.

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. iv. pl. 61:

"Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris, Lath., Slender-billed Spine-bill. Cobbler's Awl, Colonists of Van Diemen's Land. Spine-bill, Colonists of New South Wales."

<hw>Cobbler's Pegs</hw>, name given to a tall erect annual weed, Erigeron linifolius, Willd., N.O. Compositae and to Bidens pilosus, Linn., N.O. Compositae.

<hw>Cobbra</hw>, n. aboriginal word for head, skull. [Kabura or Kobbera, with such variations as Kobra, Kobbera, Kappara, Kopul, from Malay Kapala, head: one of the words on the East Coast manifestly of Malay origin.—J. Mathew. Much used in pigeon converse with blacks. `Goodway cobra tree' = `Tree very tall.'] Collins, `Port Jackson Vocabulary,' 1798 (p. 611), gives `Kabura, ca-ber-ra.' Mount Cobberas in East Gippsland has its name from huge head-like masses of rock which rise from the summit.

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 31:

"The black fellow who lives in the bush bestows but small attention on his cobra, as the head is usually called in the pigeon-English which they employ."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Colonial Reformer,' c. xiii. p. 134:

"I should be cock-sure that having an empty cobbra, as the blacks say, was on the main track that led to the grog-camp."

<hw>Cock-a-bully</hw>, n. a popular name for the New Zealand fish Galaxias fasciatus, Gray, a corruption of its Maori name Kokopu (q.v.).

1896. `The Australasian,' Aug. 28, p. 407, col. 3:

"During my stay in New Zealand my little girl caught a fish rather larger than an English minnow. Her young companions called it a `cock-a bully.' It was pretty obvious to scent a corruption of a Maori word, for, mark you, cock-a-bully has no meaning. It looks as if it were English and full of meaning. Reflect an instant and it has none. The Maori name for the fish is `kokopu'"

<hw>Cockatiel</hw>, <hw>-eel</hw>, n. an arbitrary diminutive of the word Cockatoo, and used as another name for the Cockatoo-Parrakeet, Calopsitta novae-hollandiae, and generally for any Parrakeet of the genus Calopsitta. (`O.E.D.')

<hw>Cockatoo</hw>, n. (1) Bird-name. The word is Malay, Kakatua. (`O.E.D.') The varieties are—

Banksian Cockatoo— Calyptorhynchus banksii, Lath.

Bare-eyed C.— Cacatua gymnopis, Sclater.

Black C.— Calyptorhynchus funereus, Shaw.

Blood-stained C.— Cacatua sanguinea, Gould.

Dampier's C.— Licmetis pastinator, Gould.

Gang-gang C.— Callocephalon galeatum, Lath. [See Gang-gang.]

Glossy C.— Calyptorhynchus viridis, Vieill.

Long-billed C.— Licmetis nasicus, Temm. [See Corella.]

Palm C.— Microglossus aterrimus, Gmel.

Pink C.— Cacatua leadbeateri, V. & H. (Leadbeater, q.v.).

Red-tailed C.— Calyptorhynchus stellatus, Wagl.

Rose-breasted C.— Cacatua roseicapilla, Vieill. [See Galah. Gould calls it Cocatua eos.

White C.— Cacatua galerita, Lath.

White-tailed C.— Calyptorhynchus baudinii, Vig.

See also Parrakeet.

1839. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions, vol. ii. p. 62:

"We saw to-day for the first time on the Kalare, the redtop cockatoo (Plyctolophus Leadbeateri)."

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' c. viii. p. 272:

"The rose-breasted cockatoo (Cocatua eos, Gould) visited the patches of fresh burnt grass."

Ibid. p. 275:

"The black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus Banksii) has been much more frequently observed of late."

1857. Daniel Bunce, `Australasiatic Reminiscences,' p. 175:

"Dr. Leichhardt caught sight of a number of cockatoos; and, by tracking the course of their flight, we, in a short time, reached a creek well supplied with water."

1862. G. Barrington, `History of New South Wales,' c. ix. p. 331:

"White cockatoos and parroquets were now seen."

1890. `Victorian Statutes, Game Act, Third Schedule':

"Black Cockatoos. Gang-gang Cockatoos. [Close season.] From the 1st day of August to the 10th day of December next following in each year."

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

"The egg of the blood-stained cockatoo has not yet been scientifically described, and the specimen in this collection has an interest chiefly in that it was taken [by Mr. A. J. Campbell] from a tree at Innamincka waterholes, not far from the spot where Burke the explorer died."

(2) A small farmer, called earlier in Tasmania a Cockatooer (q.v.). The name was originally given in contempt (see quotations), but it is now used by farmers themselves. Cocky is a common abbreviation. Some people distinguish between a cockatoo and a ground-parrot, the latter being the farmer on a very small scale. Trollope's etymology (see quotation, 1873) will not hold, for it is not true that the cockatoo scratches the ground. After the gold fever, circa 1860, the selectors swarmed over the country and ate up the substance of the squatters; hence they were called Cockatoos. The word is also used adjectivally.

1863. M. K. Beveridge, `Gatherings among the Gum-trees,' p. 154:

"Oi'm going to be married To what is termed a Cockatoo— Which manes a farmer."

1867. Lady Barker, `Station Life in New Zealand,' p. 110:

"These small farmers are called cockatoos in Australia by the squatters or sheep-farmers, who dislike them for buying up the best bits on their runs; and say that, like a cockatoo, the small freeholder alights on good ground, extracts all he can from it, and then flies away, to `fresh fields and pastures new.' . . . However, whether the name is just or not, it is a recognised one here; and I have heard a man say in answer to a question about his usual `occupation, `I'm a cockatoo.'"

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' vol. ii. p. 135:

"The word cockatoo in the farinaceous colony has become so common as almost to cease to carry with it the intended sarcasm. . . . It signifies that the man does not really till his land, but only scratches it as the bird does."

1882. A. J. Boyd, `Old Colonials,' p. 32:

"It may possibly have been a term of reproach applied to the industrious farmer, who settled or perched on the resumed portions of a squatter's run, so much to the latter's rage and disgust that he contemptuously likened the farmer to the white-coated, yellow-crested screamer that settles or perches on the trees at the edge of his namesake's clearing."

1889. `Cornhill Magazine,' Jan., p. 33:

"`With a cockatoo' [Title]. Cockatoo is the name given to the small, bush farmer in New Zealand."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Miner's Right,' c. xliii. p. 377:

"The governor is a bigoted agriculturist; he has contracted the cockatoo complaint, I'm afraid."

1893, `The Argus,' June 17, p. 13, col. 4:

"Hire yourself out to a dairyman, take a contract with a rail-splitter, sign articles with a cockatoo selector; but don't touch land without knowing something about it."

<hw>Cockatoo</hw>, v. intr. (1) To be a farmer.

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Squatter's Dream,' c. xx. p. 245:

"Fancy three hundred acres in Oxfordshire, with a score or two of bullocks,and twice as many black-faced Down sheep. Regular cockatooing."

(2) A special sense—to sit on a fence as the bird sits.

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `A Colonial Reformer,' c. xviii. p. 224:

"The correct thing, on first arriving at a drafting-yard, is to `cockatoo,' or sit on the rails high above the tossing horn-billows."

<hw>Cockatooer</hw>, n. a variant of Cockatoo (q.v.), quite fallen into disuse, if quotation be not a nonce use.

1852. Mrs. Meredith, `My Home in Tasmania,' vol. ii. p. 137:

"A few wretched-looking huts and hovels, the dwellings of `cockatooers,' who are not, as it might seem, a species of bird, but human beings; who rent portions of this forest . . . on exorbitant terms . . . and vainly endeavour to exist on what they can earn besides, their frequent compulsory abstinence from meat, when they cannot afford to buy it, even in their land of cheap and abundant food, giving them some affinity to the grain-eating white cockatoos."

<hw>Cockatoo Fence</hw>, n. fence erected by small farmers.

1884. Rolf Boldrewood, `Melbourne Memories,' c. xxii. p. 155:

"There would be roads and cockatoo fences . . . in short, all the hostile emblems of agricultural settlement."

1890. Lyth, `Golden South,' c. xiv. p. 120:

"The fields were divided by open rails or cockatoo fences, i.e. branches and logs of trees laid on the ground one across the other with posts and slip-rails in lieu of gates."

<hw>Cockatoo Bush</hw>, n. i.q. Native Currant (q.v).

<hw>Cockatoo Orchis</hw>, n. a Tasmanian name for the Orchid, Caleya major, R. Br.

<hw>Cock-eyed Bob</hw>, a local slang term in Western Australia for a thunderstorm.

1894. `The Age,' Jan. 20, p. 13, col. 4:

"They [the natives of the northwest of Western Australia] are extremely frightened of them [sc. storms called Willy Willy, q.v.], and in some places even on the approach of an ordinary thunderstorm or `Cock-eyed Bob,' they clear off to the highest ground about."

<hw>Cockle</hw>, n. In England the name is given to a species of the familiar marine bivalve mollusc, Cardium. The commonest Australian species is Cardium tenuicostatum, Lamarck, present in all extra-tropical Australia. The name is also commonly applied to members of the genus Chione.

<hw>Cock-Schnapper</hw>, n. a fish; the smallest kind of Schnapper (q.v.). See also Count-fish.

1882. Rev. I. E. Tenison-Woods, `Fish of New South Wales,' p. 41:

"The usual method of estimating quantity for sale by the fisherman is, by the schnapper or count-fish, the school-fish, and squire, among which from its metallic appearance is the copper head or copper colour, and the red bream. Juveniles rank the smallest of the fry, not over an inch or two in length, as the cock-schnapper. The fact, however, is now generally admitted that all these are one and the same genus, merely in different stages of growth."

<hw>Cod</hw>, n. This common English name of the Gadus morrhua is applied to many fishes in Australia of various families, Gadoid and otherwise. In Melbourne it is given to Lotella callarias, Guenth., and in New South Wales to several fishes of the genus Serranus. Lotella is a genus of the family Gadidae, to which the European Cod belongs; Serranus is a Sea perch (q.v.). See Rock Cod, Black Rock Cod, Red Rock Cod, Black Cod, Elite Cod, Red Cod, Murray Cod, Cloudy Bay Cod, Ling, Groper, Hapuku, and Haddock.

<hw>Coffee-Bush</hw>, n. a settlers' name for the New Zealand tree the Karamu (q.v.). Sometimes called also </hw>Coffee-plant.

<hw>Coffer-fish</hw>, n. i.q. Trunk-fish (q.v.).

<hw>Coffee Plant</hw>, or <hw>Coffee Berry</hw>, n. name given in Tasmania to the Tasmanian Native Holly (q.v.).

<hw>Colonial Experience</hw>, n. and used as adj. same as cadet (q.v.) in New Zealand; a young man learning squatting business, gaining his colonial experience. Called also jackaroo (q.v.).

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `A Colonial Reformer,' p. 95:

"You're the first `colonial experience' young fellow that it ever occurred to within my knowledge."

<hw>Colonial Goose</hw>, n. a boned leg of mutton stuffed with sage and onions. In the early days the sheep was almost the sole animal food. Mutton was then cooked and served in various ways to imitate other dishes.

<hw>Colour</hw>, n. sc. of gold. It is sometimes used with `good,' to mean plenty of gold: more usually, the `colour' means just a little gold, enough to show in the dish.

1860. Kelly, `Life in Victoria,' vol. i. p. 222:

". . . they had not, to use a current phrase, `raised the colour.'"

1890. Rolf Boldrewood. `Miner's Right,' c. xiv. p. 149:

"This is the fifth claim he has been in since he came here, and the first in which he has seen the colour."

1891. W. Lilley, `Wild West of Tasmania,' p. 14:

"After spending a little time there, and not finding more than a few colours of gold, he started for Mount Heemskirk."

<hw>Convictism</hw>, n. the system of transportation of convicts to Australia and Van Diemen's Land, now many years abolished.

1852. J. West, `History of Tasmania,' vol. i. p. 309:

"May it remain nailed to the mast until these colonies are emancipated from convictism."

1864. `Realm,' Feb. 24, p.4 (`O.E.D.'):

"No one who has not lived in Australia can appreciate the profound hatred of convictism that obtains there."

1880. G. Sutherland, `Tales of Goldfields,' p. 16:

"They preferred to let things remain as they were, convictism included."

<hw>Coobah</hw>, n. an aboriginal name for the tree Acacia salicina, Lindl., N.O.Leguminosae. See Acacia. The spellings vary, and sometimes begin with a K.

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Squatter's Dream,' v. 46:

"A deep reach of the river, shaded by couba trees and river-oaks."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Colonial Reformer,' c. xxviii. p. 400:

"The willowy coubah weeps over the dying streamlet."

<hw>Coo-ee</hw>, or <hw>Cooey</hw>, n. and interj. spelt in various ways. See quotations. A call borrowed from the aborigines and used in the bush by one wishing to find or to be found by another. In the vocabulary of native words in `Hunter's Journal,' published in 1790, we find "Cow-ee = to come."

1827. P. Cunningham, `New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 23:

"In calling to each other at a distance, the natives make use of the word Coo-ee, as we do the word Hollo, prolonging the sound of the coo, and closing that of the ee with a shrill jerk. . . . [It has] become of general use throughout the colony; and a newcomer, in desiring an individual to call another back, soon learns to say `Coo-ee' to him, instead of Hollo to him."

1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 162:

"He immediately called `coo-oo-oo' to the natives at the fire."

1836. Ross, `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 84:

"There yet might be heard the significant `cooy' or `quhy,' the true import of which was then unknown to our ears."

1839. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions,' p. 46:

"Although Mr. Brown made the woods echo with his `cooys.'" [See also p. 87, note.]

1845. Clement Hodgkinson, `Australia from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay,' p. 28:

"We suddenly heard the loud shrill couis of the natives."

1846. C. P. Hodgson, `Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 231:

"Their cooieys are not always what we understand by the word, viz., a call in which the first note is low and the second high, uttered after sound of the word cooiey. This is a note which congregates all together and is used only as a simple `Here.'"

1852. J. West, `History of Tasmania,' vol. ii. p. 91:

"Like the natives of New South Wales, they called to each other from a great distance by the cooey; a word meaning `come to me.' The Sydney blacks modulated this cry with successive inflexions; the Tasmanian uttered it with less art. It is a sound of great compass. The English in the bush adopt it: the first syllable is prolonged; the second is raised to a higher key, and is sharp and abrupt."

1862. W. Landsborough, `Exploration of Australia,' [Footnote] p. 24:

"Coo-oo-oo-y is a shrill treble cry much used in the bush by persons wishful to find each other. On a still night it will travel a couple of miles, and it is thus highly serviceable to lost or benighted travellers."

1869. J. F. Townend, `Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 155:

"The jingling of bells round the necks of oxen, the cooey of the black fellow . . . constituted the music of these desolate districts."

1873. J. B. Stephens, `Black Gin,' p. 82:

"Hi! . . . cooey! you fella . . . open 'im lid."

1880. Fison and Howitt, `Kamilaroi and Kurnai,' p. 183:

"A particular `cooee' . . . was made known to the young men when they were initiated."

1880. G. Sutherland, `Tales of the Goldfields,' p. 40:

"From the woods they heard a prolonged cooee, which evidently proceeded from some one lost in the bush."

1885. R. M. Praed, `Australian Life,' p. 276:

"Two long farewell coo-ees, which died away in the silence of the bush."

1890. E. W. Hornung, `A Bride from the Bush,' p. 184:

"The bride encircled her lips with her two gloved palms, and uttered a cry that few of the hundreds who heard it ever forgot—`coo-ee!' That was the startling cry as nearly as it can be written. But no letters can convey the sustained shrillness of the long, penetrating note represented by the first syllable, nor the weird, die-away wail of the second. It is the well-known bushcall,the `jodel' of the black fellow."

<hw>Cooee, within</hw>, adv. within easy distance.

1887. G. L. Apperson, in `All the Year Round,' July 30, p. 67, col. 1 (`O.E.D.'):

"A common mode of expression is to be `within cooey' of a place. . . . Now to be `within cooey' of Sydney is to be at the distance of an easy journey therefrom."

1893. `The Herald' (Melbourne), June 26, p. 2, col. 6:

"Witness said that there was a post-office clock `within coo-ee,' or within less than half-a-mile of the station."

1896. H. Lawson, `When the World was Wide,' p. 80:

"Just to camp within a cooey of the Shanty for the night."

<hw>Cooee</hw>, v.intr. to utter the call.

1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 81:

"Our sable guides `cooed' and `cooed' again, in their usual tone of calling to each other at a distance."

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition, p. 115:

"Brown cooyed to him, and by a sign requested him to wait for us."

1847. J. D. Lang, `Phillipsland,' p. 85 [Footnote]:

"Cooey is the aboriginal mode of calling out to any person at a distance, whether visible or not, in the forest. The sound is made by dwelling on the first syllable, and pronouncing the second with a short, sharp, rising inflexion. It is much easier made, and is heard to a much greater distance than the English holla! and is consequently in universal use among the colonists. . . . There is a story current in the colony of a party of native-born colonists being in London, one of whom, a young lady, if I recollect aright, was accidentally separated from the rest, in the endless stream of pedestrians and vehicles of all descriptions, at the intersection of Fleet Street with the broad avenue leading to Blackfriars Bridge. When they were all in great consternation and perplexity at the circumstance, it occurred to one of the party to cooey, and the well-known sound, with its ten thousand Australian associations, being at once recognised and responded to, a reunion of the party took place immediately, doubtless to the great wonderment of the surrounding Londoners, who would probably suppose they were all fit for Bedlam."

1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 90:

"They [the aborigines] warily entered scrubs, and called out (cooyed) repeatedly in approaching water-holes, even when yet at a great distance."

1852. J. West, `History of Tasmania,' vol. ii. p. 91:

"A female, born on this division of the globe, once stood at the foot of London Bridge, and cooyed for her husband, of whom she had lost sight, and stopped the passengers by the novelty of the sound; which however is not unknown in certain neighbourhoods of the metropolis. Some gentlemen, on a visit to a London theatre, to draw the attention of their friends in an opposite box, called out cooey; a voice in the gallery answered `Botany Bay!'"

1880 (circa). `Melbourne Punch,' [In the days of long trains]:

"George, there's somebody treading on my dress; cooee to the bottom of the stairs."

<hw>Coo-in-new</hw>, n. aboriginal name for "a useful verbenaceous timber-tree of Australia, Gmelina leichhardtii, F. v. M. The wood has a fine silvery grain, and is much prized for flooring and for the decks of vessels, as it is reputed never to shrink after a moderate seasoning." (`Century.') Usually called Mahogany-tree (q.v.).

<hw>Coolaman</hw> or <hw>Kooliman</hw>, n. an aboriginal word, Kamilaroi Dialect of New South Wales. [W. Ridley, `Kamilaroi,' p. 25, derives it from Kulu, seed, but it is just as likely from Kolle, water.—J. Mathew.] A hollowed knot of a tree, used as a seed vessel, or for holding water. The word is applied to the excrescence on the tree as well as to the vessel; a bush hand has been heard to speak of a hump-backed man as `cooliman-backed.'

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 269:

"Three koolimans (vessels of stringy bark) were full of honey water, from one of which I took a hearty draught."

1863. M. K. Beveridge, `Gatherings among the Gum-trees,' p. 37:

"And the beautiful Lubrina Fetched a Cooliman of water."

[In Glossary.] Cooliman, a hollow knot of a tree for holding water.

186. W. Howitt, `Discovery in Australia, vol. ii. p. 24:

"Koolimans, water vessels. . . The koolimans were made of the inner layer of the bark of the stringy-bark tree."

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. ii. p. 185:

"Coolaman, native vessel for holding water."

1885. Mrs. Praed, `Australian Life,' p. 76:

"Cooliman, a vessel for carrying water, made out of the bark which covers an excrescence peculiar to a kind of gum-tree."

<hw>Cooper's-flag</hw>, n. another name in New Zealand for Raupo (q.v.).

<hw>Coopers-wood</hw>, n. the timber of an Australian tree, Alphitonia excelsa, Reiss, N.O. Rhamneae. The wood becomes dark with age, and is used for coopers' staves and various purposes.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 373:

"Variously called Mountain-ash, Red-ash, Leather-jacket, and Coopers-wood."

<hw>Coordaitcha</hw>. See Kurdaitcha.

<hw>Coot</hw>, n. common English birdname; the Australian species is Fulica australis, Gould. See also Bald-Coot.

<hw>Copper-head</hw>, n. See under Snake.

<hw>Copper Maori</hw>. This spelling has been influenced by the English word Copper, but it is really a corruption of a Maori word. There is a difference of opinion amongst Maori scholars what this word is. Some say Kapura, a common fire used for cooking, in contradistinction to a `chief's fire,' at which he sat, and which would not be allowed to be defiled with food. Others say Kopa. The Maori word Kopa was (1) adj. meaning bent, (2) n. angle or corner, and (3) the native oven, or more strictly the hole scooped out for the oven.

1888. T. Pine, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' `A local tradition of Raukawa,' vol. xxi. p. 417:

"So they set to work and dug holes on the flat, each hole about 2 ft. across and about 1 1/2 ft. deep, and shaped something like a Kopa Maori."

1889. H. D. M. Haszard, ibid. `Notes on some Relics of Cannibalism,' vol. xxii. p. 104:

"In two distinct places, about four chains apart, there were a number of Kapura Maori, or native ovens, scattered about within a radius of about forty feet."

<hw>Coprosma</hw>, n. scientific and vernacular name fora large genus of trees and shrubs of the order Rubiaceae. From the Greek kopros, dung, on account of the bad smell of some of the species. See quotation. The Maori name is Karamu (q.v.). Various species receive special vernacular names, which appear in their places in the Dictionary.

1889. T. Kirk, `Forest Flora of New Zealand,' p. 110:

"Corosma comprises about forty species, of which at least thirty are found in New Zealand, all of which are restricted to the colony except C. pumila, which extends to Australia. Five species are found in Australia, one of which is C. pumila mentioned above. A few species occur in the Pacific, Chili, Juan Fernandez, the Sandwich Islands, &c."

<hw>Coral</hw>, n. See Batswing-Coral.

<hw>Coral-Fern</hw>, n. name given in Victoria to Gleichenia circinata, Swartz, called in Bailey's list Parasol-Fern. See Fern.

<hw>Coral-Flower</hw>, n. a plant, Epacris (q.v.), Epacris microphylla, R. Br., N.O. Epacrideae.

<hw>Coral-Pea</hw>, n. another name for the Kennedya (q.v.).

1896. `The Melburnian,' Aug. 28, p. 53:

"The trailing scarlet kennedyas, aptly called the `bleeding-heart' or `coral pea,' brighten the greyness of the sandy, peaty wastes."

<hw>Coranderrk</hw>, n. the aboriginal name for the Victorian Dogwood (q.v.). An "aboriginal station," or asylum and settlement for the remaining members of the aboriginal race of Victoria, is called after this name because the wood grew plentifully there.

<hw>Cordage-tree</hw>, n. name given in Tasmania to a Kurrajong (q.v.). The name Sida pulchella has been superseded by Plagianthus sidoides, Hook.

1835. Ross, `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 108:

"Sida pulchella. Handsome Sida. Currijong or cordage tree of Hobart Town. . . . The bark used to be taken for tying up post and rail fences, the rafters of huts, in the earlier periods of the colony, before nails could be so easily procured."

<hw>Corella</hw>, n. any parrot of the genus Nymphicus; the word is dim. of late Lat. cora = korh, a girl, doll, etc. The Australian Corella is N. novae-hollandiae, and the name is also given to Licmetus nasicus, Temm, the Long-billed Cockatoo (q.v.). It is often used indiscriminately by bird-fanciers for any pretty little parrot, parrakeet, or cockatoo.

<hw>Cork-tree</hw>, n. See Bat's-wing Coral.

<hw>Corkwood</hw>, n. a New Zealand tree, Entelea arborescens, R. Br., N.O. Tiliaceae. Maori name, Whau.

1889. T. Kirk, `Forest Flora of New Zealand,' p. 45:

"The whau . . . is termed corkwood by the settlers on account of its light specific gravity."

<hw>Cormorant</hw>, n. common English bird-name. In Australia the name is applied to the following birds:—

Black Cormorant— Graculus novae-hollandiae, Steph.

Little C.— G. melanoleucus, Vieill.

Little-black C.— G. stictocephalus, Bp. .

Pied C.— G. varius, Gm.

White-breasted Cormorant— G. leucogaster, Gould.

White-throated C.— G. brevirostris, Gould.

<hw>Cornstalk</hw>, n. a young man or a girl born and bred in New South Wales, especially if tall and big.

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 116:

"The colonial-born, bearing also the name of cornstalks (Indian corn), from the way in which they shoot up."

1834. Geo. Benett, `Wanderings in New South Wales,' vol. i. p. 341:

"The Australian ladies may compete for personal beauty and elegance with any European, although satirized as `Cornstalks,' from the slenderness of their forms."

1849. J. P. Townsend, `Rambles in New South Wales,' p. 68:

"Our host was surrounded by a little army of `cornstalks.'. . . The designation `cornstalk' is given because the young people run up like the stems of the Indian corn."

1869. W. R. Honey, `Madeline Clifton,' Act III. sc. v. p. 30:

"Look you, there stands young cornstalk."

1878. `The Australian,' vol. i. p. 526:

"If these are the heroes that my cornstalk friends worship so ardently, they must indeed be hard up for heroes."

1893. Haddon Chambers, `Thumbnail Sketches of Australian Life,' p. 217:

"While in the capital I fell in with several jolly cornstalks, with whom I spent a pleasant time in boating, fishing, and sometimes camping out down the harbour."

<hw>Correa</hw>, n. the scientific name of a genus of Australian plants of the N.O. Rutaceae, so named after Correa de Serra, a Portuguese nobleman who wrote on rutaceous plants at the beginning of the century. They bear scarlet or green and sometimes yellowish flowers, and are often called Native Fuchsias (q.v.), especially C. speciosa, Andrews, which bears crimson flowers.

1827. R. Sweet, `Flora Australasica,' p. 2:

"The genus was first named by Sir J. E. Smith in compliment to the late M. Correa de Serra, a celebrated Portuguese botanist."

1859. H. Kingsley, `Geoffrey Hamlyn,' p. 384:

"The scarlet correa lurked among the broken quartz."

1877. F. v. Mueller, `Botanic Teachings,' p. 70:

"With all wish to maintain vernacular names, which are not actually misleading, I cannot call a correa by the common colonial name `native fuchsia,' as not the slightest structural resemblance and but little habitual similarity exists between these plants; they indeed belong to widely different orders."

Ibid.:

"All Correas are geographically restricted to the south-eastern portion of the Australian continent and Tasmania, the genus containing but few species."

1880. Mrs. Meredith, `Tasmanian Friends and Foes,' p. 23:

"I see some pretty red correa and lilac." [Footnote]: "Correa speciosa, native fuchsia of Colonies."

<hw>Corrobbery</hw>, n. This spelling is nearest to the accepted pronunciation, the accent falling on the second syllable. Various spellings, however, occur, viz.—Corobbery, Corrobery, Corroberry, Corroborree, Corrobbory, Corroborry, Corrobboree, Coroboree, Corroboree, Korroboree, Corroborri, Corrobaree, and Caribberie. To these Mr. Fraser adds Karabari (see quotation, 1892), but his spelling has never been accepted in English. The word comes from the Botany Bay dialect.

[The aboriginal verb (see Ridley's `Kamilaroi and other Australian Languages,' p. 107) is korobra, to dance; in the same locality boroya or beria means to sing; probably koro is from a common Australian word for emu.—J. Mathew.]

(1) An aboriginal name for a dance, sacred, festive, or warlike.

1793. Governor 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."

1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 280:

"Dancing with their corrobery motion."

Ibid. p. 311:

"With several corrobery or harlequin steps."

1833. C. Sturt, `Southern Australia,' vol. ii. c. iii. p. 55:

"They hold their corrobbores (midnight ceremonies)."

1836. C. Darwin, `Journal of the Voyage of the Beagle' (ed. 1882), c. xix. p. 450:

"A large tribe of natives, called the white cockatoo men, happened to pay a visit to the settlement while we were there. These men as well as those of the tribe belonging to King George's Sound, being tempted by the offer of some tubs of rice and sugar were persuaded to hold a `corrobery' or great dancing party." [Description follows.]

1838. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions,' vol. ii. p. 4:

"There can be little doubt that the corrobboree is the medium through which the delights of poetry and the drama are enjoyed in a limited degree, even by these primitive savages of New Holland."

1844. Mrs. Meredith. `Notes and Sketches of New South Wales,' p. 91:

"Great preparations were made, as for a grand corrobory, or festival, the men divesting themselves of even the portions of clothing commonly worn, and painting their naked black bodies in a hideous manner with pipe-clay. After dark, they lit their fires, which are small, but kept blazing with constant additions of dry bark and leaves, and the sable gentry assembled by degrees as they completed their evening toilette, full dress being painted nudity. A few began dancing in different parties, preparatory to the grand display, and the women, squatting on the ground, commenced their strange monotonous chant, each beating accurate time with two boomerangs. Then began the grand corrobory, and all the men joined in the dance, leaping, jumping, bounding about in the most violent manner, but always in strict unison with each other, and keeping time with the chorus, accompanying their wild gesticulations with frightful yells, and noises. The whole `tableau' is fearfully grand! The dark wild forest scenery around—the bright fire-light gleaming upon the savage and uncouth figures of the men, their natural dark hue being made absolutely horrible by the paintings bestowed on them, consisting of lines and other marks done in white and red pipe-clay, which gives them an indescribably ghastly and fiendish aspect—their strange attitudes, and violent contortions and movements, and the unearthly sound of their yells, mingled with the wild and monotonous wail-like chant of the women, make altogether a very near approach to the horribly sublime in the estimation of most Europeans who have witnessed an assembly of the kind."

1846. G. H. Haydon, `Five Years in Australia Felix,' p. 103:

"They have no instrument of music, the corobery's song being accompanied by the beating of two sticks together, and by the women thumping their opossum rugs.'"

1847. J. D. Lang, `Cooksland,' p. 447 [Footnote]:

"These words, which were quite as unintelligible to the natives as the corresponding words in the vernacular language of the white men would have been, were learned by the natives, and are now commonly used by them in conversing with Europeans, as English words. Thus corrobbory, the Sydney word for a general assembly of natives, is now commonly used in that sense at Moreton Bay; but the original word there is yanerwille. Cabon, great; narang, little; boodgeree, good; myall, wild native, etc. etc., are all words of this description, supposed by the natives [of Queensland] to be English words, and by the Europeans to be aboriginal words of the language of that district."

[The phrase "general assembly" would rise naturally in the mind of Dr. Lang as a Presbyterian minister; but there is no evidence of anything parliamentary about a corrobbery.]

1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 78:

"The exact object or meaning of their famous corrobboree or native dance, beyond mere exercise and patience, has not as yet been properly ascertained; but it seems to be mutually understood and very extensively practised throughout Australia, and is generally a sign of mutual fellowship and good feeling on the part of the various tribes."

1849. J. P. Townsend, `Rambles in New South Wales,' p. 100:

"When our blacks visited Sydney, and saw the military paraded, and heard the bands, they said that was `white fellows' corrobbory.'"

185. E. Stone Parker, `Aborigines of Australia,' p. 21:

"It is a very great mistake to suppose . . . that there is any kind of religious ceremony connected with the ordinary corrobory. . . . I may also remark that the term corrobory is not a native word."

[It is quite certain that it is native, though not known to Mr. E. Stone Parker.]

1862. G. T. Lloyd, `Thirty-three Years in Tasmania and Victoria,' p. 49:

[In Tasmania] "the assembling of the tribes was always celebrated by a grand corroboree, a species of bestial bal masque. On such occasions they presented a most grotesque and demon-like appearance, their heads, faces, and bodies, liberally greased were besmeared alternately with clay and red ochre; large tufts of bushy twigs were entwined around their ankles, wrists, and waists; and these completed their toilet."

1879. J. D. Woods, `Native Tribes of South Australia,' Introduction, pp. xxxii. and xxxiii.:

"The principal dance is common all over the continent, and `corrobboree' is the name by which it is commonly known. It is not quite clear what a corrobboree is intended to signify. Some think it a war-dance—others that it is a representation of their hunting expeditions—others again, that it is a religious, or pagan, observance; but on this even the blacks themselves give no information."

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 41:

"The good fortune to witness a korroboree, that is a festive dance by the natives in the neighbourhood."

1892. J. Fraser, `The Aborigines of New South Wales,' p. 21:

"`Karabari' is an aboriginal name for those dances which our natives often have in the forests at night. Hitherto the name has been written corrobboree, but etymologically it should be karabari, for it comes from the same root as `karaji,' a wizard or medicine-man, and `bari' is a common formative in the native languages. The karabari has been usually regarded as a form of amusement . . . these dances partake of a semi-religious character."

[Mr. Fraser's etymology is regarded as far-fetched.]

(2) The song that accompanied the dance.

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 323:

"I feared he might imagine we were afraid of his incantations, for he sang most lamentable corroborris."

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 68:

". . . listen to the new corroborree. Great numbers arrive; the corroborree is danced night after night with the utmost enthusiasm. . . .These corroborrees travel for many hundreds of miles from the place where they originated. . . .These composers [of song and dance] pretend that the Spirit of Evil originally manufactured their corroborree."

1889. Rev. J. H. Zillman, `Australian Life,' p. 132:

"The story was a grand joke among the blacks for many a day. It became, no doubt, the theme for a `corroberee,' and Tommy was always after a hero amongst his countrymen."

(3) By transference, any large social gathering or public meeting.

1892. `Saturday Review,' Feb.' 13, p. 168, col. 2:

"A corrobory of gigantic dimensions is being prepared for [General Booth's] reception [in Australia]." (`O.E.D.')

1895. Modern:

"There's a big corrobbery on to-night at Government House, and you can't get a cab for love or money."

(4) By natural transference, a noise, disturbance, fuss or trouble.

1874. Garnet Walch, `Adamanta,' Act II. sc. ii. p. 27:

"How can I calm this infantile corroboree?"

1885. H. O. Forbes, `Naturalist's Wanderings,' p. 295:

"Kingfishers . . . in large chattering corrobories in the tops of high trees."

1888. Rolf Boldrewood, `Robbery under Arms,' p. 242:

"The boy raises the most awful corroboree of screams and howls, enough for a whole gang of bushrangers, if they went in for that sort of thing."

1897. `The Herald,' Feb. 15, p. i, col. 1:

"Latest about the Cretan corroboree in our cable messages this evening. The situation at the capital is decidedly disagreeable. A little while ago the Moslems threw the Christians out and took charge. Now the last report is that there is a large force of Christians attacking the city and quite ready, we doubt not, to cut every Moslem throat that comes in the way."

<hw>Corrobbery</hw>, v. (1) To hold a corrobbery.

1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 61:

"They began to corrobery or dance.

(p. 206): They `corroberried,' sang, laughed, and screamed."

1885. R. M. Pried, `Australian Life,' p. 22:

"For some time the district where the nut [bunya] abounds is a scene of feasting and corroboreeing."

(2) By transference to animals, birds, insects, etc.

1846. C. P. Hodgson, `Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 257:

"The mosquitoes from the swamps corroboreed with unmitigated ardour."

1871. C. Darwin, `Descent of Man' (2nd ed. 1885), p. 406:

"The Menura Alberti [see Lyrebird] scratches for itself shallow holes, or, as they are called by the natives, corroborying places, where it is believed both sexes assemble."

(3) To boil; to dance as boiling water does.

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

"`Look out there! `he continued; `quart-pot corroborree,' springing up and removing with one hand from the fire one of the quart-pots, which was boiling madly, while with the other he dropped in about as much tea as he could hold between his fingers and thumb."

Ibid. p. 49:

"They had almost finished their meal before the new quart corroborreed, as the stockman phrased it."

<hw>Corypha-palm</hw>, n. an obsolete name for Livistona inermis, now called Cabbage-tree (q.v.).

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 49:

"The bottle-tree and the corypha-palm were frequent."

<hw>Cottage</hw>, n. a house in which all the rooms are on the ground-floor. An auctioneer's advertisement often runs—"large weatherboard cottage, twelve rooms, etc.," or "double-fronted brick cottage." The cheapness of land caused nearly all suburban houses in Australia to be built without upper storeys and detached.

<hw>Cotton-bush</hw>, n. name applied to two trees called Salt-bush (q.v.). (1) Bassia bicornis, Lindl. (2) Kochia aphylla, R. Br., N.O. Salsolaceae. S. Dixon (apud Maiden, p. 132) thus describes it—

"All kinds of stock are often largely dependent on it during protracted droughts, and when neither grass nor hay are obtainable I have known the whole bush chopped up and mixed with a little corn, when it proved an excellent fodder for horses."

1876. W. Harcus, `South Australia,' p. 126:

"This is a fine open, hilly district, watered, well grassed, and with plenty of herbage and cotton-bush."

<hw>Cotton-shrub</hw>, n. a name given in Tasmania to the shrub Pimelea nivea, Lab., N.O. Thymeleae.

<hw>Cotton-tree</hw>, n. an Australian tree, Hibiscus teliaceus, Linn., N.O. Malvaceae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 624:

"The fibre of the bark [cotton-tree] is used for nets and fishing-lines by the aborigines."

<hw>Cotton-wood</hw>, n. the timber of an Australian tree, Bedfordia salicina, De C., N.O. Compositae. Called Dog-wood (q.v.) in Tasmania.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p.386:

"The `dog-wood' of Tasmania, and the `cotton-wood' of Southern New South Wales, on account of the abundant down on the leaves. A hard, pale-brown, well-mottled wood, said by some to be good for furniture. It emits a foetid smell when cut."

<hw>Coucal</hw>, n. a bird-name, "mentioned probably for the first time in Le Vaillant's `Oiseaux d'Afrique,' beginning about 1796; perhaps native African. An African or Indian spear-headed cuckoo: a name first definitely applied by Cuvier in 1817 to the birds of the genus Centropus." (`Century.') The Australian species is Centropus phasianellus, Gould, or Centropus phasianus, Lath. It is called also Swamp-pheasant (q.v.), and Pheasant-cuckoo.

<hw>Count-fish</hw>, n. a large Schnapper (q.v.). See Cock-Schnapper.

1874. `Sydney Mail,' `Fishes and Fishing in New South Wales':

"The ordinary schnapper or count fish implies that all of a certain size are to count as twelve to the dozen, the shoal or school-fish eighteen or twenty-four to the dozen, and the squire, thirty or thirty-six to the dozen—the latter just according to their size, the redbream at per bushel."

<hw>Count-muster</hw>, n. a gathering, especially of sheep or cattle in order to count them.

1891. Rolf Boldrewood, `A Sydney-side Saxon,' p. 1:

"The old man's having a regular count-muster of his sons and daughters, and their children and off side relatives-that is, by marriage."

<hw>Cowdie</hw>, n. an early variant of Kauri (q.v.), with other spellings.

1889. T. Kirk, `Forest Flora of New Zealand,' p. 143:

"The native name `Kauri' is the only common name in general use. When the timber was first introduced into Britain it was termed `cowrie' or `kowdie-pine'; but the name speedily fell into disuse, although it still appears as the common name in some horticultural works."

<hw>Cowshorns</hw>, n. a Tasmanian orchid, Pterostylis nutans, R. Br.

<hw>Cow-tree</hw>, n. a native tree of New Zealand. Maori name, Karaka (q.v.).

1860. G. Bennett, `Gatherings of a Naturalist,' p. 346:

"The karaka-tree of New Zealand (Corynocarpus laevigata), also called kopi by the natives, and cow-tree by Europeans (from that animal being partial to its leaves), grows luxuriantly in Sydney."

<hw>Crab</hw>, n. Of the various Australian species of this marine crustacean, Scylla serrata alone is large enough to be much used as food, and it is seldom caught. In Tasmania and Victoria, Pseudocarcinus gigas, called the King-Crab, which reaches a weight of 20 lbs., is occasionally brought to market. There is only one fresh-water crab known in Australia—Telphusa transversa.

1896. Spencer and Hall, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,' Zoology, p. 228:

"In the case of Telphusa transversa, the fresh-water crab, the banks of certain water holes are riddled with its burrows."

<hw>Crab-hole</hw>, n. a hole leading into a pit-like burrow, made originally by a burrowing crayfish, and often afterwards increased in size by the draining into it of water. The burrows are made by crayfish belonging to the genera Engaeus and Astacopsis, which are popularly known as land-crabs.

1848. Letter by Mrs. Perry, given in Canon Goodman's `Church in Victoria, during Episcopate of Bishop Perry,' p. 72:

"Full of crab holes, which are exceedingly dangerous for the horses. There are holes varying in depth from one to three feet, and the smallest of them wide enough to admit the foot of a horse: nothing more likely than that a horse should break its leg in one. . . . These holes are formed by a small land-crab and then gradually enlarged by the water draining into them."

1859. H. Kingsley, `Geoffrey Hamlyn,' p. 368:

"This brute put his foot in a crabhole, and came down, rolling on my leg.''

1875. Wood and Lapham, `Waiting for the Mail,' p. 49:

"Across the creek we went . . . now tripping over tussocks, now falling into crab holes."

<hw>Crab-tree</hw>, n. i.q. Bitter-bark (q.v.).

<hw>Cradle</hw>, n. common in Australia, but of Californian origin. "A trough on rockers in which auriferous earth or sand is shaken in water, in order to separate and collect the gold." (`O.E.D.')

1849. `Illustrated London News,' Nov. 17, p. 325, col. 1 (`O.E.D.'): [This applies to California, and is before the Australian diggings began]:

"Two men can keep each other steadily at work, the one digging and carrying the earth in a bucket, and the other washing and rocking the cradle."

1851. Letter by Mrs. Perry, quoted in Canon Goodman's `Church in Victoria during Episcopate of Bishop Perry,' p. 171:

"The streets are full of cradles and drays packed for the journey."

1858. T. McCombie, `History of Victoria,' c. xv. p. 215:

"Cradles and tin dishes to supply the digging parties."

1865. F. H. Nixon, `Peter Perfume,' p. 56:

"They had cradles by dozens and picks by the score."

1884. T. Bracken, `Lays of Maori,' p. 154:

"The music of the puddling mill, the cradle, and the tub."

<hw>Cradle</hw>, v. tr. to wash auriferous gravel in a miner's cradle.

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Miner's Right,' c. 21, p. 197:

"The laborious process of washing and `cradling' the ore."

<hw>Crake</hw>, n. common English bird-name. The Australian varieties are—

Little Crake— Porzana palustris, Gould.

Spotless C.— P. tabuensis, Gmel.

Spotted C.— P. fluminea, Gould.

White-browed C.— P. cinereus, Vieill.

D

<hw>Dabchick</hw>, n. common English bird-name. The New Zealand species is Podiceps rufipectus. There is no species in Australia.

<hw>Dacelo</hw>, n. Name given by "W. E. Leach, 1816. An anagram or transposition of Lat. Alcedo, a Kingfisher." (`Century.') Scientific name for the Jackass (q.v.).

<hw>Dactylopsila</hw>, n. the scientific name of the Australian genus of the Striped Phalanger, called locally the Striped Opossum; see Opossum. It has a long bare toe. (Grk. daktulos, a finger, and psilos, bare.)

<hw>Daisy, Brisbane</hw>, n. a Queensland and New South Wales plant, Brachycome microcarpa, F. v. M., N.O. Compositae.

<hw>Daisy, Native</hw>, n. a Tasmanian flower, Brachycome decipiens, Hook., N.O. Compositae.

<hw>Daisy Tree</hw>, n. two Tasmanian trees, Astur stellulatus, Lab., and A. glandulosus, Lab., N.O. Compositae. The latter is called the Swamp-Daisy-Tree.

<hw>Dam</hw>, n. In England, the word means a barrier to stop water in Australia, it also means the water so stopped, as `O.E.D.' shows it does in Yorkshire.

1873. Marcus Clarke, `Holiday Peak, &c.,' p. 76:

"The dams were brimming at Quartz-borough, St. Roy reservoir was running over."

1892. `Scribner's Magazine,' Feb., p. 141:

"Dams as he calls his reservoirs scooped out in the hard soil."

1893. `The Leader,' Jan. 14:

"A boundary rider has been drowned in a dam."

1893. `The Times,' [Reprint] `Letters from Queensland,' p. 68:

"At present few stations are subdivided into paddocks smaller than 20,000 acres apiece. If in each of these there is but one waterhole or dam that can be relied upon to hold out in drought, sheep and cattle will destroy as much grass in tramping from the far corners of the grazing to the drinking spot as they will eat. Four paddocks of 5,000 acres each, well supplied with water, ought to carry almost double the number of sheep."

1896. `The Argus,' March 30, p. 6, col. 9:

"[The murderer] has not since been heard of. Dams and waterholes have been dragged . . . but without result."

<hw>Dammara</hw>, n. an old scientific name of the genus, including the Kauri Pine (q.v.). It is from the Hindustani, damar, `resin.' The name was applied to the Kauri Pine by Lambert in 1832, but it was afterwards found that Salisbury, in 1805, had previously constituted the genus Agathis for the reception of the Kauri Pine and the Dammar Pine of Amboyna. This priority of claim necessitated the modern restoration of Agathis as the name of the genus.

<hw>Damper</hw>, n. a large scone of flour and water baked in hot ashes; the bread of the bush, which is always unleavened. [The addition of water to the flour suggests a more likely origin than that given by Dr. Lang. See quotation, 1847.]

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 190

"The farm-men usually make their flour into flat cakes, which they call damper, and cook these in the ashes . . ."

1833. C. Sturt, `Southern Australia,' vol. ii. c. viii. p. 203:

"I watched the distorted countenances of my humble companions while drinking their tea and eating their damper."

1845. J. O. Balfour, `Sketches of New South Wales,' p. 103:

"Damper (a coarse dark bread)."

1846. G. H. Haydon, `Five Years in Australia Felix,' p. 122:

"I must here enlighten my readers as to what `damper' is. It is the bread of the bush, made with flour and water kneaded together and formed into dough, which is baked in the ashes, and after a few months keeping is a good substitute for bread."

[The last clause contains a most extraordinary statement— perhaps a joke. Damper is not kept for months, but is generally made fresh for each meal. See quotation, 1890, Lumholtz.]

1847. J. D. Lang, `Cooksland,' p. 122:

"A cake baked in the ashes, which in Australia is usually styled a damper." [Footnote]: "This appellation is said to have originated somehow with Dampier, the celebrated navigator."

1867. F. Hochstetter, `New Zealand,' p. 284:

"`Damper' is a dough made from wheat-flour and water without yeast, which is simply pressed flat, and baked in the ashes; according to civilized notions, rather hard of digestion, but quite agreeable to hungry woodmen's stomachs."

1872. C. H. Eden, `My Wife and I in Queensland,' p. 20:

"At first we had rather a horror of eating damper, imagining it to be somewhat like an uncooked crumpet. Experience, however, showed it to be really very good. Its construction is simple, and is as follows. Plain flour and water is mixed on a sheet of bark, and then kneaded into a disc some two or three inches thick to about one or two feet in diameter, great care to avoid cracks being taken in the kneading. This is placed in a hole scraped to its size in the hot ashes, covered over, and there left till small cracks caused by the steam appear on the surface of its covering. This is a sign that it is nearly done, and in a few minutes the skilful chef will sound it over with his "Wedges of damper (or bread baked in hot ashes) were cut from time to time from great circular flat loaves of that palatable and wholesome but somewhat compressed-looking bread."

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 32:

"Damper is the name of a kind of bread made of wheat flour and water. The dough is shaped into a flat round cake, which is baked in red-hot ashes. This bread looks very inviting, and tastes very good as long as it is fresh, but it soon becomes hard and dry."

<hw>Damson, Native</hw>, n. called also Native Plum, an Australian shrub, Nageia spinulosa, F. v. M., N.O. Coniferae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 53:

"Native Damson or Native Plum. This shrub possesses edible fruit, something like a plum, hence its vernacular names. The Rev. Dr. Woolis tells me that, mixed with jam of the Native Currant (Leptomeria acida), it makes a very good pudding."

<hw>Dandelion, Native</hw>, n. a flowering plant, Podolepis acuminata, R. Br., N.O. Compositae.

<hw>Daphne, Native</hw>, n. an Australian timber, Myoporum viscorum, R. Br., N.O. Myoporineae; called also Dogwood and Waterbush.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 575:

"Native Daphne. . . . Timber soft and moderately light, yet tough. It is used for building purposes. It dresses well, and is straight in the grain."

<HW>Darling Pea</HW>, n. an Australian plant, Swainsonia galegifolia, R. Br., N.O. Leguminosae; i.q. Indigo Plant (q.v.). See also Poison-bush. The Darling Downs and River were named after General (later Sir Ralph) Darling, who was Governor of New South Wales from Dec. 19, 1825 to Oct. 21, 1831. The "pea" is named from one of these.

<hw>Darling Shower</hw>, n. a local name in the interior of Australia, and especially on the River Darling, for a dust storm, caused by cyclonic winds.

<hw>Dart</hw>, n. (1) Plan, scheme, idea [slang]. It is an extension of the meaning—"sudden motion."

1887. J. Farrell, `How: he died,' p. 20:

"Whose `dart' for the Looard Was to appear the justest steward That ever hiked a plate round."

1890. `The Argus,' Aug. 9, p. 4, col. 2:

"When I told them of my `dart,' some were contemptuous, others incredulous."

1892. Rolf Boldrewood, `Nevermore,' p. 22:

"Your only dart is to buy a staunch horse with a tip-cart."

(2) Particular fancy or personal taste.

1895. Modern:

"`Fresh strawberries eh!—that's my dart,' says the bushman when he sees the fruit lunch in Collins-street."

<hw>Darter</hw>, n. common English name for birds of the genus Plotus. So called from the way it "darts" upon its prey. The Australian species is Plotus novae- hollandiae, Gould.

<hw>Dasyure</hw>, and <hw>Dasyurus</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus of Australian animals called Native Cats. See under Cat. The first form is the Anglicized spelling and is scientifically used in preference to the misleading vernacular name. From the Greek dasus, thick with hair, hairy, shaggy, and 'oura, tail. They range over Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, and the adjacent islands. Unlike the Thylacine and Tasmanian Devil (q.v.), which are purely terrestrial, the Dasyurus are arboreal in their habits, while they are both carnivorous and insectivorous.

The Thylacine, Tasmanian Devil, Pouched Mice, and Banded Ant-eater have sometimes been incorrectly classed as Dasyures, but the name is now strictly allotted to the genus Dasyurus, or Native Cat.

<hw>Date, Native</hw>, n. a Queensland fruit, Capparis canescens, Banks, N.O. Capparideae. The fruit is shaped like a pear, and about half an inch in its largest diameter. It is eaten raw by the aborigines.

<hw>Deadbeat</hw>, n. In Australia, it means a man "down on his luck," "stone-broke," beaten by fortune. In America, the word means an impostor, a sponge. Between the two uses the connection is clear, but the Australian usage is logically the earlier.

<hw>Dead-bird</hw>, n. In Australia, a recent slang term, meaning "a certainty." The metaphor is from pigeon-shooting, where the bird being let loose in front of a good shot is as good as dead.

<hw>Dead-finish</hw>, n. a rough scrubtree.

(1)Albizzia basaltica, Benth., N.O. Leguminosae.

(2) Acacia farnesiana, Willd., N.O. Leguminosae. See quotation, 1889.

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia', p. 272:

"On the eastern face of the coast range are pine, red cedar, and beech, and on the western slopes, rose-wood, myall, dead-finish, plum-tree, iron-wood and sandal-wood, all woods with a fine grain suitable for cabinet-making and fancy work."

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 355:

"Sometimes called by the absurd name of `Dead Finish.' This name given to some species of Acacia and Albizzia, is on account of the trees or shrubs shooting thickly from the bottom, and forming an impenetrable barrier to the traveller, who is thus brought to a `dead finish' (stop)"