Austral English

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS OF NAMES

Reading edition

Ait. . . . Aiton. Andr. . . . Andrews.

B. and L. . Barere and L. Bail. . . . Baillon. Bechst. . . Bechstein. Benth. . . Bentham. Bl. . . . Bleeker. Bodd. . . . Boddaert

Bp. ) ) . Bonaparte. Bonap. )

R. Br. . . Robert Brown Brong. . . Brongniart.

Cab. . . . Cabanis. Carr. . . . Carriere. Castln. . . Castelnau. Cav. . . . Cavanilles. Corr. . . . Correa.

Cunn. ) ) . A. Cunningham A. Cunn. )

Cuv. . . . Cuvier.

De C. . . . De Candolle. Dec. . . . Decaisne. Desf. . . . Desfontaines. Desm. . . . Desmarest. Desv. . . . Desvaux. De Tarrag. . De Tarragon Diet. . . . Dietrich. Donov. . . Donovan. Drap. . . . Drapiez. Dryand. . . Dryander.

Endl. . . . Endlicher.

Fab. . . . Fabricius. Forsk. . . Forskael. Forst. . . Forster. F. v. M. . . Ferdinand von Mueller

G. Forst. . G. Forster. Gaertn. . . Gaertner. Gaim. . . . Gaimard. Garn. . . . Garnot. Gaud. . . Gaudichaud. Geoff. . . Geoffroy. Germ. . . Germar. Gmel. . . Gmelin. Guich. . . Guichenot. Gunth. . . Guenther.

Harv. . . Harvey. Hasselq. . . Hasselquin. Haw. . . . Haworth. Hens. . . Henslow. Herb. . . Herbert. Homb. . . Hombron. Hook. . . J. Hooker. Hook. f. . . Hooker fils. Horsf. . . Horsfield.

Ill. . . . Illiger.

Jacq. . . . Jacquinot. Jard. . . . Jardine.

L. and S. . Liddell and Scott.

Lab. ) ) . Labillardiere. Labill. )

Lacep. . . Lacepede. Lath. . . . Latham. Lehm. . . Lehmann. Less. . . Lesson. L'herit. . . L'Heritier. Licht. . . Lichtenstein. Lindl. . . Lindley. Linn. . . . Linnaeus.

Macl. . . . Macleay. McC. . . . McCoy. Meissn. . . Meissner. Menz. . . Menzies. Milne-Ed. . Milne-Edwards. Miq. . . . Miquel.

Parlat. . . Parlatore. Pers. . . . Persoon.

Plan. ) ) . Planchol. Planch. )

Poir. . . Poiret.

Q. . . . Quoy.

Rafll. . . Raffles. Rein. . . . Reinwardt. Reiss. . . Reisseck.

Rich. ) ) . Richardson. Richards.)

Roxb. . . Roxburgh

Sal. . . . Salvadori. Salisb. . . Salisbury. Schau. . . Schauer.

Schl. ) ) . Schlechten Schlecht.)

Selb. . . . Selby. Ser. . . . Seringe. Serv. . . . Serville. Sieb. . . . Sieber. Sm. . . . Smith. Sol. . . . Solander. Sow. . . . Sowerby. Sparrm. . . Sparrman. Steph. . . Stephan. Sundev. . . Sundevall.

Sw. ) ) . Swainson. Swains. )

Temm. . . Temminck. Thunb. . . Thunberg. Tul. . . . Tulasne.

V. and H. . Vigors and Horsfield. Val. . . . Valenciennes. Vent. . . . Ventenat. Vieill. . . Vieillot. Vig. . . . Vigors.

Wagl. . . . Wagler. Water. . . Waterhouse. Wedd. . . . Weddell. Willd. . . Willdenow.

Zimm. . . . Zimmermann.

OTHER ABBREVIATIONS

q.v. quod vide, which see.

i.q. idem quod, the same as.

ibid. ibidem, in the same book.

i.e. id est, that is.

sc. scilicet, that is to say.

s.v. sub voce, under the word.

cf. confer, compare.

n. noun,

adj. adjective.

v. verb.

prep. preposition.

interj. interjection.

sic, "thus," draws attention to some peculiarity of diction or to what is believed to be a mistake.

N.O. Natural Order.

sp. a species,

spp. various species.

A square bracket [ ] shows an addition to a quotation by way of comment.

O.E.D. "Oxford English Dictionary," often formerly quoted as "N.E.D." or "New English Dictionary."

AUSTRALASIAN DICTIONARY

A

<hw>Absentee</hw>, n. euphemistic term for a convict. The word has disappeared with the need for it.

1837. Jas. Mudie, `Felonry of New South Wales,' p. vii.:

"The ludicrous and affected philanthropy of the present Governor of the Colony, in advertising runaway convicts under the soft and gentle name of absentees, is really unaccountable, unless we suppose it possible that his Excellency as a native of Ireland, and as having a well-grounded Hibernian antipathy to his absentee countrymen, uses the term as one expressive both of the criminality of the absentee and of his own abhorrence of the crime."

<hw>Acacia</hw>, n. and adj. a genus of shrubs or trees, N.O. Leguminosae. The Australian species often form thickets or scrubs, and are much used for hedges. The species are very numerous, and are called provincially by various names, e.g. "Wattle," "Mulga," "Giddea," and "Sally," an Anglicized form of the aboriginal name Sallee (q.v.). The tree peculiar to Tasmania, Acacia riceana, Hensl., (i>N.O. Leguminosae, is there called the Drooping Acacia.

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. i. p. 202:

"We possess above a hundred and thirty species of the acacia."

1839. Dr. J. Shotsky, quoted in `Sydney Morning Herald,' Aug. 5, p. 5, col. 2:

"Yet, Australian sky and nature awaits and merits real artists to portray it. Its gigantic gum and acacia trees, 40 ft. in girth, some of them covered with a most smooth bark, externally as white as chalk. .. ."

1844. L. Leichhardt, Letter in `Cooksland,' by J. D. Lang, p. 91:

"Rosewood Acacia, the wood of which has a very agreeable violet scent like the Myal Acacia (A. pendula) in Liverpool Plains."

1846. C. P. Hodgson, `Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 149:

"The Acacias are innumerable, all yielding a famous bark for tanning, and a clean and excellent gum."

1869. Mrs. Meredith, `A Tasmanian Memory,' p. 8:

"Acacias fringed with gold."

1877. F. v. Mueller, `Botanic Teachings,' p. 24:

"The name Acacia, derived from the Greek, and indicative of a thorny plant, was already bestowed by the ancient naturalist and physician Dioscorides on a Gum-Arabic yielding North-African Acacia not dissimilar to some Australian species. This generic name is so familiarly known, that the appellation `Wattle' might well be dispensed with. Indeed the name Acacia is in full use in works on travels and in many popular writings for the numerous Australian species . . . Few of any genera of plants contain more species than Acacia, and in Australia it is the richest of all; about 300 species, as occurring in our continent, have been clearly defined."

<hw>Acrobates</hw>, n. the scientific name of the Australian genus of Pigmy Flying-Phalangers, or, as they are locally called, Opossum-Mice. See Opossum-Mouse, Flying-Mouse, Flying-Phalanger, and Phalanger. The genus was founded by Desmarest in 1817. (Grk. 'akrobataes, walking on tiptoe.)

<hw>AEpyprymnus</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus of the Rufous Kangaroo-Rat. It is the tallest and largest of the Kangaroo-Rats (q.v.). (Grk. 'aipus, high, and prumnon, the hinder part.)

<hw>Ailuroedus</hw>, n. scientific name for the genus of Australian birds called Cat-birds (q.v.). From Grk. 'ailouros, a cat, and 'eidos, species.

<hw>Ake</hw>, n. originally Akeake, Maori name for either of two small trees, (1) Dodonaea viscosa, Linn., in New Zealand; (2) Olearia traversii, F. v. M., in the Chatham Islands. Ake is originally a Maori adv. meaning "onwards, in time." Archdeacon Williams, in his `Dictionary of New Zealand Language,' says Ake, Ake, Ake, means " for ever and ever." (Edition 182.)

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p.133:

"Akeake, paulo post futurum"

1835. W. Yale, `Some Account of New Zealand,' p. 47:

"Aki, called the Lignum vitae of New Zealand."

1851. Mrs. Wilson, `New Zealand,' p. 43:

"The ake and towai . . . are almost equal, in point of colour, to rosewood."

1883. J. Hector, `Handbook to New Zealand,' p. 131:

"Ake, a small tree, 6 to 12 feet high. Wood very hard, variegated, black and white; used for Maori clubs; abundant in dry woods and forests."

<hw>Alarm-bird</hw>, n. a bird-name no longer used in Australia. There is an African Alarm-bird.

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. vi. pl. 9:

"Lobivanellus lobatus (Lath.), Wattled Pewit, Alarm Bird of the Colonists."

<hw>Alectryon</hw>, n. a New Zealand tree and flower, Alectryon excelsum, De C., Maori name Titoki (q.v.); called also the New Zealand Oak, from the resemblance of its leaves to those of an oak. Named by botanists from Grk. 'alektruown, a cock.

1872. A. Domett, `Ranolf,' I. 7, p. 16:

"The early season could not yet Have ripened the alectryon's beads of jet, Each on its scarlet strawberry set."

<hw>Alexandra Palm</hw>, n. a Queensland tree, Ptychosperma alexandrae, F. v. M. A beautifully marked wood much used for making walking sticks. It grows 70 or 80 feet high.

<hw>Alluvial</hw>, n. the common term in Australia and New Zealand for gold-bearing alluvial soil. The word is also used adjectivally as in England.

1889. Rolf Boldrewood, `Robbery under Arms,' p. 403:

"The whole of the alluvial will be taken up, and the Terrible Hollow will re-echo with the sound of pick and shovel."

<hw>Ambrite</hw> (generally called ambrit), n. Mineral [from amber + ite, mineral formative, `O.E.D.'], a fossil resin found in masses amidst lignite coals in various parts of New Zealand. Some identify it with the resin of Dammara australis, generally called Kauri gum (q.v.).

1867. F. von Hochstetter, `New Zealand,' p. 79:

"Although originating probably from a coniferous tree related to the Kauri pine, it nevertheless has been erroneously taken for Kauri gum."—[Footnote]: "It is sufficiently characterised to deserve a special name ; but it comes so near to real amber that it deserves the name of Ambrite."

[This is the earliest use of the word.]

<hw>Anabranch</hw>, n. a branch of a river which leaves it and enters it again. The word is not Australian, though it is generally so reckoned. It is not given in the `Century,' nor in the `Imperial,' nor in `Webster,' nor in the `Standard.' The `O.E.D.' treats Ana as an independent word, rightly explaining it as anastomosing, but its quotation from the `Athenaeum' (1871), on which it relies,is a misprint. For the origin and coinage of the word, see quotation 1834. See the aboriginal name Billabong.

1834. Col.Jackson, `Journal of Royal Geographical Society,' p. 79:

"Such branches of a river as after separation re-unite, I would term anastomosing-branches; or, if a word might be coined, ana-branches, and the islands they form, branch-islands. Thus, if we would say, `the river in this part of its course divides into several ana-branches,' we should immediately understand the subsequent re-union of the branches to the main trunk."

Col. Jackson was for a while Secretary and Editor of the Society's Journal. In Feb. 1847 he resigned that position, and in the journal of that year there is the following amusing ignorance of his proposed word—

1847. `Condensed Account of Sturt's Exploration in the Interior of Australia—Journal of the Royal Geographical Society,' p. 87:

"Captain Sturt proposed sending in advance to ascertain the state of the Ana branch of the Darling, discovered by Mr. Eyre on a recent expedition to the North."

No fewer than six times on two pages is the word anabranch printed as two separate words, and as if Ana were a proper name. In the Index volume it appears "Ana, a branch of the Darling."

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 35:

"The river itself divided into anabranches which . . . made the whole valley a maze of channels."

1865. W. Howitt, `Discovery in Australia,' vol. i. p. 298:

"What the Major calls, after the learned nomenclature of Colonel Jackson, in the `Journal of the Geographical Society,' anabranches, but which the natives call billibongs, channels coming out of a stream and returning into it again."

1871. `The Athenaeum,' May 27, p. 660 (' O.E.D.'):

"The Loddon district is called the County of Gunbower, which means, it is said, an ana branch [sic]."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Squatter's Dream,' p. 48:

"A plain bordering an ana-branch sufficient for water."

<hw>Anchorwing</hw>, n. a bird-name, Falco melanogenys, Gould. The Black-cheeked Falcon, so called because of the resemblance of the wings outspread in flight to the flukes of an anchor.

<hw>Anguillaria</hw>, n. one of the vernacular names used for the common Australian wild flower, Anguillaraa australis, R. Br., Wurmbsea dioica, F. v. M., N.O. Liliaceae. The name Anguillarea is from the administrator of the Botanic Gardens of Padua, three centuries ago. There are three Australian forms, distinguished by Robert Brown as species. The flower is very common in the meadows in early spring, and is therefore called the Native Snow Drop. In Tasmania it is called Nancy.

1835. Ross, `Hobart Town Almanack,' 67:

"Spotted Anguillaria. Nancy. The little lively white flower with blue spots in the centre, about 2 inches high, that everywhere enlivens our grassy hills in spring, resembling the Star of Bethlehem."

1878. W. R. Guilfoyle, `Australian Botany,' p. 83:

"Native Snowdrop. Anguillaria Australis. The earliest of all our indigenous spring-flowering plants. . . . In early spring our fields are white with the flowers of this pretty little bulbous-rooted plant."

<hw>Ant-eater</hw>, n. (1) i.q. Ant-eating-Porcupine. See Echidna. (2) The Banded Ant-eater (q.v.).

<hw>Ant-eater, Banded</hw>. See Banded Ant-eater.

<hw>Antechinornys</hw>, n. scientific name for the genus with the one species of Long legged Pouched-Mouse (q.v.). (Grk. 'anti, opposed to, 'echivos, hedgehog, and mus, mouse, sc. a mouse different to the hedgehog.) It is a jumping animal exclusively insectivorous.

<hw>Antipodes</hw>, n. properly a Greek word, the plural of 'antipous, lit. "having feet opposed." The ancients, however, had no knowledge of the southern hemisphere. Under the word perioikos, Liddell and Scott explain that 'antipodes meant "those who were in opposite parallels and meridians." The word Antipodes was adopted into the Latin language, and occurs in two of the Fathers, Lactantius and Augustine. By the mediaeval church to believe in the antipodes was regarded as heresy. `O.E.D.' quotes two examples of the early use of the word in English.

1398. `Trevisa Barth. De P. R.,' xv. lii. (1495), p. 506:

"Yonde in Ethiopia ben the Antipodes, men that have theyr fete ayenst our fete."

1556. `Recorde Cast. Knowl.,' 93:

"People . . . called of the Greeks and Latines also 'antipodes, Antipodes, as you might say Counterfooted, or Counterpasers."

Shakspeare uses the word in five places, but, though he knew that this "pendent world" was spherical, his Antipodes were not Australasian. In three places he means only the fact that it is day in the Eastern hemisphere when it is night in England.

`Midsummer Night's Dream,' III. ii. 55:

"I'll believe as soon This whole earth may be bored, and that the moon May thro' the centre creep and so displease His brother's noontide with the Antipodes."

`Merchant of Venice,' V. 127:

"We should hold day with the Antipodes If you would walk in absence of the sun."

`Richard II.,' III. ii. 49:

"Who all this while hath revell'd in the night, Whilst we were wandering with the Antipodes."

In `Henry VI.,' part 3, I. iv. 135, the word more clearly designates the East:

"Thou art as opposite to every good As the Antipodes are unto us, Or as the South to the Septentrion." [sc. the North.]

But more precise geographical indications are given in `Much Ado,' II. i. 273, where Benedick is so anxious to avoid Beatrice that he says—

"I will go on the slightest errand now to the Antipodes that you can devise to send me on. I will fetch you a tooth-picker now from the farthest inch of Asia; bring you the length of Prester John's foot; fetch you a hair of the great Kam's beard; do you any embassage to the Pygmies rather than hold three words conference with this harpy."

Now the Pygmies lived on the Upper Nile, near Khartoum, Prester John in India, and the great Kam (Khan) in Tartary.

The word Antipodes in modern use is applied rather to places than to people. Geographically, the word means a place exactly opposite on the surface of the globe, as Antipodes Island (Eastward of New Zealand), which is very near the opposite end of the diameter of the globe passing through London. But the word is often used in a wider sense, and the whole of Australasia is regarded as the Antipodes of Great Britain.

The question is often asked whether there is any singular to the word Antipodes, and `O.E.D.' shows that antipode is still used in the sense of the exact opposite of a person. Antipod is also used, especially playfully. The adjectives used are Antipodal and Antipodean.

1640. Richard Brome [Title]:

"The Antipodes; comedy in verse." [Acted in 1638, first printed 4t0. 1640.]

<hw>Ant-orchis</hw>, n. an Australian and Tasmanian orchid, Chiloglottis gunnii, Lind.

<hw>Apple</hw> and <hw>Apple-tree</hw>, n. and adj. The names are applied to various indigenous trees, in some cases from a supposed resemblance to the English fruit, in others to the foliage of the English tree. The varieties are—

Black or Brush Apple— Achras australis, R. Br.

Emu A.— Owenia acidula, F. v. M.; called also Native Nectarine and Native Quince. Petalostigma quadriloculare, F. v. M.; called also Crab-tree, Native Quince, Quinine-tree (q.v.)

Kangaroo A.— See Kangaroo Apple.

Mooley A. (West N.S.W. name)— Owenia acidula, F. v. M.

Mulga A.— The Galls of Acacia aneura, F. v. M.

Oak A.— Cones of Casuarina stricta, Ait.

Rose A.— Owenia cerasifera, F. v. M.

1820. John Oxley, `Journal of Two Expeditions into the Interior of New South Wales,' p. 187:

"The blue gum trees in the neighbourhood were extremely fine, whilst that species of Eucalyptus, which is vulgarly called the apple-tree . . . again made its appearance. . . ."

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 260:

"It builds its nest of sticks lined with grass in Iron-bark and Apple-trees (a species of Angophora)."

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. i. p. 200:

"The apple-trees resemble the English apple only in leaf."

1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 195:

"In looking down upon the rich flats below, adjoining the stream, I was perpetually reminded of a thriving and rich apple-orchard. The resemblance of what are called apple-trees in Australia to those of the same name at home is so striking at a distance in these situations, that the comparison could not be avoided, although the former bear no fruit, and do not even belong to the same species."

1846. C. P. Hodgson, `Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 52:

"I have heard of men employed in felling whole apple-trees (Angophera lanceolata) for the sheep."

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

"Red Apple, Quonui, affects salt grounds."

1847. J. D. Lang, `Phillipsland,' p. 256:

"The plains, or rather downs, around it (Yass) are thinly but most picturesquely covered with `apple-trees,' as they are called by the colonists, merely from their resemblance to the European apple-tree in their size and outline, for they do not resemble it in producing an edible fruit."

1850. J. B. Clutterbuck, `Port Phillip in 1849,' p. 32:

"The musk-plant, hyacinth, grass-tree, and kangaroo apple-tree are indigenous."

1852. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes' (edition 1855), p. 219:

"Pomona would indignantly disown the apple-tree, for there is not the semblance of a pippin on its tufted branches."

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 113:

"Sandy apple-tree flats, and iron-bark ridges, lined the creek here on either side."

1896. H. Lawson, `When the World was Wide,' p. 158:

"The desolate flats where gaunt apple-trees rot."

<HW>Apple-berry</HW>, n. the fruit of an Australian shrub, Billardiera scandens, Smith, N.O. Pittosporeae, called by children "dumplings."

1793. J. E. Smith, `Specimen of Botany of New Holland,' pp. 1, 3:

"Billardiera scandens. Climbing Apple Berry. . . . The name Billardiera is given it in honour of James Julian la Billardiere, M.D., F.M.L.S., now engaged as botanist on board the French ships sent in search of M. de la Peyrouse."

<hw>Apple-gum</hw>, n. See Gum.

<hw>Apple-scented gum</hw>, n. See Gum.

<hw>Apteryx</hw>, n. [Grk. 'a privative and pterux, a wing.] A New Zealand bird about the size of a domestic fowl, with merely rudimentary wings.See Kiwi.

1813. G. Shaw, `Naturalist's Miscellany.' c. xxiv. p. 1058 (`O.E.D.'):

"The Southern Apteryx."

1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 137:

"The present Apterix or wingless bird of that country (New Zealand)."

1851. `Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land,' vol. i. p. 300 [Letter from Rev. W. Colenso, Waitangi, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, Sept. 4, 1850:

"You enquire after an Apteryx. How delighted should I be to succeed in getting you one. Three years ago Owen expressed a similar wish, and I have repeatedly tried, but failed. Yet here they still are in the mountain forests, though, doubtless, fast hastening towards extinction. I saw one in its wild state two years ago in the dense woods of the interior; I saw it clearly. . . . Two living specimens were lately taken by the Acheron, steamer, to Sydney, where they died; these were obtained at the Bay of Islands, where also I once got three at one time. Since then I have not been able to obtain another, although I have offered a great price for one. The fact is, the younger natives do not know how to take them, and the elder ones having but few wants, and those fully supplied, do not care to do so. Further, they can only be captured by night, and the dog must be well trained to be of service."

1874. F. P. Cobbe, in `Littell's Age,' Nov. 7, p. 355 (`Standard'):

"We have clipped the wings of Fancy as close as if she were an Apteryx.'

<hw>Arbutus, Native</hw>, n. See Wax-Cluster.

<hw>Ardoo</hw>, n. See Nardoo.

<hw>Artichoke</hw>, n. name given to the plant Astelia Alpina, R. Br., N.O. Liliaceae.

<hw>Ash</hw>, n. The name, with various epithets, is applied to the following different Australasian trees—

Black Ash— Nephelium semiglaucum, F. v. M., N.O. Sapindaceae; called also Wild Quince.

Black Mountain A.— Eucalyptus leucoxylon, F. v. M., N.O. Myrtaceae.

Blue A.— Elaeodendron australe, Vent., N.O. Celastrinae.

Blueberry A.— Elaeocarpus holopetalus, F. v. M., N.O. Tiliaceae.

Brush Apple— Acronychia baueri, Schott. (of Illawarra, N.S.W.).

Crow's A.— Flindersia australis, R. Br., N.O. Meliaceae.

Elderberry A. (of Victoria)— Panax sambucifolius, Sieb., N.O. Araliaceae.

Illawarra A.— Elaeocarpus kirtonia, F. v. M., N.O. Tiliaceae.

Moreton Bay A.— Eucalyptus tessellaris, Hook., N.O. Myrtaceae.

Mountain A. (see Mountain Ash).

New Zealand A. (see Titoki).

Pigeonberry A.— Elaeocarpus obovatus, G. Don., N.O. Tiliaceae.

Red A.— Alphitonia excelsa, Reiss, N.O. Rhamnaceae.

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 75:

"The Moreton Bay Ash (a species of Eucalyptus). ..was here also very plentiful."

<hw>Assigned</hw>, past part. of verb to assign, to allot. Used as adj. of a convict allotted to a settler as a servant. Colloquially often reduced to "signed."

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.'"

1837. J. D. Lang, `New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 31

"The assigned servant of a respectable Scotch family residing near Sydney."

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 75:

"Of the first five persons we saw to Van Diemen's Land, four were convicts, and perhaps the fifth. These were the assigned servants of the pilot."

1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 324:

"Under the old practice, the convicts, as soon as they arrived from Britain, were assigned among the various applicants. The servant thus assigned was bound to perform diligently, from sunrise till sunset, all usual and reasonable labour."

<hw>Assignee</hw>, n. a convict assigned as a servant. The word is also used in its ordinary English sense.

1843. `Penny Cyclopaedia,' vol. xxv. p. 139, col. 2:

"It is comparatively difficult to obtain another assignee,—easy to obtain a hired servant."

1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 324:

"Any instance of gross treatment disqualified him for the future as an assignee of convict labour."

<hw>Assignment</hw>, n. service as above.

1836. C. Darwin, `Journal of Researches' (1890), c. xix. p. 324:

"I believe the years of assignment are passed away with discontent and unhappiness."

1852. John West, `History of Tasmania,' vol. ii. p. 126:

"That form of service, known as assignment, was established by Governor King in 1804."

1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 117:

"The assignment system was then in operation, and such as obtained free grants of land were allowed a certain proportion of convicts to bring it into cultivation."

<hw>Asthma</hw> Herb, Queensland, n. Euphorbia pilulifera, Linn. As the name implies, a remedy for asthma. The herb is collected when in flower and carefully dried.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 183:

"This plant, having obtained some reputation in Australasia in certain pulmonary complaints, has acquired the appellation to the Colonies of `Queensland Asthma Herb'. Nevertheless, it is by no means endemic in Australasia, for it is a common tropical weed."

<hw>Aua</hw>, n. Maori name for a New Zealand fish, Agonostoma forsteri, Bleek. Another Maori name is Makawhiti; also called Sea-Mullet and sometimes Herring; (q.v.). It is abundant also in Tasmanian estuaries, and is one of the fishes which when dried is called Picton Herring (q.v.). See also Maray and Mullet. Agonostoma is a genus of the family Mugilidae or Grey-Mullets.

<hw>Aurora australis</hw>, n. the Southern equivalent for Aurora borealis.

1790. J. White, `Voyage to New South Wales,' p. 214:

"Sept. 5, 1788. About half after six in the evening, we saw an Aurora Australis, a phenomenon uncommon in the southern hemisphere."

<hw>Austral</hw>, adj. "Belonging to the South, Southern. Lat. Australis, from auster, south-wind." (`O.E.D.') The word is rarely used in Australasia in its primary sense, but now as equivalent to Australian or Australasian.

1823. Wentworth's Cambridge poem on `Australasia':

"And grant that yet an Austral Milton's song, Pactolus-like, flow deep and rich along, An Austral Shakespeare rise, whose living page To Nature true may charm in every age; And that an Austral Pindar daring soar, Where not the Theban Eagle reach'd before."

1825. Barron Field, `First Fruits of Australian Poetry,' Motto in Geographical Memoir of New South Wales, p. 485:

"I first adventure. Follow me who list; And be the second Austral harmonist." Adapted from Bishop Hall.

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 184:

"For this, midst Austral wilds I waken Our British harp, feel whence I come, Queen of the sea, too long forsaken, Queen of the soul, my spirit's home."—Alien Song.

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

"Every servant in this Austral Utopia thinks himself a gentleman."

1868. C. Harpur, `Poems' (ed. 1883), p. 215:

"How oft, in Austral woods, the parting day Has gone through western golden gates away."

1879. J. B. O'Hara, `Songs of the South,' p. 127:

"What though no weird and legendary lore Invests our young, our golden Austral shore With that romance the poet loves too well, When Inspiration breathes her magic spell."

1894. Ernest Favenc [Title]:

"Tales of the Austral Tropics."

1896. [Title]:

"The Austral Wheel—A Monthly Cycling Magazine, No. 1, Jan."

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

"Our Austral Spring." [Title of an article describing Spring in Australia.]

<hw>Australasia</hw>, n. (and its adjectives), name "given originally by De Brosses to one of his three divisions of the alleged Terra australis." (`O.E.D.') Now used as a larger term than Australian, to include the continent of Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, Fiji and islands. For peculiar use of the name for the Continent in 1793, see Australia.

1756. Charles de Brosses, `Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes,' tom. i. p. 80:

"On peut de meme diviser le monde austral inconnu en trois portions. .. .L'une dans l'ocean des Indes au sud de l'Asie que j'appellerai par cette raison australasie."

1766. Callander, `Terra Australis,' i. p. 49 (Translation of de Brosses)(`O.E.D.):

"The first [division] in the Indian Ocean, south of Asia, which for this reason we shall call Australasia."

1802. G. Shaw, `Zoology,' iii. p. 506 (`O.E.D.'):

"Other Australasian snakes."

1823. Subject for English poem at Cambridge University:

`Australasia.'

[The prize (Chancellor's Medal) was won by Winthrop Mackworth Praed. William Charles Wentworth stood second.] The concluding lines of his poem are:

"And Australasia float, with flag unfurl'd, A new Britannia in another world."

1846. C. P. Hodgson, `Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 77:

"How far had these ideas been acted upon by the Colonists of Austral Asia?" [sic.]

1852. J. West, `History of Tasmania,' vol. 1. p. 109:

"`The Austral-Asiatic Review,' by Murray, also made its appearance [in Hobart] in February, 1828."

1855. Tennyson, `The Brook,' p. 194:

" Katie walks By the long wash of Australasian seas Far off, and holds her head to other stars, And breathes in converse seasons."

[Altered in Edition of 1894 to "breathes in April-autumns."]

1857. Daniel Bunce [Title]:

"Australasiatic reminiscences."

1864. `The Australasian,' Oct. 1, First Number [Title]:

"The Australasian."

1880. Alfred R. Wallace [Title]:

"Australasia." [In Stanford's `Compendium of Geography and Travel.']

1881. David Blair [Title]:

"Cyclopaedia of Australasia."

1890. E. W. Hornung, `Bride from the Bush,' p. 29:

"It was neither Cockney nor Yankee, but a nasal blend of both: it was a lingo that declined to let the vowels run alone, but trotted them out in ill-matched couples, with discordant and awful consequences; in a word, it was Australasiatic of the worst description."

1890. `Victorian Consolidated Statutes,' Administration and p.obate Act, Section 39:

"`Australasian Colonies,' shall mean all colonies for the time being on the main land of Australia. ..and shall also include the colonies of New Zealand, Tasmania and Fiji and any other British Colonies or possessions in Australasia now existing or hereafter to be created which the Governor in Council may from time to time declare to be Australasian Colonies within the meaning of this Act."

1895. Edward Jenks [Title]:

"History of the Australasian Colonies."

1896. J. S. Laurie [Title]:

"The Story of Australasia."

<hw>Australia</hw>, n., and <hw>Australian</hw>, adj. As early as the 16th century there was a belief in a Terra australis (to which was often added the epithet incognita), literally "southern land," which was believed to be land lying round and stretching outwards from the South Pole.

In `Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia,' Sydney, Jan. 1892, is printed a paper read at the Geographical Congress at Berne, by E. Delmar Morgan, on the `Early Discovery of Australia.' This paper is illustrated by maps taken from `Nordenskiold's Atlas.' In a map by Orontius Finoeus, a French cosmographer of Provence, dated 1531, the Terra australis is shown as "Terra Australis recenter inventa, sed nondum plene cognita." In Ortelius' Map, 1570, it appears as "Terra Australis nondum cognita." In Gerard Mercator's Map, 1587, as "Terra Australis" simply.

In 1606 the Spaniard Fernandez de Quiros gave the name of Terra Australis del Espiritu Santo to land which he thought formed part of the Great Southland. It is in fact one of the New Hebrides.

The word "Australian " is older than "Australia" (see quotations, 1693 and 1766). The name Australia was adapted from the Latin name Terra Australis. The earliest suggestion of the word is credited to Flinders, who certainly thought that he was inventing the name. (See quotation, 1814.) Twenty-one years earlier, however, the word is found (see quotation, 1793); and the passage containing it is the first known use of the word in print. Shaw may thus be regarded as its inventor. According to its title-page, the book quoted is by two authors, the Zoology, by Shaw and the Botany by Smith. The Botany, however, was not published. Of the two names—Australia and Australasia—suggested in the opening of the quotation, to take the place of New Holland, Shaw evidently favoured Australia, while Smith, in the `Transactions of the Linnaean Society,' vol. iv. p. 213 (1798), uses Australasia for the continent several times. Neither name, however, passed then into general use. In 1814, Robert Brown the Botanist speaks of "Terra Australis," not of "Australia." "Australia" was reinvented by Flinders.

Quotations for " Terra Australis"—

1621. R. Burton, `Anatomy of Melancholy' (edition 1854), p. 56:

"For the site, if you will needs urge me to it, I am not fully resolved, it may be in Terra Australis incognita, there is room enough (for of my knowledge, neither that hungry Spaniard nor Mercurius Britannicus have yet discovered half of it)."

Ibid. p. 314:

"Terra Australis incognita. ..and yet in likelihood it may be so, for without all question, it being extended from the tropic of Capricorn to the circle Antarctic, and lying as it doth in the temperate zone, cannot choose but yield in time some flourishing kingdoms to succeeding ages, as America did unto the Spaniards."

Ibid. p. 619:

"But these are hard-hearted, unnatural, monsters of men, shallow politicians, they do not consider that a great part of the world is not yet inhabited as it ought, how many colonies into America, Terra Australis incognita, Africa may be sent?"

Early quotations for "Australian"

1693. `Nouveau Voyage de la Terre Australe, contenant les Coutumes et les Moeurs des Australiens, etc.' Par Jaques Sadeur [Gabriel de Foigny].

[This is a work of fiction, but interesting as being the first book in which the word Australiens is used. The next quotation is from the English translation.]

1693. `New Discovery, Terra Incognita Australis,' p. 163 (`O.E.D.'):

"It is easy to judge of the incomparability of the Australians with the people of Europe."

1766. Callander, `Terra Australis' (Translation of De Brosses), c. ii. p. 280:

"One of the Australians, or natives of the Southern World, whom Gonneville had brought into France."

Quotations for "Australia"

1793. G. Shaw and I. E. Smith, `Zoology and Botany of New Holland,' p. 2:

"The vast Island or rather Continent of Australia, Australasia, or New Holland, which has so lately attracted the particular attention of European navigators and naturalists, seems to abound in scenes of peculiar wildness and sterility; while the wretched natives of many of those dreary districts seem less elevated above the inferior animals than in any other part of the known world; Caffraria itself not excepted; as well as less indued with the power of promoting a comfortable existence by an approach towards useful arts and industry. It is in these savage regions however that Nature seems to have poured forth many of her most highly ornamented products with unusual liberality."

1814. M. Flinders, `Voyage to Terra Australis,' Introduction, p. iii. and footnote:

"I have . . . ventured upon the readoption of the original Terra Australis, and of this term I shall hereafter make use, when speaking of New Holland [sc. the West] and New South Wales, in a collective sense; and when using it in the most extensive signification, the adjacent isles, including that of Van Diemen, must be understood to be comprehended." [Footnote]: "Had I permitted myself any innovation upon the original term, it would have been to convert it into Australia; as being more agreeable to the ear, and an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the earth."

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. i. p. 9:

"New South Wales (or Australia, as we colonials say)."

1839. C. Darwin, `Naturalist's Voyage' (ed. 1890), p. 328:

"Farewell, Australia! You are a rising child, and doubtless some day will reign a great princess in the South; but you are too great and ambitious for affection, yet not great enough for respect. I leave your shores without sorrow or regret."

1852. A Liverpool Merchant [Title]:

"A Guide to Australia and the Gold Regions."

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' c. viii. (new ed.) p. 152:

"The colonies are determined to be separate. Australia is a term that finds no response in the patriotic feeling of any Australian. . . . But this will come to an end sooner or later. The name of Australia will be dearer, if not greater, to Australian ears than the name of Great Britain."

[Mr. Trollope's prophecy has come true, and the name of Australia is now dearer to an Australian than the name of his own separate colony. The word "Colonial" as indicating Australian nationality is going out of fashion. The word "Australian" is much preferred.]

1878. F. P. Labilliere, `Early History of the Colony of Victoria,' vol. i. p. 184:

"In a despatch to Lord Bathurst, of April 4th, 1817, Governor Macquarie acknowledges the receipt of Captain Flinders's charts of `Australia.' This is the first time that the name of Australia appears to have been officially employed. The Governor underlines the word. . . . In a private letter to Mr. Secretary Goulbourn, M.P., of December 21st, 1817, [he]says . . . `the Continent of Australia, which, I hope, will be the name given to this country in future, instead of the very erroneous and misapplied name hitherto given it of New Holland, which, properly speaking, only applies to a part of this immense Continent.'"

1883. G. W. Rusden, `History of Australia,' vol. i. p. 64:

"It is pleasant to reflect that the name Australia was selected by the gallant Flinders; though, with his customary modesty, he suggested rather than adopted it."

1895. H. M. Goode, `The Argus,' Oct. 15, p. 7, col. 4:

"Condemning the absurd practice of using the word `Colonial' in connection with our wines, instead of the broader and more federal one, `Australian.' In England our artists, cricketer, scullers, and globe-trotters are all spoken of and acknowledged as Australians, and our produce, with the exception of wine, is classed as follows:—Australian gold and copper, Australian beef and mutton, Australian butter, Australian fruits, &c."

Ibid. p. 14:

"Merops or Bee-Eater. A tribe [of birds] which appears to be peculiarly prevalent in the extensive regions of Australia."

<hw>Australian</hw> flag, n. Hot climate and country work have brought in a fashion among bushmen of wearing a belt or leather strap round the top of trousers instead of braces. This often causes a fold in the shirt protruding all round from under the waistcoat, which is playfully known as "the Australian flag." Slang.

<hw>Australioid</hw> and <hw>Australoid</hw>, adj. like Australian, sc. aboriginal—a term used by ethnologists. See quotations.

1869. J. Lubbock, `Prehistoric Times,' vol. xii. p. 378:

"The Australoid type contains all the inhabitants of Australia and the native races of the Deccan."

1878. E. B. Tylor, `Encyclopaedia Britannica,' vol. ii. p. 112:

"He [Professor Huxley] distinguishes four principal types of mankind, the Australioid, Negroid, Mongoloid, and Xanthochroic, adding a fifth variety, the Melanochroic. The special points of the Australioid are a chocolate-brown skin, dark brown or black eyes, black hair (usually wavy), narrow (dolichocephalic) skull, brow-ridges strongly developed, projecting jaw, coarse lips and broad nose. This type is best represented by the natives of Australia, and next to them by the indigenous tribes of Southern India, the so-called coolies."

<hw>Austral Thrush</hw>, n. See Port-Jackson Thrush.

<hw>Avocet</hw>, n. a well-known European bird-name. The Australian species is the Red-necked A., Recurvirostra nova-hollandiae, Vieill.

<hw>Aweto</hw>, n. Maori name for a vegetable-caterpillar of New Zealand. See quotation.

1889. E. Wakefield, `New Zealand after Fifty Years,' p. 81:

". . . the aweto, or vegetable-caterpillar, called by the naturalists Hipialis virescens. It is a perfect caterpillar in every respect, and a remarkably fine one too, growing to a length in the largest specimens of three and a half inches and the thickness of a finger, but more commonly to about a half or two-thirds of that size. . . . When full-grown, it undergoes a miraculous change. For some inexplicable reason, the spore of a vegetable fungus Sphaeria Robertsii, fixes itself on its neck, or between the head and the first ring of the caterpillar, takes root and grows vigorously . . . exactly like a diminutive bulrush from 6 to 10 inches high without leaves, and consisting solely of a single stem with a dark-brown felt-like head, so familiar in the bulrushes . . . always at the foot of the rata."

1896. A. Bence Jones, in `Pearson's Magazine,' Sept., p. 290:

"The dye in question was a solution of burnt or powdered resin, or wood, or the aweto, the latter a caterpillar, which, burrowing in the vegetable soil, gets a spore of a fungus between the folds of its neck, and unable to free itself, the insect's body nourishes the fungus, which vegetates and occasions the death of the caterpillar by exactly filling the interior of the body with its roots, always preserving its perfect form. When properly charred this material yielded a fine dark dye, much prized for purposes of moko." [See Moko.]

<hw>Axe-breaker</hw>, n. name of a tree, Notelaea longifolia, Vent., N.O. Jasmineae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 579:

"Axe-breaker. Wood hard, close-grained and firm. Its vernacular name emphasizes its hardness."

B

<hw>Baal</hw>, or <hw>Bail</hw>, interj. and adv. "An aboriginal expression of disapproval." (Gilbert Parker, Glossary to `Round the Compass in Australia,' 1888.) It was the negative in the Sydney dialect.

1893. J. F. Hogan, `Robert Lowe,' p. 271, quoting from `The Atlas' (circa 1845):

"Traces, however, of the Egyptian language are discoverable among the present inhabitants, with whom, for instance, the word `Bale' or `Baal' is in continual use . . . ." [Evidently a joke.]

<hw>Babbler</hw>, n. a bird-name. In Europe, "name given, on account of their harsh chattering note, to the long-legged thrushes." (`O.E.D.') The group "contains a great number of birds not satisfactorily located elsewhere, and has been called the ornithological waste-basket." (`Century.') The species are—

The Babbler— Pomatostomus temporalis, V. and H.

Chestnut-crowned B.— P. ruficeps, Hart.

Red-breasted B.— P. rubeculus, Gould.

White-browed B.— P. superciliosus, V. and H.

<hw>Back-blocks</hw>, n. (1) The far interior of Australia, and away from settled country. Land in Australia is divided on the survey maps into blocks, a word confined, in England and the United States, to town lands.

(2) The parts of a station distant from the frontage (q.v.).

1872. Anon. `Glimpses of Life in Victoria,' p. 31:

". . . we were doomed to see the whole of our river-frontage purchased. . . . The back blocks which were left to us were insufficient for the support of our flocks, and deficient in permanent water-supply. . . ."

1880. J. Mathew, Song—`The Bushman':

"Far, far on the plains of the arid back-blocks A warm-hearted bushman is tending his flocks. There's little to cheer in that vast grassy sea: But oh! he finds pleasure in thinking of me. How weary, how dreary the stillness must be! But oh! the lone bushman is dreaming of me."

1890. E. W. Horning, `A Bride from the Bush,' p. 298:

"`Down in Vic' you can carry as many sheep to the acre as acres to the sheep up here in the `backblocks.'"

1893. M. Gaunt, `English Illustrated, `Feb., p. 294:

"The back-blocks are very effectual levellers."

1893. Haddon Chambers, `Thumbnail Sketches of Australian Life,' p. 33

"In the back-blocks of New South Wales he had known both hunger and thirst, and had suffered from sunstroke."

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

"Although Kara is in the back-blocks of New South Wales, the clothes and boots my brother wears come from Bond Street."

<hw>Back-block</hw>, adj. from the interior.

1891. Rolf Boldrewood, `Sydneyside Saxon,' vol. xii. p. 215:

"`What a nice mare that is of yours!' said one of the back-block youngsters."

<hw>Back-blocker</hw>, n. a resident in the back-blocks.

1870. `The Argus,' March 22, p. 7, col. 2

"I am a bushman, a back blocker, to whom it happens about once in two years to visit Melbourne."

1892. E. W. Hornung, `Under Two Skies,' p. 21:

"As for Jim, he made himself very busy indeed, sitting on his heels over the fire in an attitude peculiar to back-blockers."

<hw>Back-slanging</hw>, verbal n. In the back-blocks (q.v.) of Australia, where hotels are naturally scarce and inferior, the traveller asks for hospitality at the stations (q.v.) on his route, where he is always made welcome. There is no idea of anything underhand on the part of the traveller, yet the custom is called back-slanging.

<hw>Badger</hw>, n. This English name has been incorrectly applied in Australia, sometimes to the Bandicoot, sometimes to the Rock-Wallaby, and sometimes to the Wombat. In Tasmania, it is the usual bush-name for the last.

1829. `The Picture of Australia,' p. 173:

"The Parameles, to which the colonists sometimes give the name of badger. . . ."

1831. Ross, `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 265:

"That delicious animal, the wombat (commonly known at that place [Macquarie Harbour] by the name of badger, hence the little island of that name in the map was so called, from the circumstance of numbers of that animal being at first found upon it)."

1850. James Bennett Clutterbuck, M.D., `Port Phillip in 1849,' p. 37:

"The rock Wallaby, or Badger, also belongs to the family of the Kangaroo; its length from the nose to the end of the tail is three feet; the colour of the fur being grey-brown."

1875. Rev. J. G. Wood, `Natural History,' vol. i. p. 481:

"The Wombat or Australian Badger as it is popularly called by the colonists. . . ."

1891. W. Tilley, `Wild West of Tasmania,' p. 8:

"With the exception of wombats or `badgers,' and an occasional kangaroo . . . the intruder had to rely on the stores he carried with him."

ibid. p. 44:

"Badgers also abound, or did until thinned out by hungry prospectors."

<hw>Badger-box</hw>, n. slang name for a roughly- constructed dwelling.

1875. `Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania,' September, p. 99 [`Port Davey in 1875,' by the Hon. James Reid Scott, M.L.C.]:

"The dwellings occupied by the piners when up the river are of the style known as `Badger-boxes,' in distinction from huts, which have perpendicular walls, while the Badger-box is like an inverted V in section. They are covered with bark, with a thatch of grass along the ridge, and are on an average about 14 x 10 feet at the ground, and 9 or 10 feet high."

<hw>Bail</hw>, n. "A framework for securing the head of a cow while she is milked." (`O.E.D.')

This word, marked in `O.E.D.' and other Dictionaries as Australian, is provincial English. In the `English Dialect Dictionary,' edited by Joseph Wright, Part I., the word is given as used in "Ireland, Northamptonshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Hampshire and New Zealand." It is also used in Essex.

1872. C. H. Eden, `My Wife and I in Queensland,' p. 83:

"In every milking yard is an apparatus for confining a cow's head called a `bail.' This consists of an upright standiron, five feet in height, let into a framework, and about six inches from it another fixed at the heel, the upper part working freely in a slit, in which are holes for a peg, so that when the peg is out and the movable standiron is thrown back, there is abundance of room for a cow's head and horns, but when closed, at which time the two standirons are parallel to each other and six inches apart, though her neck can work freely up and down, it is impossible for her to withdraw her head . . ."

1874. W. M. B., `Narrative of Edward Crewe,' p. 225:

"The former bovine female was a brute to manage, whom it would have been impossible to milk without a `bail.' To what man or country the honour of this invention belongs, who can tell? It is in very general use in the Australian colonies; and my advice to any one troubled with a naughty cow, who kicks like fury during the process of milking, is to have a bail constructed in their cow-house."

<hw>Bail up</hw>, v. (1) To secure the head of a cow in a bail for milking.

(2) By transference, to stop travellers in the bush, used of bushrangers. The quotation, 1888, shows the method of transference. It then means generally, to stop. Like the similar verb, to stick up (q.v.), it is often used humorously of a demand for subscriptions, etc.

1844. Mrs. Chas. Meredith, `Notes and Sketches of New South Wales,' p. 132:

"The bushrangers . . . walk quickly in, and `bail up,' i.e. bind with cords, or otherwise secure, the male portion."

1847. Alex. Marjoribanks, `Travels in New South Wales,' p. 72:

". . . there were eight or ten bullock-teams baled up by three mounted bushrangers. Being baled up is the colonial phrase for those who are attacked, who are afterwards all put together, and guarded by one of the party of the bushrangers when the others are plundering."

1855 W. Howitt, `Two Years in Victoria,' vol. ii. p. 309:

"So long as that is wrong, the whole community will be wrong,— in colonial phrase, `bailed up' at the mercy of its own tenants."

1862. G. T. Lloyd, `Thirty-three Years in Tasmania and Victoria,' p. 192:

"`Come, sir, immediately,' rejoined Murphy, rudely and insultingly pushing the master; `bail up in that corner, and prepare to meet the death you have so long deserved.'"

1879. W. J. Barry, `Up and Down,' p. 112:

"She bailed me up and asked me if I was going to keep my promise and marry her."

1880. W. Senior, `Travel and Trout,' p. 36:

"His troutship, having neglected to secure a line of retreat, was, in colonial parlance, `bailed up.'"

1880. G. Walch, `Victoria in 1880,' p.133:

"The Kelly gang . . . bailed up some forty residents in the local public house."

1882. A. J. Boyd, `Old Colonials,' p. 76:

"Did I ever get stuck-up? Never by white men, though I have been bailed up by the niggers."

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 105:

"A little further on the boar `bailed up' on the top of a ridge."

1888. Rolf Boldrewood, `Robbery under Arms,' p. 368:

"One of the young cows was a bit strange with me, so I had to shake a stick at her and sing out `Bail up' pretty rough before she'd put her head in. Aileen smiled something like her old self for a minute, and said, `That comes natural to you now, Dick, doesn't it ?' I stared for a bit and then burst out laughing.It was a rum go, wasn't it? The same talk for cows and Christians. That's how things get stuck into the talk in a new country. Some old hand like father, as had been assigned to a dairy settler, and spent all his mornings in the cow-yard, had taken to the bush and tried his hand at sticking up people. When they came near enough of course he'd pop out from behind a tree, with his old musket or pair of pistols, and when he wanted `em to stop, `Bail up, d— yer,' would come a deal quicker and more natural-like to his tongue than `Stand.' So `bail up' it was from that day to this, and there'll have to be a deal of change in the ways of the colonies, and them as come from `em before anything else takes its place between the man that's got the arms and the man that's got the money."

<hw>Bailing-up Pen</hw>, n. place for fastening up cattle.

1889. R. M. Praed, `Romance of Station,' vol. i. c. ii. [`Eng. Dial. Dict.']:

"Alec was proud of the stockyard and pointed out . . . the superior construction of the `crush,' or branding lane, and the bailing-up pen."

<hw>Bald-Coot</hw>, n. a bird-name, Porphyrio melanotus, Temm.; Blue, P. bellus, Gould. The European bald-coot is Fulica atra.

<hw>Ballahoo</hw>, n. a name applied to the Garfish (q.v.) by Sydney fishermen. The word is West Indian, and is applied there to a fast-sailing schooner; also spelled Bullahoo and Ballahou.

<hw>Balloon-Vine</hw> n. Australian name for the common tropical weed, Cardiospermum halicacabum, Linn., N.O. Sapindaceae: called also Heart-seed, Heart-pea, and Winter-cherry. It is a climbing plant, and has a heart-shaped scar on the seed.

<hw>Balsam of Copaiba Tree</hw>, n. The name is applied to the Australian tree, Geijera salicifolia, Schott, N.O. Rutaceae, because the bark has the odour of the drug of that name.

<hw>Bamboo-grass</hw>, n. an Australian cane-like grass, Glyceria ramigera, F. v. M. ; also called Cane Grass. Largely used for thatching purposes. Stock eat the young shoots freely.

<hw>Banana</hw>, n. There are three species native to Queensland, of which the fruit is said to be worthless—

Musa Banksii, F. v. M. M. Hillii, F. v. M. M. Fitzalani, F. v. M., N.O. Scitamineae.

The Bananas which are cultivated and form a staple export of Queensland are acclimatized varieties.

<hw>Banana-land</hw>, n. slang name for Queensland, where bananas grow in abundance.

<hw>Banana-lander</hw>, n. slang for a Queenslander (see above).

<hw>Banded Ant-eater</hw>, n. name given to a small terrestrial and ant-eating marsupial, Myrmecobius fasciatus, Waterh, found in West and South Australia. It is the only species of the genus, and is regarded as the most closely allied of all living marsupials to the extinct marsupials of the Mesozoic Age in Europe. It receives its name banded from the presence along the back of a well-marked series of dark transverse bands.

1871. G. Krefft, `Mammals of Australia':

"The Myrmecobius is common on the West Coast and in the interior of New South Wales and South Australia: the Murrumbidgee River may be taken as its most eastern boundary."

1893. A. R. Wallace, `Australasia,' p. 340:

"Thus we have here [W. Australia] alone the curious little banded ant-eater (Myrmecobius fasciatus), which presents the nearest approach in its dentition to the most ancient known mammals whose remains are found in the oolite and Trias of the Mesozoic epoch."

<hw>Banded-Kangaroo</hw>, i.q. Banded-Wallaby. See Lagostrophus and Wallaby.

<hw>Banded-Wallaby</hw>, n. sometimes called Banded-Kangaroo. See Lagostrophus and Wallaby.

<hw>Bandicoot</hw>, n. an insect-eating marsupial animal; family, Peramelidae; genus, Perameles. "The animals of this genus, commonly called Bandicoots in Australia, are all small, and live entirely on the ground, making nests composed of dried leaves, grass and sticks, in hollow places. They are rather mixed feeders; but insects, worms, roots and bulbs, constitute their ordinary diet." (`Encyclopaedia Britannica,' 9th edit., vol. xv. p. 381.) The name comes from India, being a corruption of Telugu pandi-kokku, literally "pig-dog," used of a large rat called by naturalists Mus malabaricus, Shaw, Mus giganteus, Hardwicke; Mus bandis coota, Bechstein. The name has spread all over India. The Indian animal is very different from the Australian, and no record is preserved to show how the Anglo-Indian word came to be used in Australia. The Bandicoots are divided into three genera—the True Bandicoots (genus Perameles, q.v.), the Rabbit Bandicoots (genus Peragale, q.v.), and the Pig-footed Bandicoots (q.v.) (genus Choeropus, q.v.). The species are—

Broadbent's Bandicoot— Perameles broadbenti, Ramsay.

Cockerell's B.— P. cockerelli, Ramsay.

Common Rabbit B.— Peragale lagotis, Reid.

Desert B.— P. eremiana, Spencer.

Doria's B.— Perameles dorerana, Quoy & Gaim.

Golden B.— P. aurata, Ramsay.

Gunn's B.— P. gunni, Gray.

Less Rabbit B.— Peragale minor, Spencer.

Long-nosed B.— Perameles nasuta, Geoffr.

Long-tailed B.— P. longicauda, Peters & Doria.

North-Australian B.— P. macrura, Gould.

Port Moresby B.— P. moresbyensis, Ramsay.

Raffray's B.— P. rafrayana, Milne-Edw.

Short-nosed B.— P. obesula, Shaw.

Striped B.— P. bougainvillii, Quoy & Gaim.

White-tailed Rabbit B.— P. lesicura. Thomas.

Pig-footed B.— Choeropus castanotis, Gray.

1802. D. Collins, `Account of New South Wales', vol. ii. p. 188 (Bass's Diary at the Derwent, January 1799):

"The bones of small animals, such as opossums, squirrels, kangooroo rats, and bandicoots, were numerous round their deserted fire-places."

1820. W. C. Wentworth, `Description o New South Wales,' p. 3:

"The animals are, the kangaroo, native dog (which is a smaller species of the wolf), the wombat, bandicoot, kangaroo-rat, opossum, flying squirrel, flying fox, etc. etc."

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. i. p. 316

"The bandicoot is about four times he size of a rat, without a tail, and burrows in the ground or in hollow trees."

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

"The bandicoot is as large as a rabbit. There are two kinds, the rat and the rabbit bandicoot."

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 233:

"The common people are not destitute of what Wordsworth calls `the poetry of common speech,' many of their similes being very forcibly and naturally drawn from objects familiarly in sight and quite Australian. `Poor as a bandicoot,' `miserable as a shag on a rock.'"

Ibid. p. 330:

"There is also a rat-like animal with a swinish face, covered with ruddy coarse hair, that burrows in the ground—the bandicoot. It is said to be very fine eating."

1845. J. O. Balfour, `Sketch of New South Wales,' p. 26:

"The bandicoot is the size of a large rat, of a dark brown colour; it feeds upon roots, and its flesh is good eating. This animal burrows in the ground, and it is from this habit, I suppose, that when hungry, cold, or unhappy, the Australian black says that he is as miserable as the bandicoot."

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals, p. 92:

"The bandicoots are good eating even for Europeans, and in my opinion are the only Australian mammals fit to eat. They resemble pigs, and the flesh tastes somewhat like pork."

<hw>Bangalay</hw>, n. a Sydney workmen's name for the timber of Eucalyptus botrioides, Smith. (See Gum.) The name is aboriginal, and by workmen is always pronounced Bang Alley.

<hw>Bangalow</hw>, n. an ornamental feathery-leaved palm, Ptychosperma elegans, Blume, N.O. Palmeae.

1851. J. Henderson, `Excursions in New South Wales,' vol. ii. p.229

"The Bangalo, which is a palm. . . The germ, or roll of young leaves in the centre, and near the top, is eaten by the natives, and occasionally by white men, either raw or boiled. It is of a white colour, sweet and pleasant to the taste."

1884. W. R. Guilfoyle, `Australian Botany,' p. 23:

"The aborigines of New South Wales and Queensland, and occasionally the settlers, eat the young leaves of the cabbage and bangalo palms."

1886. H. C. Kendall, `Poems,' p. 193:

You see he was bred in a bangalow wood, And bangalow pith was the principal food His mother served out in her shanty."

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 592:

"Bangalow. . . . The small stems sometimes go under the name of `Moreton Bay Canes.' It is a very ornamental, feathery-leaved palm."

<hw>Bang-tail muster</hw>. See quotation.

1887. W. S. S. Tyrwhitt, `The New Churn in the Queensland Bush,' p. 61:

"Every third or fourth year on a cattle station, they have what is called a `bang tail muster'; that is to say, all the cattle are brought into the yards, and have the long hairs at the end of the tail cut off square, with knives or sheep-shears. . . The object of it is. . .to find out the actual number of cattle on the run, to compare with the number entered on the station books."

<hw>Banker</hw>, n. a river full up to the top of the banks. Compare Shakspeare: "Like a proud river, peering o'er his bounds." (`King John,' III. i. 23.)

1888. Cassell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol, iii. p. 175

"The Murrumbidgee was running a `banker'—water right up to the banks."

1890. Lyth, `Golden South,' c. vii. p. 52:

"The driver stated that he had heard the river was `a banker.'"

1896. H. Lawson, `When the World was Wide,' p. 45:

"The creeks were bankers, and the flood Was forty miles round Bourke."

Ibid. p. 100:

"Till the river runs a banker, All stained with yellow mud."

<hw>Banksia</hw>, n. "A genus of Australian shrubs with umbellate flowers,—now cultivated as ornamental shrubs in Europe." (`O.E.D.') Called after Mr. Banks, naturalist of the Endeavour, afterwards Sir Joseph Banks. The so-called Australian Honeysuckle (q.v.). See also Bottle-brush.

1790. J. White, `Voyage to New South Wales,' p. 221:

"The different species of banksia. The finest new genus hitherto found in New Holland has been destined by Linnaeus, with great propriety, to transmit to posterity the name of Sir Joseph Banks, who first discovered it in his celebrated voyage round the world."

1798. D. Collins, `Account of English Colony in New South Wales,' p. 557:

"A few berries, the yam and fern root, the flowers of the different banksia, and at times some honey, make up the whole vegetable catalogue."

1829. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of the Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 312:

"Scrubs where the different species of banksia are found, the flowers of which I (Mr. Caley) have reason to think afford it sustenance during winter."

1833. C. Sturt, `South Australia,' vol. ii. c. ii. p. 30:

"Some sandhills . . . crowned by banksias."

1845. J. Q. Balfour, `Sketch of New South Wales,' p. 39:

"Many different species of banksia grow in great plenty in the neighbourhood of Sydney, and from the density of their foliage are very ornamental."

1846. L. Leichhardt, quoted by J. D. Lang, `Cooksland,' p. 331:

"The table-land is covered by forests of stringy-bark, of melaleuca-gum, and banksia."

1851. `Quarterly Review,' Dec., p. 40:

"In this they will find an extremely rich collection of bottle-brush-flowered, zigzag-leaved, grey-tinted, odd-looking things, to most eyes rather strange than beautiful, notwithstanding that one of them is named Banksia speciosa. They are the `Botany Bays' of old-fashioned gardeners, but are more in the shrub and tree line than that of flowering pots. Banksia Solandei will remind them to turn to their `Cook's Voyages' when they get home, to read how poor Dr. Solander got up a mountain and was heartily glad to get down again."

1877. F. v. Mueller, `Botanic Teachings,' p. 46:

"The banksias are of historic interest, inasmuch as the genus was dedicated already by the younger Linne in 1781 to Sir Joseph Banks, from whom the Swedish naturalist received branchlets of those species, which in Captain Cook's first voyage more than 100 years ago (1770) were gathered by Banks at Botany-Bay and a few other places of the east coast of Australia."

1887. J. Bonwick, `Romance of the Wool Trade,' p. 228:

"A banksia plain, with its collection of bottle-brush-like-flowers, may have its charms for a botanist, but its well-known sandy ground forbids the hope of good grasses."

<hw>Baobab</hw>, n. a tree, native of Africa, Adansonia digitata. The name is Ethiopian. It has been introduced into many tropical countries. The Australian species of the genus is A. gregorii, F. v. M., called also Cream of Tartar or Sour Gourd-tree, Gouty-stem (q.v.), and Bottle-tree (q.v.).

<hw>Barber</hw>, or <hw>Tasmanian Barber</hw>, n. a name for the fish Anthias rasor, Richards., family Percidae; also called Red-Perch. See Perch. It occurs in Tasmania, New Zealand, and Port Jackson. It is called Barber from the shape of the praeoperculum, one of the bones of the head. See quotation.

1841. John Richardson, `Description of Australian Fish,' p. 73:

"Serranus Rasor.— Tasmanian Barber. . . . The serrature of the preoperculum is the most obvious and general character by which the very numerous Serrani are connected with each other . . . The Van Diemen's Land fish, which is described below, is one of the `Barbers,' a fact which the specific appellation rasor is intended to indicate; the more classical word having been previously appropriated to another species. . . Mr. Lempriere states that it is known locally as the `red perch or shad.'"

[Richardson also says that Cuvier founded a subdivision of the Serrani on the characters of the scales of the jaws, under the name of `les Barbiers,' which had been previously grouped by Block under the title Anthias.]

<hw>Barcoo-grass</hw>, n. an Australian grass, Anthistiria membranacea, Lindl. One of the best pasture grasses in Queensland, but growing in other colonies also.

<hw>Barcoo Rot</hw>, n. a disease affecting inhabitants of various parts of the interior of Australia, but chiefly bushmen. It consists of persistent ulceration of the skin, chiefly on the back of the hands, and often originating in abrasions.

It is attributed to monotony of diet and to the cloudless climate, with its alternations of extreme cold at night and burning heat by day. It is said to be maintained and aggravated by the irritation of small flies.

1870. E. B. Kennedy, `Four Years in Queensland,' p. 46:

"Land scurvy is better known in Queensland by local names, which do not sound very pleasant, such as `Barcoo rot,' `Kennedy rot,' according to the district it appears in. There is nothing dangerous about it; it is simply the festering of any cut or scratch on one's legs, arms or hands. . . They take months to heal. . . Want of vegetables is assigned as the cause."

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 58:

"In Western Queensland people are also subject to bad sores on the hand, called Barcoo-rot."

<hw>Barcoo Vomit</hw>, n. a sickness occurring in inhabitants of various parts of the high land of the interior of Australia. It is characterized by painless attacks of vomiting, occurring immediately after food is taken, followed by hunger, and recurring as soon as hunger is satisfied.

The name Barcoo is derived from the district traversed by the river Barcoo, or Cooper, in which this complaint and the Barcoo Rot are common. See Dr. E. C. Stirling's `Notes from Central Australia,' in `Intercolonial Quarterly Journal of Medicine and Surgery,' vol. i. p. 218.

<hw>Bargan</hw>, n. a name of the Come-back Boomerang (q.v.). (Spelt also barragan.)

1892. J. Fraser, `Aborigines of New South Wales,' p. 70:

"The `come-back' variety (of boomerang) is not a fighting weapon. A dialect name for it is bargan, which word may be explained in our language to mean `bent like a sickle or crescent moon.'"

<hw>Barking Owl</hw>, n. a bird not identified, and not in Gould (who accompanied Leichhardt).

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition, p. 47:

"The glucking-bird and the barking-owl were heard throughout the moonlight night."

<hw>Barrack</hw>, v. to jeer at opponents, to interrupt noisily, to make a disturbance; with the preposition "for," to support as a partisan, generally with clamour. An Australian football term dating from about 1880. The verb has been ruled unparliamentary by the Speaker in the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It is, however, in very common colloquial use. It is from the aboriginal word borak (q.v.), and the sense of jeering is earlier than that of supporting, but jeering at one side is akin to cheering for the other. Another suggested derivation is from the Irish pronunciation of "Bark," as (according to the usually accepted view) "Larrikin" from "larking." But the former explanation is the more probable. There is no connection with soldiers' "barracks;" nor is it likely that there is any, as has been ingeniously suggested, with the French word baragouin, gibberish.

1890. `Melbourne Punch,' Aug. 14, p. 106, col. 3:

"To use a football phrase, they all to a man `barrack' for the British Lion."

1893. `The Age,' June 17, p. 15, col. 4:

"[The boy] goes much to football matches, where he barracks, and in a general way makes himself intolerable."

1893. `The Argus,' July 5, p. 9, col. 4, Legislative Assembly:

"Mr. Isaacs:. . . He hoped this `barracking' would not be continued." [Members had been interrupting him.]

1893. `The Herald' (Melbourne), Sept. 9, p. 1, col. 6:

"He noticed with pleasure the decrease of disagreeable barracking by spectators at matches during last season. Good-humoured badinage had prevailed, but the spectators had been very well conducted."

<hw>Barracker</hw>, n. one who barracks (q.v.).

1893. `The Age,' June 27, p. 6, col. 6:

"His worship remarked that the `barracking' that was carried on at football matches was a mean and contemptible system, and was getting worse and worse every day. Actually people were afraid to go to them on account of the conduct of the crowd of `barrackers.' It took all the interest out of the game to see young men acting like a gang of larrikins."

1894. `"The Argus,' Nov. 29, p. 4, col. 9:

"The `most unkindest cut of all' was that the Premier, who was Mr. Rogers's principal barracker during the elections, turned his back upon the prophet and did not deign to discuss his plan."

<hw>Barracks</hw>, n. a building on a station with rooms for bachelors.

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `A Colonial Reformer,' p. 100

"A roomy, roughly-finished building known as the `barracks.' . . . . Three of the numerous bedrooms were tenanted by young men, . . . neophytes, who were gradually assimilating the love of Bush-land."

<hw>Barracouta</hw>, or <hw>Barracoota</hw>, n. The name, under its original spelling of Barracuda, was coined in the Spanish West Indies, and first applied there to a large voracious fish, Sphyraena pecuda, family Sphyraenidae. In Australia and New Zealand it is applied to a smaller edible fish, Thyrsites atun, Cuv. and Val., family Trichiuridae, called Snook (q.v.) at the Cape of Good Hope. It is found from the Cape of Good Hope to New Zealand.

1845. `Voyage to Port Philip,' p. 40:

"We hook the barracuda fish."

1882. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Fishes of New South Wales,' p. 69:

"Sphyrenidae. The first family is the barracudas, or sea-pike." [Footnote]: "This name is no doubt the same as Barracouta and is of Spanish origin. The application of it to Thyrsites atun in the Southern seas was founded on some fancied resemblance to the West Indian fish, which originally bore the name, though of course they are entirely different."

(2) The word is used as a nickname for an inhabitant of Hobart; compare Cornstalk.

<hw>Barramunda</hw>, n. a fish, i.q. Burramundi (q.v.).

<hw>Basket-Fence</hw>, n. Local name for a stake-hedge. See quotation.

1872. G. S. Baden-Powell, `New Homes for the Old Country,' p. 208:

"For sheep, too, is made the `basket fence.' Stakes are driven in, and their pliant `stuff' interwoven, as in a stake hedge in England."

<hw>Bastard Dory</hw> and <hw>John Dory</hw> (q.v.), spelt also <HW>Dorey</HW>, n. an Australian fish, Cyttus australis, family Cyttidae; the Australian representative of Zeus faber, the European "John Dory," and its close relative, is called Bastard Dorey in New Zealand, and also Boar-fish (q.v.).

1880. Guenther, `Study of Fishes,' p. 387:

"Histiopterus. . . .The species figured attains to a length of twenty inches, and is esteemed as food. It is known at Melbourne by the names of `Boar-fish' or `Bastard Dorey' (fig.), Histiopterus recurvirostris."

<hw>Bastard Trumpeter</hw>, n. a fish. See Morwong, Paper-fish, and Trumpeter. In Sydney it is Latris ciliaris, Forst., which is called Moki in New Zealand; in Victoria and Tasmania, L. forsteri, Casteln.

1883. `Royal Commission on the Fisheries of Tasmania,' p. 35:

"The bastard trumpeter (Latris Forsteri). . . .Scarcely inferior to the real trumpeter, and superior to it in abundance all the year round, comes the bastard trumpeter. . . This fish has hitherto been confounded with Latris ciliaris (Forst.); but, although the latter species has been reported as existing in Tasmanian waters, it is most probably a mistake: for the two varieties (the red and the white), found in such abundance here, have the general characters as shown above. . . They must be referred to the Latris Forsteri of Count Castelnau, which appears to be the bastard trumpeter of Victorian waters."

<hw>Bat-fish</hw>, n. The name in England is given to a fish of the family Maltheidae. It is also applied to the Flying Gurnard of the Atlantic and to the Californian Sting-ray. In Australia, and chiefly in New South Wales, it is applied to Psettus argenteus, Linn., family Carangidae, or Horse Mackerels. Guenther says that the "Sea Bats," which belong to the closely allied genus Platax, are called so from the extraordinary length of some portion of their dorsal and anal fins and of their ventrals.

<hw>Bathurst Bur</hw>, n. Explained in quotation.

1855. W. Howitt, `Two Years in Victoria,' vol. i. p. 261:

"The Bathurst bur (Xanthium spinosuzn), a plant with long triple spines like the barbary, and burs which are ruinous to the wool of the sheep—otherwise, itself very like a chenopodium, or good-fat-hen."

<hw>Bats-wing-coral</hw>, n. the Australian wood Erythrina vespertilio, Bentham, N.O. Leguminosae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 426:

"Batswing Coral. . . .The wood is soft, and used by the aborigines for making their `heilamans,' or shields. It is exceedingly light and spongy, and of the greatest difficulty to work up to get anything like a surface for polishing."

<hw>Bauera</hw>, n. a shrub, Bauera rubioides, Andr., N.O. Saxifrageae, the Scrub Vine, or Native Rose; commonly called in Tasmania "Bauera,"and celebrated for forming impenetrable thickets in conjunction with "cutting grass," Cladium psittacorum, Labill.

1835. Ross, `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 70:

"Bauera rubiaefolia. Madder leaved Bauera. A pretty little plant with pink flowers. This genus is named after the celebrated German draughtsman, whose splendid works are yet unrivalled in the art, especially of the Australian plants which he depicted in his voyage round New Holland with Capt. Flinders in the Investigator."

1888. R. M. Johnston, `Geology of Tasmania,' Intro. p. vi.:

"The Bauera scrub . . . is a tiny, beautiful shrub . . . Although the branches are thin and wiry, they are too tough and too much entangled in mass to cut, and the only mode of progress often is to throw one's self high upon the soft branching mass and roll over to the other side. The progress in this way is slow, monotonous, and exhausting."

1891. `The Australasian,' April 4, p. 670, col. 2:

"Cutting-grass swamps and the bauera, where a dog can't hardly go, Stringy-bark country, and blackwood beds, and lots of it broken by snow."

1891. W. Tilley, `Wild West of Tasmania,' p. 7:

"Interposing the even more troublesome Bauera shrub; whose gnarled branches have earned for it the local and expressive name of `tangle-foot' or `leg ropes.' [It] has been named by Spicer the `Native Rose.'"

<hw>Beal</hw>, <hw>Bool</hw>, or <hw>Bull</hw>, n. a sweet aboriginal drink.

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

"A good jorum of bull (washings of a sugar bag)" [given to aborigines who have been working].

1839. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions,' vol. ii. p. 288:

"The flowers are gathered, and by steeping them a night in water the natives made a sweet beverage called `bool.'"

1878. R. Brough Smyth, `Aborigines of Victoria,' vol. i. p. 210:

"In the flowers of a dwarf species of banksia (B. ornata) there is a good deal of honey, and this was got out of the flowers by immersing them in water. The water thus sweetened was greedily swallowed by the natives. The drink was named beal by the natives of the west of Victoria, and was much esteemed."

<hw>Beal</hw> (2), n. i.q. Belar (q.v.).

<hw>Bean, Queensland</hw>, or <hw>Leichhardt</hw>, or <hw>Match-box</hw>, n. Entada scandens, Benth., N.O. Leguminosae. Though this bean has two Australian names, it is really widely distributed throughout the tropics. A tall climbing plant; the seeds are used for match-boxes.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 425:

"The seeds are about two inches across, by half-an-inch thick, and have a hard woody and beautifully polished shell, of a dark brown or purplish colour. These seeds are converted into snuff-boxes, scent-bottles, spoons, etc., and in the Indian bazaars they are used as weights. (`Treasury of Botany.') In the colonies we usually see the beans of this plant mounted with silver, as match-boxes. The wood itself is soft, fibrous, and spongy."

<hw>Bean-Tree</hw>, n. called also Moreton Bay Chestnut, Castanospermum australe, Cunn. and Fraser, N.O. Leguminosae; a tall tree with red flowers and large seed-pods. The timber of young specimens has beautiful dark clouding.

<hw>Bear, Native</hw>, n. the colonists' name for an animal called by the aborigines Koala, Koolah, Kool-la, and Carbora (Phascolarctus cinereus). It is a tree-climbing marsupial, about two feet in length, like a small bear in its heavy build. Its food is the young leaves of the Eucalyptus, and it is said that the Native Bear cannot be taken to England because it would die on board ship, owing to there being no fresh gum leaves. The writers are incorrect who call the animal a sloth.

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. i. p. 317

"Our coola (sloth or native bear) is about the size of an ordinary poodle dog, with shaggy, dirty-coloured fur, no tail, and claws and feet like a bear, of which it forms a tolerable miniature. It climbs trees readily and feeds upon their leaves."

1846. G. H. Haydon, `Five Years in Australia Felix,' p. 57:

"The bear (phascolomys) of the colonists is in reality a species of sloth, and partakes of all the characteristics of that animal; it is of the marsupial order, and is found chiefly in the neighbourhood of thickly timbered high land; its flesh is used by the aborigines for food, but is tough and unpalatable; its usual weight is from eight to twelve pounds." [Note: Phascolomys is the name of the Wombat, not the Bear.]

1854. G. H. Hayden, `The Australian Emigrant,' p. 126:

"The luckless carbora fell crashing through the branches." [Footnote] "The native name of an animal of the sloth species, but incorrectly called by the colonists a bear."

1855. W. Blandowski, `Transactions of Philosophical Society of Victoria,' vol. i. p. 68:

"The koala or karbor (Phascolarctus cinereus) frequents very high trees, and sits in places where it is most sheltered by the branches. . . . Its fur is of the same colour as the bark . . . like the cat has the power of contracting and expanding the pupil of the eye . . . . Its skin is remarkably thick . . . dense woolly fur . . . . The natives aver that the koala never drinks water."

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. p. 448:

"They were soon entirely out of provisions, but found a sort of substitute by living on the native bear (Phascolarctus cinereus), which was plentiful even in the forests."

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 214:

"Look, high up in the branches of that tall tree is a native bear! It sits motionless. It has something the appearance of a solemn old man. How funny his great ears and Roman nose look! He sits on the branch as if it was a chair, holding with hand-like claws the surrounding twigs."

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 9:

"We learned that a koala or native bear (Phascolarctus cinereus) was sitting on a tree near the but of a shepherd . . . not a dangerous animal. It is called `native bear,' but is in no wise related to the bear family. It is an innocent and peaceful marsupial, which is active only at night, and sluggishly climbs the trees, eating leaves and sleeping during the whole day. As soon as the young has left the pouch, the mother carries it with her on her back. The Australian bear is found in considerable numbers throughout the eastern part of the continent, even within the tropical circle."

<hw>Bearded Lizard</hw>, n. See Jew Lizard.

<hw>Beardie</hw>, or <hw>Beardy</hw>, n. a fish. In Scotland the name is applied to the Bearded Loach, Nemachilus barbatus, of Europe; in New South Wales the name is given to the fish Lotella marginata, Macl., of the family Gadidae, or Cod-fishes, which is also called Ling (q.v.).

<hw>Beaver-rat</hw>, n. an aquatic rodent, something like the English water-rat, genus Hydromys.

1864. `Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land' [paper by Morton Allport], p. 62:

"Common to both fresh and brackish water is the yellow bellied beaver-rat or musk-rat (Hydromys chrysogaster)."

<hw>Beech</hw>, n. There is only one true Beech in Australia, Fagus cunninghamii, Hook, N.O. Cupuliferae; but the name is applied to many other kinds of Australian trees, viz.—

(1) Simply to

Cryptocarya glaucescens, R. Br., N.O. Laurineae, called also Black Sassafras, White Laurel, She Beech, and Black Beech.

Flindersia australis, R. Br., N.O. Meliaceae, called also Flindosa Ash, Crow's Ash, and Rasp-pod, and invariably Myrtle to Tasmania.

Gmelina leichhardtii, F. v. M., N.O. Verbenaceae.

Monotoca elliptica, R. Br., N.O. Epacrideae.

Phyllanthus ferdinandi, Muell. and Arg., N.O. Euphorbiaceae, called also Pencil Cedar in Southern New South Wales.

Schizomeria ovata, D. Don, N.O. Saxifrageae, called also Corkwood, Light-wood, Coachwood, and White Cherry.

Trochocarpa laurina, R. Br., N.O. Epacrideae, called also Brush Cherry, and Brush Myrtle.

(2) With various epithets the name is also used as follows—

Evergreen Beech—

Fagus cunninghamii, Hook, N.O. Cupuliferae, called also Myrtle and Negro-head Beech.

Flindosy B.—

Flindersia schottiana, F. v. M., N.O. Meliaceae, called also Ash and Stave-wood.

Indian B.—

Pongamia glabra, Vent., N.O. Leguminosae, B. Fl.

Mountain B.—

Lomatia longifolia, R. Br., N.O. Proteaceae.

Native B.—

Callicoma serratifolia, Andr., N.O. Saxifragiae, "one of the trees called by the early colonists `Black Wattle,' from the fancied resemblance of the flowers to those of some of the wattles." (Maiden, p. 389.)

Negro-head B., i.q. Evergreen B. (q.v. supra).

Queensland B.—

Gmelina leichhardtii , F. v. M., N.O. Verbenaceae, a tall valuable timber-tree.

Red B.—

Tarrietia trifoliata, F. v. M., N.O. Sterculiaceae.

She B.—

Cryptocazya obovata, R. Br., H.0. Laurineae, B. Fl., called also Bastard Sycamore.

White B.—

Elaeocarpus kirtoni, F. v. M., N.O. Tiliaceae, called also Mountain Ash.

(3) In New Zealand, there are six species of true beeches, which according to Kirk are as follows—

Blair's B.—

Fagus blairii, T. Kirk.

Entire-leaved B.—

F. solandri, Hook. f.

Mountain B.—

F. cliffortioides, Hook. f.

Pointed-leaved B.—

F. apiculata, Colenso.

Silver B.—

F. Menziesii, Hook. f.

Tooth-leaved B.—

F. fusca, Hook. f.

All these, however, are commonly called Birches.

See also the words Ash, Myrtle, Sassafras.

<hw>Bee-eater</hw>, n. a bird-name. The European Bee-eater is Merops apiaster; the Australian species is Merops ornatus, Lath. The bird was called "M. phrygius, the Embroidered Merops," by Shaw.

1793. G. Shaw, `Zoology [and Botany] of New Holland,' p. 14:

"Specific character.—Black Merops varied with yellow. The bird figured in its natural size on the present plate is a species of Merops or Bee-eater; a tribe which appears to be peculiarly prevalent in the extensive regions of Australia, since more birds of this genus have been discovered than of any other, except the very numerous one of Psittacus."

[The birds, however, have been since this date further differentiated, and are now all classed in other genera, except the present species.]

1790. J. White, `Voyage to New South Wales,' p. 144:

"The wattled bee-eater, of which a plate is annexed, fell in our way during the course of the day. . . . Under the eye, on each side, is a kind of wattle of an orange colour. . . This bird seems to be peculiar to New Holland."

Ibid. p. 190:

"We this day shot a knob-fronted bee-eater (see plate annexed). This is about the size of a black-bird." [Description follows.]

<hw>Beef-wood</hw>, n. the timber of various Australian trees, especially of the genus Casuarina, and some of the Banksias; often used as a synonym of She-oak (q.v.). The name is taken from the redness of the wood.

1826. J. Atkinson, `Agriculture and Grazing in New South Wales,' p. 31:

"The wood is well known in England by the names of Botany Bay wood, or beef wood.The grain is very peculiar, but the wood is thought very little of in the colony; it makes good shingles, splits, in the colonial phrase, from heart to bark . . ."

1833. C. Sturt, `Southern Australia,' vol. i. c. i. p. 22:

"They seemed to be covered with cypresses and beef-wood."

1846. C. Holtzapffel, `Turning,' vol. i. p. 74:

"Beef wood. Red-coloured woods are sometimes thus named, but it is generally applied to the Botany-Bay oak."

1852. G. C. Munday, `Our Antipodes' (edition 1855), p. 219:

"A shingle of the beef-wood looks precisely like a raw beef-steak."

1856. Capt. H. Butler Stoney, `A Residence in Tasmania,' p. 265:

"We now turn our attention to some trees of a very different nature, Casuarina stricta and quadrivalvis, commonly called He and She oak, and sometimes known by the name of beef-wood, from the wood, which is very hard and takes a high polish, exhibiting peculiar maculae spots and veins scattered throughout a finely striated tint . . ."

1868. Paxton's `Botanical Dictionary,' p. 116:

"Casuarinaceae,or Beefwoods. Curious branching, leafless trees or shrubs, with timber of a high order, which is both hard and heavy, and of the colour of raw beef, whence the vulgar name."

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants.' (See `Index of vernacular names.')

<hw>Belar</hw>, n. (various spellings, Belah, billa, beela, beal), an aboriginal name for the tree Casuarina glauca. The colonists call the tree Bull-oak, probably from this native name.

1862. H. C. Kendall, `Poems,' p. 18:

"A voice in the beela grows wild in its wail."

1868. J. A. B., `Meta,' p. 19:

"With heartfelt glee we hail the camp, And blazing fire of beal."

[Footnote]: "Aboriginal name of the gum-tree wood."

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

"These scrubs . . . sometimes crown the watersheds as `belar.'"

<hw>Bell-bird</hw>, n. name given to several birds, from their note, like the tinkling of a bell. In Australia, a Honey-eater, Myzantha melanophrys, Gould ('Birds of Australia,' vol. iv. pl. 80), the `Australian Bell-bird' (the same bird as Myzantha flavirostris, V. and H.), chiefly found in New South Wales; also Oreoica gutturalis, Gould (vol. ii. pl. 81), the `Bell-bird' of Western Australia; and Oreoica cristata, Lewin. In New Zealand, Anthornis melanura, Sparrm., chief Maori names, Korimako (q.v.) in North, and Makomako in South. Buller gives ten Maori names. The settlers call it Moko (q.v.). There is also a Bell-bird in Brazil.

1774. J. Hawkesworth, `Voyages,' vol. ii. p. 390 [Journal of Jan. 17, 1770):

"In the morning we were awakened by the singing of the birds; the number was incredible, and they seemed to strain their throats in emulation of each other. This wild melody was infinitely superior to any that we had ever heard of the same kind; it seemed to be like small bells most exquisitely tuned, and perhaps the distance, and the water between, might be no small advantage to the sound. Upon enquiry we were informed that the birds here always began to sing about two hours after midnight, and continuing their music till sunrise were, like our nightingales, silent the rest of the day."

[This celebrated descriptive passage by Dr. Hawkesworth is based upon the following original from `Banks's Journal,' which now, after an interval of 122 years, has just been published in London, edited by Sir J. D. Hooker.]

1770. J. Banks, `Journal,' Jan. 17 (edition 1896):

"I was awakened by the singing of the birds ashore, from whence we are distant not a quarter of a mile. Their numbers were certainly very great. They seemed to strain their throats with emulation, and made, perhaps, the most melodious wild music I have ever heard, almost imitating small bells, but with the most tunable silver sound imaginable, to which, maybe, the distance was no small addition. On inquiring of our people, I was told that they had observed them ever since we had been here, and that they began to sing about one or two in the morning, and continue till sunrise, after which they are silent all day, like our nightingales."

1802. G. Barrington, `History of New South Wales,' c. viii. p. 84:

"The cry of the bell-bird seems to be unknown here."

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 319:

"Mr. Caley thus observes on this bird: `Dell-bird or Bell-bird. So called by the colonists. It is an inhabitant of bushes, where its disagreeable noise (disagreeable at least to me) [but not to the poets] may be continually heard; but nowhere more so than on going up the harbour to Paramatta, when a little above the Flats.'"

1835. T. B. Wilson, `Voyage Round the World,' p. 259:

"During the night, the bell bird supplied, to us, the place of the wakeful nightingale . . . a pleasing surprise, as we had hitherto supposed that the birds in New Holland were not formed for song."

1839. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' p. 23:

"Every bough seemed to throng with feathered musicians: the melodious chimes of the bell-bird were specially distinct."

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 102:

"Look at the bell-bird's nest, admire the two spotted salmon coloured eggs."

Ibid. ('Verses written whilst we lived in tents'), p. 171:

"Through the Eucalyptus shade, Pleased could watch the bell-bird's flutter, Blending with soft voice of waters The delicious tones they utter."

1846. Lady Martin, `Bush journey, 1846, Our Maoris,' p. 93:

"We did hear the birds next morning as Captain Cook had described —first the bell-bird gave its clear, full note, and then came such a jargoning as made one's heart glad."

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. ii. pl. 81:

"Oreoica gutturalis, Gould. Crested Oreoica. Bell-bird, Colonists of Swan River [Western Australia]. . . I find the following remarks in my note-book— `Note, a very peculiar piping whistle, sounding like weet-weet-weet-weet-oo, the last syllable fully drawn out and very melodious. . . . In Western Australia, where the real Bell-bird is never found, this species has had that appellation given to it,—a term which must appear ill-applied to those who have heard the note of the true Bell-bird of the brushes of New South Wales, whose tinkling sound so nearly resembles that of a distant sheep-bell as occasionally to deceive the ears of a practised shepherd."

1866. Lady Barker, `Station Life in New Zealand,' p. 93:

"Every now and then we stood, by common consent, silent and almost breathless, to listen to the bell-bird, a dingy little fellow, nearly as large as a thrush with the plumage of a chaffinch, but with such a note! How can I make you hear its wild, sweet, plaintive tone, as a little girl of the party said `just as if it had a bell in its throat;' but indeed it would require a whole peal of silver bells to ring such an exquisite chime."

1868. F. Napier Broome, `Canterbury Rhymes,' second edition, p. 108:

"Where the bell-bird sets solitudes ringing, Many times I have heard and thrown down My lyre in despair of all singing."

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 21:

"Listen to the bell-bird. Ping, ping, sounds through the vast hushed temple of nature."

1883. G. W. Rusden, `History of Australia,' vol. i. p. 81:

"The bell-bird, with metallic but mellow pipe, warns the wanderer that he is near water in some sequestered nook."

1886. H. C. Kendall, `Poems,' p. 8:

"And softer than slumber and sweeter than singing, The notes of the bell-bird are running and ringing."

1888. W. L. Buller, `Birds of New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 85:

"Anthornis melanura. Chatham Island Bell-bird (A. Melanocephala), the Bell-bird—so-called from the fanciful resemblance of one of its notes to the distant tolling of a bell."

1889. Prof. Parker, `Catalogue of New Zealand Exhibition,' p. 119:

"Bell-bird, Korimako,or Makomako (Anthornis melanura), is still common in many parts of the South Island—e.g. in the neighbourhood of Dunedin; but has almost disappeared from the North Island. Its song is remarkably fine."

1893. W. P. Reeves, `The Passing of the Forest,' `Review of Reviews,' Feb. 1893, p. 45:

"Gone are the forest birds, arboreal things, Eaters of honey, honey-sweet in song; The tui, and the bell-bird—he who sings That brief rich music one would fain prolong.'

1896. G. A. Keartland, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,' Part II., Zoology, Aves, p. 74:

"In the north they [Oreoica] are frequently called `Bell-birds,' but bear no resemblance to Manorhina melanophrys in plumage, shape, or note. The Oreoica is such an accomplished ventriloquist that it is difficult to find."

<hw>Bell-bottomed</hw>, adj. a particular fashion of trouser affected by the larrikin (q.v.).

1891. `The Argus,' Dec. 5, p. 13, col. 2:

"Can it be that the pernicious influence of the House is gradually tingeing the high priests of the bell-bottomed ballottee with conservatism!"

<hw>Bell-Frog, Golden</hw>, n. See Golden Bell-Frog.

<hw>Bell-topper</hw>, n. The ordinary Australian name for the tall silk-hat.

1860. W. Kelly, `Life in Victoria,' p. 268 [Footnote]:

"Bell-topper was the derisive name given by diggers to old style hat, supposed to indicate the dandy swell."

<hw>Benjamin</hw>, n. a husband, in Australian pigeon-English.

1870. Chas. H. Allen, `A Visit to Queensland and her Goldfields,' p. 182:

"There are certain native terms that are used by the whites also as a kind of colonial slang, such as `yabber,' to talk; `budgeree,' good; `bale,' no; `yan,' to go; `cabon,' much; and so on.

"With the black people a husband is now called a `benjamin,' probably because they have no word to their own language to express this relationship."

<hw>Benjamin-Tree</hw>, n. also called Weeping Fig in Queensland, Ficus benjaminea, Linn., N.O. Urticaceae.

<hw>Bent-grass</hw>. n. See Grass.

1835. Ross, `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 65:

"Agrostis virginica. Virginian Agrostis, or Bent-grass. . . . Many species of this genus go under the general name of Bent-grass. Their roots spread along among light and sandy soil in which they generally grow with joints like the Squitch or Couch grass of England."

<hw>Berigora</hw>, n. aboriginal name for a bird of genus Falco, from beri, claw, and gora, long. See Hawk

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 185:

"The native name of this bird which we have adopted as its specific name, is Berigora. It is called by the settlers Orange-speckled Hawk."

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' I. i. pl. 11:

"Hieracidea berigora. Brown Hawk. Berigora, Aborigines of New South Wales. Orange-speckled Hawk of the Colonists."

<hw>Berley</hw>, n. term used by Australian fishermen for ground bait. It is probably of aboriginal origin.

1882. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Fish and Fisheries of New South Wales,' p. 75:

"With hook and line along the rocks of our sea-coast these fishes are caught, but the bait should be crabs. It is usual to wrench legs and shell off the back, and cast them out for Berley."

1896. `Badminton Magazine,' August, p. 201:

"I would signal to the sharks by opening and washing out a few of the largest fish at the boat's head, sometimes adding bait chopped small to serve for what Australian fishermen call Berley."

<hw>Betcherrygah</hw>, n. bird-name, Melopsittacus undulatus, Shaw. See Budgerigar.

<hw>Bettongia</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus of Prehensile-tailed Kangaroo-Rats, whose aboriginal name is Bettong. They are the only ground-dwelling marsupials with prehensile tails, which they use for carrying bunches of grasses and sticks. See Kangaroo-Rat.

<hw>Biddy-biddy</hw>, or <hw>Biddybid</hw>, n. a corruption of Maori name piripiri. It is a kind of bur.

1880. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open, `New Zealand Country Journal,' vol. xii. p. 95:

"Piri-piri (acaena sanguisorbe) by settlers has been converted or corrupted into biddy-biddy; a verb has been formed on it, which is in very constant use for a good part of the year at least. To biddy, is to rid one of burrs, as `I'll just biddy my clothes before I come in.' Small birds are occasionally found in a wretched state of discomfort in which they appear a moving mass of burrs. Parroquets, pipets, and the little white-eyes, have been found victims suffering from these tenacious burrs of the piri-piri, just moving little brown balls unable to fly till picked up and released from their bonds."

1896. `Otago Witness,' Jan. 23, vol. ii. p. 36:

"Yes, biddybids detract very materially from the value of the wool, and the plant should not be allowed to seed where sheep are depastured. They are not quite so bad as the Bathurst burr, but they are certainly in the same category."

<hw>Biddy</hw>, v. See Biddy-biddy, n.

<hw>Bidgee Widgee</hw>, n. name given to a Tasmanian Bur (q.v.).

<hw>Bidyan Ruffe</hw>, n. a fresh-water fish of New South Wales, Therapon richardsonii, Castln., family Percidae. Mr. J. Douglas Ogilby, Assistant Zoologist at the Australian Museum, Sydney, says in a letter "The Bidyan Ruffe of Sir Thomas Mitchell is our Therapon ellipticus, Richards (T. richardsonii, Castln.). Found in all the rivers of the Murray system, and called Kooberry by the natives." It is also called the Silver Perch and sometimes Bream.