Austral English

N

Reading edition

<hw>Nailrod</hw>, n. a coarse dark tobacco smoked by bushmen. The name alludes to the shape of the plug, which looks like a thin flat stick of liquorice. It is properly applied to the imported brand of "Two Seas," but is indiscriminately used by up-country folk for any coarse stick of tobacco.

1896. H. Lawson, `While the Billy boils,' p. 118:

"`You can give me half-a-pound of nailrod,' he said, in a quiet tone.'"

<hw>Nail-tailed Wallaby</hw>, n. See Onychogale.

<hw>Namma hole</hw>, n. a native well. Namma is an aboriginal word for a woman's breast.

1893. `The Australasian,' August 5, p. 252, col. 4:

"The route all the way from York to Coolgardie is amply watered, either `namma holes' native wells) or Government wells being plentiful on the road."

1896. `The Australasian,' March 28, p. 605, col. 1:

"The blacks about here [far west of N.S.W.] use a word nearly resembling `namma' in naming waterholes, viz., `numma,' pronounced by them `ngumma,' which means a woman's breast. It is used in conjunction with other words in the native names of some waterholes in this district, e.g., `Tirrangumma' = Gum-tree breast; and ngumma-tunka' = breast-milk, the water in such case being always milky in appearance. In almost all native words beginning with n about here the first n has the ng sound as above."

<hw>Nancy</hw>, n. a Tasmanian name for the flower Anguillaria (q.v.).

<hw>Nankeen Crane</hw>, or <hw>Nankeen Bird</hw>, or <hw>Nankeen Night Heron</hw>, n. the Australian bird Nycticorax caledonicus, Gmel. Both the Nankeen Bird and the Nankeen Hawk are so called from their colour. Nankeen is "a Chinese fabric, usually buff, from the natural colour of a cotton grown in the Nanking district" of China. (`Century.')

1838. James, `Six Months in South Australia, p. 202:

"After shooting one or two beautiful nankeen birds."

1872. C. H. Eden, `My Wife and I in Queensland,' p. 121:

"The nankeen crane (Nycticorax caledonicus), a very handsome bright nankeen-coloured bird with three long white feathers at the back of the neck, very good eating."

<hw>Nankeen Gum</hw>. See Gum.

<hw>Nankeen Hawk</hw>, n. an Australian bird, Tinnunculus cenchroides, Vig. and Hors., which is otherwise called Kestrel (q.v.).

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of the Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 184:

"`This bird,' as we are informed by Mr. Caley, `is called Nankeen Hawk by the settlers. It is a migratory species.'"

<hw>Nannygai</hw>, n. aboriginal name for an Australian fish, Beryx affinis, Gunth.

1882. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Fish of New South Wales,' p. 52:

"Amongst the early colonists it used also to be called `mother nan a di,' probably a corruption of the native name, mura ngin a gai."

1884. E. P. Ramsay, `Fisheries Exhibition Literature,' vol. v. p. 308:

"Known among the fishermen of Port Jackson as the `nannagai,' or as it is sometimes spelt `nannygy.' It is a most delicious fish, always brings a high price, but is seldom found in sufficient numbers."

<hw>Nardoo</hw>, or <hw>Nardu</hw>, n. aboriginal word for the sporocarp of a plant, Marsilea quadrifolia, Linn., used as food by the aboriginals, and sometimes popularly called Clover-fern. The explorers Burke and Wills vainly sought the means of sustaining life by eating flour made from the spore-cases of nardoo. "Properly Ngardu in the Cooper's Creek language (Yantruwunta)." (A. W. Howitt.) Cooper's Creek was the district where Burke and Wills perished. In South Australia Ardoo is said to be the correct form.

1861. `Diary of H. J. Wills, the Explorer,' quoted in Brough Smyth's `Aborigines of Victoria,' p. 216:

"I cannot understand this nardoo at all; it certainly will not agree with me in any form. We are now reduced to it alone, and we manage to get from four to five pounds a day between us. . . . It seems to give us no nutriment. . . . Starvation on nardoo is by no means very unpleasant, but for the weakness one feels and the utter inability to move oneself, for, as far as appetite is concerned, it gives me the greatest satisfaction."

1862. Andrew Jackson, `Burke and the Australian Exploring Expedition of 1860,' p. 186:

"The [wheaten] flour, fifty pounds of which I gave them, they at once called `whitefellow nardoo,' and they explained that they understood that these things were given to them for having fed King."

1865. W. Howitt, `Discovery in Australia,' vol. ii. p. 247:

"They now began to inquire of the blacks after the nardoo seed, imagining it the produce of a tree; and received from the natives some of their dried narcotic herbs, which they chew, called pitchery. They soon found the nardoo seed in abundance, on a flat, and congratulated themselves in the idea that on this they could subsist in the wilderness, if all other food failed, a hope in which they were doomed to a great disappointment."

1877. F. von Mueller, `Botanic Teachings,' p. 130:

"Of Marsiliaceae we have well known examples in the nardoo (Marsilea quadrifolia, with many varieties), the foliage resembling that of a clover with four leaflets."

1878. R. Brough Smyth, `Aborigines of Victoria,' p. 209:

"They seem to have been unacquainted generally with the use, as a food, of the clover-fern, Nardoo, though the natives of the North Western parts of Victoria must have had intercourse with the tribes who use it, and could have obtained it, sparingly, from the lagoons in their own neighbourhood."

1879. J. D. Wood, `Native Tribes of South Australia,' p. 288:

"Ardoo, often described by writers as Nardoo. A very hard seed, a flat oval of about the size of a pea. It is crushed for food."

1879 (about). `Queensland Bush Song':

"Hurrah for the Roma Railway! Hurrah for Cobb and Co.! Hurrah, hurrah for a good fat horse To carry me Westward Ho! To carry me Westward Ho! my boys; That's where the cattle pay, On the far Barcoo, where they eat nardoo, A thousand miles away."

1879. S. Gason, in `The Native Tribes of South Australia,' p. 288:

"Ardoo. Often described in news papers and by writers as Nardoo. A very hard seed, a flat oval of about the size of a split pea; it is crushed or pounded, and the husk winnowed. In bad seasons this is the mainstay of the native sustenance, but it is the worst food possible, possessing very little nourishment, and being difficult to digest."

1882. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Proceedings of the of the Linnaean Society of New South Wales,' p. 82 [Botanical Notes on Queensland]:

"Sesbania aculeata. The seeds of this plant are eaten by the natives. It grows in all warm or marshy places in Queensland. By many it is thought that this was the Nardoo which Burke and Wills thought came from the spores of a Marsilea. It is hard to suppose that any nourishment would be obtained from the spore cases of the latter plant, or that the natives would use it. Besides this the spore-cases are so few in number."

1890. E. D. Cleland, `White Kangaroo,' p. 113:

"The great thing with the blacks was nardoo. This is a plant which sends up slender stems several inches high; at the tip is a flower-like leaf, divided into four nearly equal parts. It bears a fruit, or seed, and this is the part used for food. It is pounded into meal between two stones, and is made up in the form of cakes, and baked in the ashes. It is said to be nourishing when eaten with animal food, but taken alone to afford no support."

<hw>Native</hw>, n. This word, originally applied, as elsewhere, to the aboriginal inhabitants of Australia, is now used exclusively to designate white people born in Australia. The members of the "Australian Natives' Association" (A.N.A.), founded April 27, 1871, pride themselves on being Australian-born and not immigrants. Mr. Rudyard Kipling, in the `Times' of Nov. 1895, published a poem called " The Native-Born," sc. born in the British Empire, but outside Great Britain. As applied to Plants, Animals, Names, etc., the word Native bears its original sense, as in "Native Cabbage," "Native Bear," "Native name for," etc., though in the last case it is now considered more correct to say in Australia "Aboriginal name for," and in New Zealand "Maori name for."

1861. Mrs. Meredith, `Over the Straits,' c. v. p. 161:

"Three Sydney natives (`currency' not aboriginal) were in the coach, bound for Melbourne."

1896. A. B. Paterson, `Man from Snowy River,' p. 43:

"They were long and wiry natives from the rugged mountain side."

<hw>Native</hw>, or <hw>Rock-Native</hw>, n. a name given to the fish called Schnapper, after it has ceased to "school." See Schnapper.

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

<hw>Native Banana</hw>, n. another name for Lilly-pilly (q.v.).

<hw>Native Banyan</hw>, n. another name for Ficus rubiginosa. See Fig.

<hw>Native Bear</hw>, n. See Bear.

<hw>Native Beech</hw>, n. See Beech.

<hw>Native Blackberry</hw>, n. See Blackberry.

<hw>Native Borage</hw>, n. See Borage.

<hw>Native Box</hw>, n. See Box.

<hw>Native Bread</hw>, n. See Bread.

<hw>Native Broom</hw>, n. See Broom.

<hw>Native Burnet</hw>, n. See Burnet.

<hw>Native Cabbage</hw>, n. The Nasturtium palustre, De C., N.O. Cruciferae, is so called, but in spite of its name it is not endemic in Australia. In New Zealand, the name is sometimes applied to the Maori Cabbage (q.v.).

<hw>Native Carrot</hw>, n. See Carrot.

<hw>Native Cascarilla</hw>, n. See Cascarilla.

<hw>Native Cat</hw>, n. See Cat.

<hw>Native Celery</hw>, or <hw>Australian Celery</hw>, n. See Celery.

<hw>Native Centaury</hw>, n. See Centaury.

<hw>Native Cherry</hw>, n. See Cherry.

<hw>Native-Companion</hw>, n. an Australian bird-name, Grus australasianus, Gould. See also Crane.

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 125:

"Here we saw the native-companion, a large bird of the crane genus . . . five feet high, colour of the body grey, the wings darker, blue or black."

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 38:

"With native-companions (Ardea antigone) strutting round."

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. vi. pl. 48:

"Grus Australasianus, Gould, Australian Crane; Native-Companion of the Colonists."

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 146:

"A handsome tame `native-companion,' which had been stalking about picking up insects, drew near. Opening his large slate-coloured wings, and dancing grotesquely, the interesting bird approached his young mistress, bowing gracefully from side to side as he hopped lightly along; then running up, he laid his heron-like head lovingly against her breast."

1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 21:

"The most extraordinary of Riverina birds is the native-companion."

1890. Tasma, `In her Earliest Youth,' p. 145:

"A row of native-companions, of course, standing on one leg— as is their wont—like recruits going to drill."

[Query, did the writer mean going "through" drill.]

1891. `Guide to Zoological Gardens, Melbourne,' p. 23:

"In this paddock are some specimens of the Native Companion, whose curious habit of assembling in groups on the plains and fantastically dancing, has attracted much attention. This peculiarity is not confined to them alone, however, as some of the other large cranes (notably the crowned cranes of Africa) display the same trait."

<hw>Native Cranberry</hw>, n. See Cranberry.

<hw>Native Currant</hw>, n. See under Currant.

<hw>Native Daisy</hw>, n. See Daisy.

<hw>Native Damson</hw>, n. See Damson.

<hw>Native Dandelion</hw>, n. See Dandelion.

<hw>Native Daphne</hw>, n. See Daphne.

<hw>Native Date</hw>, n. See Date.

<hw>Native Deal</hw>, n. See Deal.

<hw>Native Dog</hw>, n. Another name for the Dingo (q.v.).

<hw>Native Elderberry</hw>, n. See Elderberry.

<hw>Native Flag</hw>, n. See under Flax, Native, and New Zealand.

<hw>Native Fuchsia</hw>, n. See Fuchsia.

<hw>Native Furze</hw>, n. See Hakea.

<hw>Native Ginger</hw>, n. See Ginger.

<hw>Native Grape</hw>, n. See Grape, Gippsland.

<hw>Native-hen</hw>, n. name applied to various species of the genus Tribonyx (q.v.). The Australian species are—

Tribonyx mortieri, Du Bus., called by Gould the Native Hen of the Colonists;

Black-tailed N.-h., T. ventralis, Gould;

and in Tasmania, Tribonyx gouldi, Sclater. See Tribonyx.

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. vi. pl. 71:

"Tribonyx Mortierii, Du Bus., native-hen of the colonists."

<hw>Native Hickory</hw>, n. See Hickory.

<hw>Native Holly</hw>, n. See Holly.

<hw>Native Hops</hw>, n. See Hops.

<hw>Native Hyacinth</hw>, n. See Hyacinth.

<hw>Native Indigo</hw>. n. See Indigo.

<hw>Native Ivy</hw>, n. See Ivy, and Grape, Macquarie Harbour.

<hw>Native Jasmine</hw>, n. See Jasmine.

<hw>Native Juniper</hw>, n. Same as Native Currant. See under Currant.

<hw>Native Kumquat</hw>, n. Same as Desert Lemon (q.v.).

<hw>Native Laburnum</hw>, n. See Laburnum.

<hw>Native Laurel</hw>, n. See Laurel.

<hw>Native Lavender</hw>, n. See Lavender.

<hw>Native Leek</hw>, n. See Leek.

<hw>Native Lilac</hw>, n. a Tasmanian plant. See Lilac.

<hw>Native Lime</hw>, n. See Lime.

<hw>Native Lucerne</hw>, n. i.q. Queensland Hemp. See under Hemp.

<hw>Native Mangrove</hw>, n. Tasmanian name for the Boobialla (q.v.).

<hw>Native Mignonette</hw>, n. See Mignonette.

<hw>Native Millet</hw>, n. See Millet.

<hw>Native Mint</hw>, n. See Mint.

<hw>Native Mistletoe</hw>, n. See Mistletoe.

<hw>Native Mulberry</hw>, n. See Mulberry.

<hw>Native Myrtle</hw>, n. See Myrtle.

<hw>Native Nectarine</hw>, n. another name for the Emu-Apple. See under Apple.

<hw>Native Oak</hw>, n. See Oak.

<hw>Native Olive</hw>, n. See under Olive and Marblewood.

<hw>Native Onion</hw>, n. Same as Native Leek. See Leek.

<hw>Native Orange</hw>, n. See under Orange.

<hw>Native Passion-flower</hw>, n. See Passion-flower.

<hw>Native Peach</hw>, n. i.q. Quandong (q.v.).

<hw>Native Pear</hw>, n. See Hakea and Pear.

<hw>Native Pennyroyal</hw>, n. See Pennyroyal.

<hw>Native Pepper</hw>, n. See Pepper.

<hw>Native Plantain</hw>, n. See Plantain.

<hw>Native Plum</hw>, n. See Plum, Wild.

<hw>Native Pomegranate</hw>, n. See Orange, Native.

<hw>Native Potato</hw>, n. See Potato.

<hw>Native Quince</hw>, n. Another name for Emu-Apple. See Apple.

<hw>Native Raspberry</hw>, n. See Raspberry.

<hw>Native Rocket</hw>, n. See Rocket.

<hw>Native Sandalwood</hw>, n. See Sandalwood and Raspberry-Jam Tree.

<hw>Native Sarsaparilla</hw>, n. See Sarsaparilla.

<hw>Native Sassafras</hw>, n. See Sassafras.

<hw>Native Scarlet-runner</hw>, n. See Kennedya.

<hw>Native Shamrock</hw>. n. See Shamrock.

<hw>Native Sloth</hw>, n. i.q. Native Bear. See Bear.

<hw>Native Speedwell</hw>, n. See Speedwell.

<hw>Native Tamarind</hw>, n. See Tamarind-tree.

<hw>Native Tiger</hw>, n. See Tasmanian Tiger.

<hw>Native Tobacco</hw>, n. See Tobacco.

<hw>Native Tulip</hw>, n. See Waratah.

<hw>Native Turkey</hw>, n. Same as Wild Turkey. A vernacular name given to Eupodotis australis, Gray, which is not a turkey at all, but a true Bustard. See Turkey.

<hw>Native Vetch</hw>, n. See Vetch.

<hw>Native Willow</hw>, n. See Boobialla and Poison-berry Tree.

<hw>Native Yam</hw>, n. See Yam.

<hw>Necho</hw>, and <hw>Neko</hw>. See Nikau.

<hw>Nectarine, Native</hw>, n. another name for Emu-Apple. See Apple.

<hw>Needle-bush</hw>, n. name applied to two Australian trees, Hakea leucoptera, R. Br., N.O. Proteaceae; called also Pin-bush and Water-tree (q.v.) and Beefwood; Acacia rigens, Cunn., N.O. Leguminosae (called also Nealie). Both trees have fine sharp spines.

<hw>Negro-head</hw> Beech, n. See Beech.

<hw>Neinei</hw>, n. Maori name for New Zealand shrub, Dracophyllum longifolium, R. Br., also D. traversii, N.O. Epacrideae.

1865. J. Von Haast, `A Journey to the West Coast, 1865' (see `Geology of Westland,' p. 78):

"An undescribed superb tree like Dracophyllum, not unlike the D. latifolium of the North Island, began to appear here. The natives call it nene. (Named afterwards D. traversii by Dr. Hooker.) It has leaves a foot long running out into a slender point, of a reddish brown colour at the upper part, between which the elegant flower- panicle comes forth."

1883. J. Hector, `Handbook of New Zealand,' p. 128:

"Neinei, an ornamental shrub-tree, with long grassy leaves. Wood white, marked with satin-like specks, and adapted for cabinet-work."

1888. J. Adams, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xxi. art. ii. p. 40:

"On the flat and rounded top the tallest plants are stunted neinei."

<hw>Nephrite</hw>, n. See Greenstone.

<hw>Nestor</hw>, n. scientific name for a genus of New Zealand Parrots. See Kaka and Kea.

1863. S. Butler, `First Year in Canterbury Settlement,' p. 58:

"There was a kind of dusky, brownish-green parrot too, which the scientific call a Nestor. What they mean by this name I know not. To the unscientific it is a rather dirty-looking bird, with some bright red feathers under its wings. It is very tame, sits still to be petted, and screams like a parrot."

<hw>Nettle-tree</hw>, n. Two species of Laportea, N.O. Urticaceae, large scrub-trees, are called by this name—Giant Nettle, L. gigas, Wedd., and Small-leaved Nettle, L. photiniphylla, Wedd.; they have rigid stinging hairs. These are both species of such magnitude as to form timber-trees. A third, L. moroides, Wedd., is a small tree, with the stinging hairs extremely virulent. See also preceding words. /??/

1849. J. P. Townsend, `Rambles in New South Wales,' p. 34:

"In the scrubs is found a tree, commonly called the nettle- tree (Urtica gigas). It is often thirty feet in height, and has a large, broad, green leaf. It is appropriately named; and the pain caused by touching the leaf is, I think, worse than that occasioned by the sting of a wasp."

<hw>Never, Never Country</hw>, or <hw>Never, Never Land</hw>. See quotations. Mr. Cooper's explanation (1857 quotation) is not generally accepted.

1857. F. de Brebant Cooper, `Wild Adventures in Australia,' p. 68:

"With the aid of three stock-keepers, soon after my arrival at Illarrawarra, I had the cattle mustered, and the draft destined for the Nievah vahs ready for for the road."

[Footnote]: "Nievah vahs, sometimes incorrectly pronounced never nevers, a Comderoi term signifying unoccupied land."

1884. A. W. Stirling, `The Never Never Land: a Ride in North Queensland,' p. 5:

"The `Never Never Land,' as the colonists call all that portion of it [Queensland] which lies north or west of Cape Capricorn."

1887. Cassell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol. i. p. 279:

"In very sparsely populated country, such as the district of Queensland, known as the Never Never Country—presumably because a person, who has once been there, invariably asseverates that he will never, never, on any consideration, go back."

1890. J. S. O'Halloran, Secretary Royal Colonial Institute, apud Barrere and Leland:

"The Never, Never Country means in Queensland the occupied pastoral country which is furthest removed from the more settled districts."

1890. A. J. Vogan, `The Black Police,' p. 85:

"The weird `Never, Never Land,' so called by the earliest pioneers from the small chance they anticipated, on reaching it, of ever being able to return to southern civilization."

<hw>Newberyite</hw>, n. [Named after J. Cosmo Newbery of Melbourne.] "A hydrous phosphate of magnesium occurring in orthorhombic crystals in the bat-guano of the Skipton Caves, Victoria." (`Century.')

<hw>New Chum</hw>, n. a new arrival, especially from the old country: generally used with more or less contempt; what in the United States is called a `tenderfoot.'

1839. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions,' vol. i. p. 99:

"He was also what they termed a `new chum,' or one newly arrived."

1846. C. P. Hodgson, `Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 366:

"`New Chum,' in opposition to `Old Chum.' The former `cognomen' peculiarizing [sic] the newly-arrived Emigrant; the latter as a mark of respect attached to the more experienced Colonist."

1855. `How to Settle in Victoria,' p. 15:

"They appear to suffer from an apprehension of being under- sold, or in some other way implicated by the inexperience of, as they call him, the `new chum.'"

1865. `Once a Week,' `The Bulla Bulla Bunyip':

"I was, however, comparatively speaking, a `new chum,' and therefore my explanation of the mystery met with scant respect."

1874. W. M. B., `Narrative of Edward Crewe,' p. 17:

"To be a new chum is not agreeable—it is something like being a new boy at school—you are bored with questions for some time after your arrival as to how you like the place, and what you are going to do; and people speak to you in a pitying and patronizing manner, smiling at your real or inferred simplicity in colonial life, and altogether `sitting upon' you with much frequency and persistence."

1885. R. M. Praed, `Head Station,' p. 32:

"A new chum is no longer a new chum when he can plait a stock-whip."

1886. P. Clarke [Title]:

"The New Chum in Australia."

1887. W. S. S. Tyrwhitt [Title]:

"The New Chum in the Queensland Bush."

1890. Tasma, `In her Earliest Youth,' p. 152:

"I've seen such a lot of those new chums, one way and another. They knock down all their money at the first go-off, and then there's nothing for them to do but to go and jackaroo up in Queensland."

1891. Rolf Boldrewood, `A Sydney-side Saxon,' p. 4:

"The buggy horse made a bolt of it when a new-chum Englishman was driving her."

1892. Mrs. H. E. Russell, `Too Easily jealous,' p. 155:

"One man coolly told me it was because I was a new chum, just as though it were necessary for a fellow to rusticate for untold ages in these barbarous solitudes, before he is allowed to give an opinion on any subject connected with the colonies."

<hw>New Chumhood</hw>, n. the period and state of being a New Chum.

1883. W. Jardine Smith, in `Nineteenth Century,' November, p. 849:

"The `bumptiousness' observable in the early days of `new chumhood.'"

<hw>New Holland</hw>, n. the name, now extinct, first given to Australia by Dutch explorers.

1703. Capt. William Dampier,' Voyages,' vol. iii. [Title]:

"A Voyage to New Holland, &c., in the Year 1699."

1814. M. Flinders, `Voyage to Terra Australis,' Intro. p. ii:

"The vast regions to which this voyage was principally directed, comprehend, in the western part, the early discoveries of the Dutch, under the name of New Holland; and in the east, the coasts explored by British navigators, and named New South Wales."

1845. J. O. Balfour, `Sketch of New South Wales,' p. 2:

"The Spaniards at the commencement of the seventeenth century were the discoverers of New Holland; and from them it received the name of Australia. It subsequently, however, obtained its present name of New Holland from the Dutch navigators, who visited it a few years afterwards."

[The Spaniards did not call New Holland Australia (q.v.). The Spaniard Quiros gave the name of Australia del Espiritu Santo to one of the New Hebrides (still known as Espiritu Santo), thinking it to be part of the `Great South Land.' See Captain Cook's remarks on this subject in `Hawkesworth's Voyages,' vol. iii. p. 602.]

1850. J. Bonwick, `Geography for Australian Youth,' p. 6:

"Australasia, or Australia, consists of the continent of New Holland, or Australia, the island of Tasmania, or Van Diemen's Land, and the islands of New Zealand."

[In the map accompanying the above work `Australia' is printed across the whole continent, and in smaller type `New Holland' stretches along the Western half, and `New South Wales' along the whole of the Eastern.]

<hw>New South Wales</hw>, n. the name of the oldest and most important colony in Australia. The name "New Wales" was first given by Captain Cook in 1770, from the supposed resemblance of the coast to that of the southern coast of Wales; but before his arrival in England he changed the name to "New South Wales." It then applied to all the east of the continent. Victoria and Queensland have been taken out of the parent colony. It is sometimes called by the slang name of Eastralia, as opposed to Westralia (q.v).

<hw>New Zealand</hw>, n. This name was given to the colony by Abel Jansz Tasman, the Dutch navigator, who visited it in 1642. He first called it Staaten-land. It is now frequently called Maoriland (q.v.).

<hw>New Zealand Spinach</hw>, n. See Spinach.

<hw>Ngaio, <i</hw>>n. Maori name for a New Zealand tree, Myoporum laetum, Forst.; generally corrupted into Kaio, in South Island.

1873. `Catalogue of Vienna Exhibition':

"Ngaio: wood light, white and tough, used for gun-stocks."

1876. J. C. Crawford, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. ix. art. xiv. p. 206:

"A common New Zealand shrub, or tree, which may be made useful for shelter, viz. the Ngaio."

1880. W. Colenso, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xiii. art. i. p. 33:

"The fruits of several species of Rubus, and of the Ngaio (Myoporum laetum), were also eaten, especially by children."

1892. `Otago Witness,' Nov. 3, `Native Trees':

"Myoporum Laetum (Ngaio). This is generally called kio by colonists. It is a very rapid-growing tree for the first five or six years after it has been planted. They are very hardy, and like the sea air. I saw these trees growing at St. Kilda, near Melbourne, thirty years ago."

<hw>Nicker Nuts</hw>, n. i.q. Bonduc Nuts (q.v.).

<hw>Nigger</hw>, n. an Australian black or aboriginal. [Of course an incorrect use. He is not a negro, any more than the Hindoo is.]

1874. M. C., `Explorers,' p. 25:

"I quite thought the niggers had made an attack."

1891. `The Argus,' Nov. 7, p. 13, col. 5:

"The natives of Queensland are nearly always spoken of as `niggers' by those who are brought most directly in contact with them."

<hw>Nigger-head</hw>, n. (1) Name given in New Zealand to hard blackstones found at the Blue Spur and other mining districts. They are prized for their effectiveness in aiding cement-washing. The name is applied in America to a round piece of basic igneous rock.

(2) Name used in Queensland for blocks of coral above water.

1876. Capt. J. Moresby, R. N., `Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea,' pp. 2-3:

"The gigantic Barrier Reef is submerged in parts, generally to a shallow depth, and traceable only by the surf that breaks on it, out of which a crowd of `nigger heads,' black points of coral rock, peep up in places . . ."

1882. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Fish of New South Wales,' p. 111:

"Abundantly on the Queensland coast, especially on the coral reefs, where all the outstanding blocks of coral (nigger-heads) are covered with them."

<hw>Nightjar</hw>, n. English bird-name, applied in Australia to the following species—

Large-tailed Nightjar— Caprimulgus macrurus, Hors.

Little N.— AEgotheles novae-hollandiae, Gould.

Spotted N.— Eurostopodus guttatus, Vig. and Hors.

White-throated N.— E. albogularis, Vig. and Hors.

<hw>Nikau</hw>, n. Maori name for a New Zealand palm-tree, Areca sapida, N.O. Palmeae. Spelt also Necho and Neko.

1843. `An Ordinance for imposing a tax on Raupo Houses, Session II. No. xvii. of the former legislative Council of New Zealand':

[From A. Domett's collection of Ordinances, 1850.]

"Section 2. . . . there shall be levied in respect of every building constructed wholly or in part of raupo, nikau, toitoi, wiwi, kakaho, straw or thatch of any description [ . . . L20]."

1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' c. i. p. 270:

[The house was] "covered with thick coating of the leaves of the nikau (a kind of palm) and tufts of grass."

1854. W. Golder, `Pigeons' Parliament,' [Note] p. 75:

"The necho or neko is a large tree-like plant known elsewhere as the mountain cabbage."

1862. `All the Year Round,' `From the Black Rocks on Friday,' May 17, No. 160:

"I found growing, as I expected, amongst the trees abundance of the wild palm or nikau. The heart of one or two of these I cut out with my knife. The heart of this palm is about the thickness of a man's wrist, is about a foot long, and tastes not unlike an English hazel-nut, when roasted on the ashes of a fire. It is very nutritious."

1882. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' p. 86:

"The pale green pinnate-leaved nikau."

1888. Cassell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol. iii. p. 210:

"With the exception of the kauri and the nekau-palm nearly every tree which belongs to the colony grows in the `seventy-mile bush' of Wellington."

<hw>Nipper</hw>, n. local name in Sydney for Alphaeus socialis, Heller, a species of prawn.

<hw>Nobbler</hw>, n. a glass of spirits; lit. that which nobbles or gets hold of you. Nobble is the frequentative form of nab. No doubt there is an allusion to the bad spirits frequently sold at bush public-houses, but if a teetotaler had invented the word he could not have invented one involving stronger condemnation.

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

"The summit gained, he pulls up at the Valley, To drain a farewell `nobbler' to his Sally."

1859. Frank Fowler, `Southern Lights and Shadows,' p. 52:

"To pay for liquor for another is to `stand,' or to `shout,' or to `sacrifice.' The measure is called a `nobbler,' or a `break-down.'"

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' vol. ii. p. 201:

"A nobbler is the proper colonial phrase for a drink at a public-house."

1876. J. Brenchley, `May Bloom,' p. 80:

"And faster yet the torrents flow Of nobblers bolted rapidly."

1880. Fison and Howitt, `Kamilaroi and Kurnai,' p. 249:

"When cruising about . . . with a crew of Kurnai . . . I heard two of my men discussing where we could camp, and one, on mentioning a place, said, speaking his own language, that there was `le-en (good) nobler.' I said, `there is no nobler there.' He then said in English, `Oh! I meant water.' On inquiry I learned that a man named Yan (water) had died shortly, before, and that not liking to use that word, they had to invent a new one."

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 36:

"Only to pull up again at the nearest public-house, to the veranda of which his horse's bridle was hung until he had imbibed a nobbler or two."

<hw>Nobblerise</hw>, v. to drink frequent nobblers (q.v.).

1864. J. Rogers, `The New Rush,' p. 51:

"And oft a duffer-dealing digger there Will nobblerize in jerks of small despair . ."

1882. A. J. Boyd, `Old Colonials,' p. 268:

"The institution of `nobblerising' is carried out in far different places."

<hw>Noddy</hw>, n. common English name for the sea-bird. The species observed in Australia are—

The Noddy— Anous stolidus, Linn.

Black-cheeked N.— A. melanogenys, Gray.

Grey N.— A. cinereus, Gould.

Lesser N.— A. tenuirostris, Temm.

White-capped N.— A. leucocapillus, Gould.

<hw>Nonda</hw>, n. aboriginal name for a tree, Parinarium Nonda, F. v. M., N.O. Rosaceae, of Queensland. It has an edible, mealy fruit, rather like a plum.

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 315:

"We called this tree the `Nonda,' from its resemblance to a tree so called by the natives in the Moreton Bay district."

<hw>Noogoora Bur</hw>, n. a Queensland plant, Xanthium strumarium, Linn., N.O. Compositae.

<hw>Noon-flower</hw>, n. a rare name for the Mesembryanthemum. See Pig-face.

1891. `The Argus,' Dec. 19, p. 4, col. 2:

"The thick-leaved noon-flower that swings from chalk cliffs and creek banks in the auriferous country is a delectable salad."

<hw>Norfolk Island Pine</hw>, n. See Pine.

<hw>Note</hw>, n. short for Bank-note, and always used for a one-pound note, the common currency. A note = L1.

1864. J. Rogers, `New Rush,' pt. ii. p. 28:

"A note's so very trifling, it's no sooner chang'd than gone; For it is but twenty shillings."

1875. Wood and Lapham, `Waiting for Mail,' p. 39:

"And even at half fifty notes a week You ought to have made a pile."

1884. Marcus Clarke, `Memorial Volume,' p. 92:

"I lent poor Dick Snaffle a trotting pony I had, and he sold him for forty notes."

<hw>Notornis</hw>, n. a bird of New Zealand allied to the Porphyrio (q.v.), first described from a fossil skull by Professor Owen (1848), and then thought to be extinct, like the Moa. Professor Owen called the bird Notornis mantelli, and, curiously enough, Mr. Walter Mantell, in whose honour the bird was named, two years afterwards captured a live specimen; a third specimen was captured in 1879. The word is from the Greek notos, south, and 'ornis, bird. The Maori names were Moho and Takahe (q.v.).

<hw>Notoryctes</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus to which belongs the Marsupial Mole (q.v.).

<hw>Nugget</hw>, n. a lump of gold. The noun nugget is not Australian, though often so supposed. Skeat (`Etymological Dictionary,' s.v.) gives a quotation from North's `Plutarch' with the word in a slightly different shape, viz., niggot. "The word nugget was in use in Australia many years before the goldfields were heard of. A thick-set young beast was called `a good nugget.' A bit of a fig of tobacco was called `a nugget of tobacco.'" (G. W. Rusden.)

1852. Sir W. T. Denison, `Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen s Land,' vol. ii. p. 203:

`In many instances it is brought to market in lumps, or `nuggets' as they are called, which contain, besides the gold alloyed with some metal, portions of quartz or other extraneous material, forming the matrix in which the gold was originally deposited, or with which it had become combined accidentally."

1869. Marcus Clarke, `Peripatetic Philosopher' (reprint), p. 51:

"They lead a peaceful, happy, pastoral life—dig in a hole all day, and get drunk religiously at night. They are respected, admired, and esteemed. Suddenly they find a nugget, and lo! the whole tenor of their life changes."

<hw>Nugget</hw>, v. Queensland slang. See quotation.

1887. R. M. Praed, `Longleat of Kooralbyn,' c. iii. p. 25:

"To nugget: in Australian slang, to appropriate your neighbours' unbranded calves."

Ibid. c. xviii. p. 182:

"If he does steal a calf now and then, I know several squatters who are given to nuggeting."

<hw>Nuggety</hw>, adj. applied to a horse or a man. Short, thick-set and strong. See G. W. Rusden's note under Nugget.

1896. Private Letter, March 2:

"Nuggety is used in the same sense as Bullocky (q.v.), but with a slight difference of meaning, what we should say `compact.' Bullocky has rather a sense of over-strength inducing an awkwardness of movement. Nuggety does not include the last suggestion."

<hw>Nulla-nulla</hw>, n. (spellings various) aboriginal name. A battle club of the aborigines in Australia.

1839. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia,' vol. i. p. 71:

"He then threw a club, or nulla-nulla, to the foot of the tree."

1853. C. Harpur, `Creek of the Four Graves':

"Under the crushing stroke Of huge clubbed nulla-nullas."

1873. J. B. Stephens, `Black Gin,' p. 61:

"Lay aside thy nullah-nullahs Is there war betwixt us two?"

1885. R. M. Praed, `Australian Life,' p. 9:

"The blacks . . . battered in his skull with a nulla-nulla."

1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 11:

"They would find fit weapons for ghastly warriors in the long white shank-bones gleaming through the grass—appropriate gnulla-gnullas and boomerangs."

1889. P. Beveridge, `Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina,' p. 67:

"The nulla-nulla is another bludgeon which bears a distinctive character . . . merely a round piece of wood, three feet long and two and a half inches thick, brought to a blunt point at the end. The mallee is the wood from which it is generally made."

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 72:

"I frequently saw another weapon, the `nolla-nolla' or club, the warlike weapon of the Australian native most commonly in use. It is a piece of hard and heavy wood sharpened to a point at both ends. One end is thick and tapers gradually to the other end, which is made rough in order to give the hand a more secure hold; in using he weapon the heavy end is thrown back before it is hurled."

1892. J. Fraser, `Aborigines of New South Wales,' p. 73:

"One of the simplest of Australian clubs, the `nulla-nulla' resembles the root of a grass-tree in the shape of its head . . . in shape something like a child's wicker-rattle."

<hw>Nut</hw>, n. (1) Slang. Explained in quotation.

1882. A. J. Boyd, `Old Colonials,' p. 60:

"The peculiar type of the Australian native (I do not mean the aboriginal blackfellow, but the Australian white), which has received the significant sobriquet of `The Nut,' may be met with to all parts of Australia, but more particularly . . . in far-off inland bush townships. . . . What is a Nut? . . . Imagine a long, lank, lantern jawed, whiskerless, colonial youth . . . generally nineteen years of age, with a smooth face, destitute of all semblance of a crop of `grass,' as he calls it in his vernacular."

(2) Dare-devil, etc. "Tommy the Nut" was the alias of the prisoner who, according to the story, was first described as "a-larrikin," by Sergeant Dalton. See Larrikin.

<hw>Nut, Bonduc</hw>, n. See Bonduc Nut.

<hw>Nut, Burrawang</hw>, n. See Burrawang.

<hw>Nut, Candle</hw>, n. See Candle-nut.

<hw>Nut, Nicker</hw>, n. See Bonduc Nut.

<hw>Nut, Queensland</hw>, n. See Queensland Nut.

<hw>Nut, Union</hw>, n. See Union Nut.

<hw>Nut-Grass</hw>, n. an Australian plant, Cyperus rotundus, Linn., N.O. Cyperaceae. The specific and the vernacular name both refer to the round tubers of the plant; it is also called Erriakura (q.v.).

<hw>Nutmeg, Queensland</hw>, n. See Queensland Nutmeg.

<hw>Nut-Palm</hw>, n. a tree, Cycas media, R. Br., N.O. Cycadeae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 21:

"Nut-Palm. Employed by the aborigines as food. An excellent farina is obtained from it."

O

Oak, n. The Oak of the Northern Hemisphere (Quercus) is not found among the indigenous trees of Australia; but the name Oak is applied there to the trees of the genus Casuarina (q.v.), and usually in the curious form of She-Oak (q.v.). The species have various appellations in various parts, such as Swamp-Oak, River-Oak, Bull-Oak, Desert-Oak; and even the word He-Oak is applied sometimes to the more imposing species of She-Oak, though it is not recognised by Maiden, whilst the word Native Oak is indiscriminately applied to them all.

The word Oak is further extended to a few trees, not Casuarinae, given below; and in New Zealand it is also applied to Matipo (q.v.) and Titoki, or Alectryon (q.v.).

The following table of the various trees receiving the name of Oak is compiled from J. H. Maiden's `Useful Native Plants'—

Bull-Oak— Casuarina equisetifolia, Forst.; C. glauca, Sieb.

Forest-O.— Casuarina equisetifolia, Forst.; C. suberosa; Otto and Diet.; C. torulosa, Ait.

Mountain-O.— Queensland name for Casuarina torulosa, Ait.

River Black-O.— Casuarina suberosa, Otto and Diet.

River-O.— Callistemon salignus, De C., N.O. Myrtaceae; Casuarina cunninghamii, Miq.; C. distyla, Vent.; C. stricta, Ait.; C. torulosa, Ait.

Scrub Silky-O.— Villaresia moorei, F. v. M., N.O. Olacineae. Called also Maple.

She-Oak:—

Coast S.-O.— Casuarina stricta,

Desert S.-0.— C. glauca, Sieb.

Erect S.-O.— C. suberosa, Otto and Diet.

River S.-O.— C. glauca, Sieb.

Scrub S.-O.— C. cunninghamii, Miq.

Stunted S.-O.— C. distyla, Vent.

Shingle-O.— Casuarina stricta, Ait.; C. suberosa, Otto and Diet.

Silky-O.— Stenocarpus salignus, R. Br., N.O. Proteaceae; called also Silvery-Oak. See also Grevillea and Silky-Oak.

Swamp-O.— Casuarina equisetifolia, Forst.; C. glauca, Sieb.; C. suberosa, Otto and Diet.; C. stricta, Ait.; called also Saltwater Swamp-Oak.

White-O.— Lagunaria patersoni, G. Don., N.O. Malvaceae.

Botany-Bay Oak, or Botany-Oak, is the name given in the timber trade to the Casuarina .

The `Melbourne Museum Catalogue of Economic Woods' (1894) classes the She-Oak in four divisions—

Desert She-Oak— Casuarina glauca, Sieb.

Drooping S.-O.— C. quadrivalvis, Labill.

Shrubby S.-O.— C. distyla, Vent.

Straight S.-O.— C. suberosa, Otto.

1770. Captain Cook, `Journal,' Sunday, May 6 (edition Wharton, 1893, pp. 247, 248):

"The great quantity of plants Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander found in this place occasioned my giving it the name of Botany Bay. . . . Although wood is here in great plenty, yet there is very little Variety; . . . Another sort that grows tall and Strait something like Pines—the wood of this is hard and Ponderous, and something of the Nature of America live Oak."

1770. R. Pickersgill, `Journal on the Endeavour' (in `Historical Records of New South Wales'), p. 215:

"May 5, 1770.—We saw a wood which has a grain like Oak, and would be very durable if used for building; the leaves are like a pine leaf."

1802. Jas. Flemming, `Journal of Explorations of Charles Grimes,' in `Historical Records of Port Phillip' (edition 1879, J. J. Shillinglaw), p. 22:

"The land is a light, black-sand pasture, thin of timber, consisting of gum, oak, Banksia, and thorn."

[This combination of timbers occurs several times in the `Journal.' It is impossible to decide what Mr. Flemming meant by Oak.]

1839. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions,' vol. i. p. 38:

"We found lofty blue-gum trees (Eucalyptus) growing on the flats near the Peel, whose immediate banks were overhung by the dense, umbrageous foliage of the casuarina, or `river-oak' of the colonists."

1845. J. O. Balfour, `Sketch of New South Wales,' p. 38:

"The river-oak grows on the banks and rivers, and having thick foliage, forms a pleasant and useful shade for cattle during the heat of the day; it is very hard and will not split. The timber resembles in its grain the English oak, and is the only wood in the colony well adapted for making felloes of wheels, yokes for oxen, and staves for casks."

1846. C. Holtzapffel, `Turning,' p. 75:

"Botany-Bay Oak, sometimes called Beef-wood, is from New South Wales. . . . In general colour it resembles a full red mahogany, with darker red veins."

1860. G. Bennett, `Gatherings of a Naturalist,' p. 323:

"The Casuarina trees, with their leafless, thin, thread-like, articulated branches, have been compared to the arborescent horse-tails (Equisetaceae), but have a much greater resemblance to the Larch-firs; they have the colonial name of Oaks, which might be changed more appropriately to that of Australian firs. The dark, mournful appearance of this tree caused it to be planted in cemeteries. The flowers are unisexual; the fruit consists of hardened bracts with winged seeds. The wood of this tree is named Beef-wood by the colonists."

1862. H. C. Kendall, `Poems,' p. 56:

"The wail in the native oak."

1878. W. R. Guilfoyle, `First Book of Australian Botany,' p. 54:

"It may here be remarked that the term `oak' has been very inaptly—in fact ridiculously—applied by the early Australian settlers; notably in the case of the various species of Casuarina, which are commonly called `she-oaks."

1880. Fison and Howitt, `Kamilaroi and Kurnai,' p. 252:

"They chose a tall He-oak, lopped it to a point."

1885. J. Hood, `Land of the Fern,' p. 53:

"The sighing of the native oak, Which the light wind whispered through."

1892. A. Sutherland, `Elementary Geography of British Colonies,' p. 27:

"A peculiar class of trees, called by the scientific name of Casuarina, is popularly known as oaks, `swamp-oaks,' `forest-oaks,' `she-oaks,' and so forth, although the trees are not the least like oaks. They are melancholy looking trees, with no proper leaves, but only green rods, like those of a pine-tree, except that they are much longer, and hang like the branches of a weeping-willow."

<hw>Oak-Apple</hw>, n. the Cone of the Casuarina or She-Oak tree.

1862. G. T. Lloyd, `Thirty-three Years in Tasmania and Victoria,' p. 32:

"The small apple of this tree (she-oak) is also dark green . . . both apple and leaf are as acid as the purest vinegar.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 15:

"In cases of severe thirst, great relief may be obtained from chewing the foliage of this and other species [of Casuarina], which, being of an acid nature, produces a flow of saliva—a fact well-known to bushmen who have traversed waterless portions of the country. This acid is closely allied to citric acid, and may prove identical with it. Children chew the young cones, which they call `oak-apples.'"

<hw>Oamaru Stone</hw>, n. Oamaru is a town on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It produces a fine building stone.

1883. J. Hector, `Handbook of New Zealand', p. 64:

"A white, granular limestone, called the Oamaru stone, is worked in extensive quarries in the Oamaru district. . . . A considerable quantity has been exported to Melbourne."

<hw>Oat-Grass</hw>, n. Anthistiria avenacea, F. v. M., N.O. Gramineae. A species of Kangaroo- Grass (q.v.). See also Grass.

<hw>Oat-shell</hw>, n. the shell of various species of Columbella, a small marine mollusc used for necklaces.

<hw>Oats, Wild</hw>, an indigenous grass, Bromus arenarius, Labill, N.O. Gramineae.Called also Seaside Brome-Grass. "It makes excellent hay." (Maiden, p. 79.)

<hw>Officer Plant</hw>, n. another name for Christmas-Bush (q.v.), so called "because of its bright red appearance." (Maiden, p. 404.)

<hw>Old Chum</hw>, n. Not in common use: the opposite to a new chum.

1846. C. P. Hodgson, `Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 366:

"`New chum,' in opposition to `old chum.' The former `cognomen' peculiarizing [sic] the newly-arrived emigrant; the latter as a mark of respect attached to the more experienced colonist."

<hw>Old Hat</hw>, a Victorian political catch-word.

1895. `The Argus,' May 11, p. 8, col. 3:

"Mr. Frank Stephen was the author of the well-known epithet `Old Hats,' which was applied to the rank and file of Sir James M'Culloch's supporters. The phrase had its origin through Mr. Stephen's declaration at an election meeting that the electors ought to vote even for an old hat if it were put forward in support of the M'Culloch policy."

<hw>Old Lady</hw>, n. name given to a moth, Erebus Pluto.

<hw>Old Man</hw>, n. a full-grown male Kangaroo. The aboriginal corruption is Wool-man.

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 160:

"To your great relief, however, the `old man' turns out to possess the appendage of a tail, and is in fact no other than one of our old acquaintances, the kangaroos."

1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 141:

"If he (greyhound) has less ferocity when he comes up with an `old man,' so much the better. . . . The strongest and most courageous dog can seldom conquer a wool-man alone, and not one in fifty will face him fairly; the dog who has the temerity is certain to be disabled, if not killed."

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 33:

"Mr. Gilbert started a large kangaroo known by the familiar name of `old man.'"

1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 172:

"The settlers designate the old kangaroos as `old men' and `old women;' the full-grown animals are named `flyers,' and are swifter than the British hare."

1864. W. Westgarth, `Colony of Victoria,' p. 451:

"The large kangaroo, the `old man,' as he is called, timorous of every unwonted sound that enters his large, erected ears, has been chased far from every busy seat of colonial industry."

1873. J. B. Stephens, `Black Gin,' p. 39:

"Where the kangaroo gave hops, The old man fleetest of the fleet."

1893. `The Times,' [Reprint] `Letters from Queensland,' p. 66:

"The animals, like the timber, too, are strange. Kangaroo and wallaby are as fond of grass as the sheep, and after a pelican's yawn there are few things funnier to witness than the career of an `old man' kangaroo, with his harem after him, when the approach of a buggy disturbs the family at their afternoon meal. Away they go, the little ones cantering briskly, he in a shaggy gallop, with his long tail stuck out for a balance, and a perpetual see-saw maintained between it and his short front paws, while the hind legs act as a mighty spring under the whole construction. The side and the back view remind you of a big St. Bernard dog, the front view of a rat. You begin an internal debate as to which he most resembles, and in the middle of it you find that he is sitting up on his haunches, which gives him a secure height of from five to six feet, and is gravely considering you with the air of the old man he is named from."

Old-Man, adj. large, or bigger than usual. Compare the next two words.

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

"I stared at a man one day for saying that a certain allotment of land was `an old-man allotment': he meant a large allotment, the old-man kangaroo being the largest kangaroo."

1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 7:

"Who that has ridden across the Old-Man Plain . . ."

<hw>Old-Man Fern</hw>, a Bush-name in Tasmania for the Tree-fern (q.v.).

<Mhw>Old-Man Salt-Bush</hw>, Atriplex nummularium, Lindl. See Salt-Bush.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 118:

"One of the tallest and most fattening and wholesome of Australian pastoral salt-bushes; also highly recommended for cultivation, as natural plants. By close occupation of the sheep and cattle runs, have largely disappeared, and as this useful bush is not found in many parts of Australia, sheep and cattle depastured on saltbush country are said to remain free of fluke, and get cured of Distoma-disease, and of other allied ailments (Mueller)."

<hw>Old-Wife</hw>, n. a New South Wales fish, Enoplosus armatus, White, family Percidae. The local name Old-Wife in England is given to a quite different fish, one of the Sea-Breams.

1882. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Fish of New South Wales,' p. 32:

"The `old-wife' (Enoplosus armatus, White) is another fish which from its small size is not esteemed nearly so highly as it ought to be. It is a most exquisite fish."

<hw>Olive, Mock</hw>, i.q. Axe-breaker (q.v.).

<hw>Olive, Native</hw>, n. one of the many names given to four trees—

Bursaria spinosa, Cav., N.O. Pittosporeae,; Elaeocarpus cyaneus, Ait., N.O. Tiliaceae; Notelaea ovala, R. Br., N.O. Jasmineae,; and, in Queensland, to Olea paniculata, R. Br., N.O. Jasmineae,, a tree of moderate size, with ovoid fruit resembling a small common Olive.

<hw>Olive, Spurious</hw>, n. another name for the tree Notelaea ligustrina, Vent. See Ironwood.

<hw>On</hw>, prep. Used for In, in many cases, especially of towns which sprang from Goldfields, and where the original phrase was, e.g. "on the Ballarat diggings, or goldfield." Thus, an inhabitant still speaks of living On Ballarat, On Bendigo; On South Melbourne (formerly Emerald Hill).

1869. J. F. Blanche, `The Prince's Visit,' p. 21:

"When came Victoria's son on Ballarat."

1896. H. Lawson, `While the Billy boils, etc.' p. 3:

"After tea they would sit on a log of the wood-heap, . . and yarn about Ballarat and Bendigo—of the days when we spoke of being `on' a place oftener than `at' it: on Ballarat, on Gulgong, on Lambing Flat, on Creswick."

<hw>Onion, Native</hw>, n. i.q. Native Leek. See Leek.

<hw>Onychogale</hw>, n. the scientific name of the genus containing the Nail-tailed Wallabies (q.v.). They derive their name from the presence of a peculiar horny appendage to their tails. (Grk. 'onux, 'onuchos, a claw, and galae, a weasel.) For the species, see Wallaby.

<hw>Opossum</hw>, n. The marsupial animal, frequent all over Australia, which is called an Opossum, is a Phalanger (q.v.). He is not the animal to which the name was originally applied, that being an American animal of the family Didelphyidae. See quotations below from `Encycl. Brit.' (1883). Skeat (`Etym. Dict.') says the word is West Indian, but he quotes Webster (presumably an older edition than that now in use), "Orig. opassom, in the language of the Indians of Virginia," and he refers to a translation of Buffon's Natural History' (Lond. 1792), Vol. i. p. 214. By 1792 the name was being applied in Australia. The name opossum is applied in Australia to all or any of the species belonging to the following genera, which together form the sub-family Phalangerinae, viz.—Phalanger, Trichosurus, Pseudochirus, Petauroides, Dactylopsila, Petaurus, Gymnobelideus, Dromicia, Acrobates.

The commoner forms are as follows:—

Common Dormouse O.— Dromicia nana, Desm.

Common Opossum— Trichosurus vulpecula, Kerr.

Common Ring-tailed-O.— Pseudochirus peregrinus, Bodd.

Greater Flying-O.— Petauroides volans, Kerr.

Lesser Dormouse O.— Dromicia lepida, Thomas.

Lesser Flying-O.— Petaurus breviceps, Water.

Pigmy Flying-O.- Acrobates pygmaeus.

Short-eared-O.— Trichosurus caninus, W. Ogilby.

Squirrel Flying-O., or Flying Squirrel— Petaurus sciureus, Shaw.

Striped O.— Dactylopsila trivirgata, Gray.

Tasmanian, or Sooty O.— Trichosurus vulpecula, var. fuliginosus.

Tasmanian Ring-tailed-O.— Pseudochirus cooki, Desm.

Yellow-bellied Flying-O.— Petaurus australis, Shaw.

Of the rare little animal called Leadbeater's Opossum, only one specimen has been found, and that in Victoria; it is Gymnobelideus leadbeateri, and is the only species of this genus.

1608. John Smith, `Travels, Adventures, and Observations in Europe, Asia, Africke, and America, beginning about 1593, and continued to 1629;' 2 vols., Richmond, U.S., reprinted 1819; vol. i. p. 124 [On the American animal; in the part about Virginia, 1608]:

"An Opassom hath a head like a Swine,—a taile like a Rat, and is of the bigness of a Cat. Under the belly she hath a bagge, wherein she lodgeth, carrieth and suckleth her young."

[This is the American opossum. There are only two known genera of living marsupials outside the Australian region.]

1770. `Capt. Cook's Journal' (edition Wharton, 1893), p. 294 [at Endeavour River, Aug. 4, 1770]:

"Here are Wolves, Possums, an animal like a ratt, and snakes."

1770. J. Banks, `Journal,' July 26, (edition Hooker, 1896, p. 291):

"While botanising to-day I had the good fortune to take an animal of the opossum (Didelphis) tribe; it was a female, and with it I took two young ones. It was not unlike that remarkable one which De Buffon has described by the name of Phalanger as an American animal. It was, however, not the same. M. de Buffon is certainly wrong in asserting that this tribe is peculiar to America, and in all probability, as Pallas has said in his Zoologia, the Phalanger itself is a native of the East Indies, as my animals and that agree in the extraordinary conformation of their feet, in which they differ from all others."

1789. Governor Phillip, `Voyage to Botany Bay,' p. 104:

"The pouch of the female, in which the young are nursed, is thought to connect it rather with the opossum tribe."

[p. 147]: "A small animal of the opossum kind."

[p. 293]: "Black flying-opossum. [Description given.] The fur of it is so beautiful, and of so rare a texture, that should it hereafter be found in plenty, it might probably be thought a very valuable article of commerce."

1793. J. Hunter, `Voyage,' p. 68:

"The opossum is also very numerous here, but it is not exactly like the American opossum: it partakes a good deal of the kangaroo in the strength of its tail and make of its fore-legs, which are very short in proportion to the hind ones; like that animal it has the pouch, or false belly, for the safety of its young in time of danger."

1798. D. Collins, `Account of New South Wales,' fol. i. p. 562:

"At an early age the females wear round the waist a small line made of the twisted hair of the opossum, from the centre of which depend a few small uneven lines from two to five inches long. This they call bar-rin."

1809. G. Shaw, `Zoological Lectures,' vol. i. p. 93:

"A still more elegant kind of New Holland opossum is the petaurine opossum . . . has the general appearance of a flying-squirrel, being furnished with a broad furry membrane from the fore to the hind feet, by the help of which it springs from tree to tree. . . . Known in its native regions by the name of hepoona roo."

1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 67:

"Their food consists of fish when near the coasts, but when in the woods, of oppossums [sic], bandicoots, and almost any animal they can catch."

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 143:

"The sharp guttural noises of opossums."

Ibid. p. 174 [`The Native Woman's Lament']:

"The white man wanders in the dark, We hear his thunder smite the bough; The opossum's mark upon the bark We traced, but cannot find it, now."

1853. J. West, `History of Tasmania,' vol. i. p. 324:

"The opossums usually abound where grass is to be found, lodging by day in the holes and hollows of trees. The most common species is the Phalangista vulpina (Shaw), under which are placed both the black and grey opossums. . . . The ringtail opossum (Phalangista or Hepoona Cookii, Desm.) is smaller, less common, and less sought after, for dogs will not eat the flesh of the ringtail even when roasted."

1855. W. Howitt, `Two Years in Victoria,' vol. i. p. 200:

"Dogs, immediately on coming into the Australian forest, become perfectly frantic in the pursuit of opossums."

1883. `Encyclopaedia Britannica' (ed. 9) [On the Australian animal], vol. xv. p. 382:

"A numerous group, varying in size from that of a mouse to a large cat, arboreal in their habits and abundantly distributed throughout the Australian region . . . have the tail more or less prehensile. . . . These are the typical phalangers or `opossums,' as they are commonly called in Australia. (Genus Phalangista.)"

Ibid. p. 380 [On the American animal]:

"The Didelphidae, or true opossums, differ from all other marsupials in their habitat, being peculiar to the American continent. They are mostly carnivorous or insectivorous in their diet, and arboreal in habits."

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 11:

"Among the colonists the younger generation are very zealous opossum hunters. They hunt them for sport, going out by moonlight and watching the animal as it goes among the trees to seek its food."

1891. `Guide to Zoological Gardens, Melbourne':

"We see two fine pairs of the Tasmanian sooty opossum (Phalangista fuliginosa); this species is unapproached by any other in regard to size and the beauty of its fur, which is of a rich, fulvous brown colour. This opossum is becoming scarce in Tasmania on account of the value of its fur, which makes it much sought after. In the next compartment are a pair of short-eared opossums (P. canina), the mountain opossums of Southern Australia. The next is a pair of vulpine opossums; these are the common variety, and are found all over the greater part of Australia, the usual colour of this kind being grey."

1893. `Melbourne Stock and Station Journal,' May 10 (advertisement):

"Kangaroo, wallaby, opossum, and rabbit skins. . . . Opossum skins, ordinary firsts to 7s. 6d; seconds to 3s.; thirds to 1s. 6d; silver greys up to 9s. per doz.; do. mountain, to 18s. per doz."

<hw>Opossum-Mouse</hw>, n. the small Australian marsupial, Acrobates pygmaeus, Shaw; more correctly called the Pigmy Flying-Phalanger. See Flying- Phalanger. This is the animal generally so denoted, and it is also called the Flying-Mouse. But there is an intermediate genus, Dromicia (q.v.), with no parachute expansion on the flanks, not "flying," of which the name of Dormouse-Phalanger is the more proper appellation. The species are the—

Common Dormouse-Phalanger— Dromicia nana, Desm.

Lesser D.-Ph.— D. lepida, Thomas.

Long-tailed D.-Ph.— D. caudata, M. Edw.

Western D.-Ph.— D. concinna, Gould.

One genus, with only one species, the Pentailed-Phalanger, Distaechurus pennatus, Peters, is confined to New Guinea.

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

"The opossum-mouse is about the size of our largest barn-mouse."

1894. R. Lydekker, `Marsupialia,' p. 118:

"Resembling a common mouse in size, and hence known to the colonists as the flying-mouse or opossum-mouse, this little animal is one of the most elegant of the Australian marsupials."

<hw>Opossum-Tree</hw>, n. a timber-tree, Quintinia sieberi, De C., N.O. Saxifrageae.

<hw>Orange</hw>, n. i.q. Native Lime, Citrus australis. See Lime.

<hw>Orange, Mock</hw>, n. i.q. Native Laurel. See Laurel.

<hw>Orange, Native</hw>, n. name given to two Australian trees. (1) Capparis mitchelli, Lindl., N.O. Capparideae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 12:

"`Small Native Pomegranate,' `Native Orange.' The fruit is from one to two inches in diameter, and the pulp, which has an agreeable perfume, is eaten by the natives."

(2) Citriobatus pauciflorus, A. Cunn., N.O. Pittosporeae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 16:

"`Native Orange,' `Orange Thorn.' The fruit is an orange berry with a leathery skin, about one inch and a half in diameter. It is eaten by the aboriginals."

<hw>Orange, Wild</hw>, n. i.q. Wild Lemon. See under Lemon.

<hw>Orange-Gum</hw>, n. See Gum.

<hw>Orange-spotted Lizard</hw> (of New Zealand), Naultinus elegans, Gray.

<hw>Orange-Thorn</hw>, n. See Orange, Native(2).

<hw>Orange-Tree</hw>, n. The New Zealand Orange-Tree is a name given to the Tarata (q.v.), from the aromatic odour of its leaves when crushed.

<hw>Organ-Bird</hw>, or <hw>Organ-Magpie</hw>, n. other names for one of the Magpies (q.v.).

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. ii. pl. 48:

"Gymnorrhina organicum, Gould, Tasmanian crow-shrike; Organ-Bird and White-Magpie of the Colonists. Resembling the sounds of a hand-organ out of tune."

1848. T. L. Mitchell, `Tropical Australia,' p. 176:

"The burita, or Gymnorrhina, the organ-magpie, was here represented by a much smaller bird."

<hw>Ornithorhynchus</hw>, n. i.q. Platypus (q.v.).

<hw>Orthonyx</hw>, n. a scientific name of a remarkable Australian genus of passerine birds, the spine-tails. It long remained of uncertain position . . . and finally it was made the type of a family, Orthonycidae. In the type species, O. spinacauda . . . the shafts of the tail-feathers are prolonged beyond the legs. (`Century.') Thename is from the Greek 'orthos, straight, and 'onux, a claw. See Log-Runner and Pheasant's Mother.

<hw>Osprey</hw>, n. another name for the Fish-Hawk (q.v.).

<hw>Ounce</hw>, n. used as adj. Yielding an ounce of gold to a certain measure of dirt, as a dish-full, a cradle-full, a tub-full, etc. Also used to signify the number of ounces per ton that quartz will produce, as "ounce-stuff," "three-ounce stuff," etc.

Out-run, n. a sheep-run at a distance from the Head-station (q.v.).

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Colonial Reformer,' c. vi. p. 47 (1890):

"They'd come off a very far out-run, where they'd been, as one might say, neglected."

<hw>Out-station</hw>, n. a sheep or cattle station away from the Head-station (q.v.).

1844. `Port Phillip Patriot,' July 11, p. 1, col. 3:

"There are four out-stations with huts, hurdles . . . and every convenience."

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. i. c. 8, p. 231:

"The usual fare at that time at the out-stations—fried pork and kangaroo."

1870. Paul Wentworth, `Amos Thorne,' c. iii. p. 26:

"He . . . at last on an out-station in the Australian bush worked for his bread."

<hw>Overland</hw>, v. to take stock across the country.

1874. W. H. L. Ranken, `Dominion of Australia,' c. xiii. p. 232:

"Herds used to be taken from New South Wales to South Australia across what were once considered the deserts of Riverina. That used to be called `overlanding.'"

1890. Lyth, `Golden South,' c. ix. p. 74:

"Several gentlemen were away from the two nearest stations, `overlanding,' i.e. taking sheep, cattle, and flour to Melbourne."

<hw>Overlander</hw>, n. (1) In the days before railways, and when much of the intervening country was not taken up, to travel between Sydney and Melbourne, or Melbourne and Adelaide, was difficult if not dangerous. Those who made either journey were called Overlanders. In this sense the word is now only used historically, but it retains the meaning in the general case of a man taking cattle a long distance, as from one colony to another.

(2) A slang name for a Sundowner (q.v.).

1843. Rev. W. Pridden, `Australia: Its History and Present Condition,' p. 335:

"Among the beings which, although not natives of the bush, appear to be peculiar to the wilds of Australia, the class of men called Overlanders must not be omitted. Their occupation is to convey stock from market to market, and from one colony to another."

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discovery in Australia,' vol. ii. c. vi. p. 237:

"The Eastern extent of the country of South Australia was determined by the overlanders, as they call the gentlemen who bring stock from New South Wales."

1880. Garnet Walch, `Victoria in 1880,' p. 11:

"Overlanders from Sydney and Melbourne to Adelaide were making great sums of money."

1884. Rolf Boldrewood, `Melbourne Memories,' c. ix. p. 69:

"He gave us the advice of an experienced overlander."

1880. A. J. Vogan, `Black Police,' p. 262:

"An `overlander,'—for, as you havn't any of the breed in New Zealand, I'll explain what that is,—is Queensland-English for a long-distance drover; and a rough, hard life it generally is. . . . Cattle have to be taken long distances to market sometimes from these `up-country' runs."

1890. `Melbourne Argus,' June 7, p. 4, col. 1:

"Then came overlanders of another sort—practical men who went out to develop and not to explore."

<hw>Owl</hw>, n. an English bird-name. The species in Australia are—

Boobook Owl— Ninox boobook, Lath.

Chestnut-faced O.— Strix castanops, Gould.

Grass O.— S. candida, Tickell.

Lesser Masked O.— S. delicatula, Lath.

Masked O.— S. novae-hollandiae, Steph.

Powerful O.— Ninox strenua, Gould.

Sooty O.— Strix tenebricosa, Gould.

Spotted O.— Ninox maculata, Vig. and Hors.

Winking O.— N. connivens, Lath.

In New Zealand, the species are—Laughing Jackass, or L. Owl, Sceloglaux albifacies, Kaup (Maori name, Whekau, q.v.), and the Morepork, formerly Athene novae-zelandiae, Gray, now Spiloglaux novae-zelandiae, Kaup. (See Morepork.)

P

<hw>Pa</hw>, or <hw>Pah</hw>, n. The former is now considered the more correct spelling. A Maori word to signify a native settlement, surrounded by a stockade; a fort; a fighting village. In Maori, the verb pa means, to touch, to block up. Pa = a collection of houses to which access is blocked by means of stockades and ditches.

1769. `Captain Cook's Journal' (edition Wharton, 1893), p. 147:

"I rather think they are places of retreat or stronghold, where they defend themselves against the attack of an enemy, as some of them seemed not ill-design'd for that purpose."

Ibid. p. 156:

"Have since learnt that they have strongholds—or hippas, as they call them—which they retire to in time of danger."

[Hawkesworth spelt it, Heppahs; he = Maori definite article.]

1794. `History of New South Wales' (1818), p. 175:

"[On the coast of New Zealand] they passed many huts and a considerable hippah, or fortified place, on a high round hill, from the neighbourhood of which six large canoes were seen coming towards the ship."

1842. W. R. Wade, `Journey in New Zealand' (Hobart Town), p. 27:

"A native pa, or enclosed village, is usually surrounded by a high stockade, or irregular wooden fence, the posts of which are often of great height and thickness, and sometimes headed by the frightful carving of an uncouth or indecent image."

1858. `Appendix to Journal of House of Representatives,' E-4, p. 4:

"They seem, generally speaking, at present inveterate in their adherence to their dirty native habits, and to their residence in pas."

1859. A. S. Thomson, M.D., `Story of New Zealand,' p. 132:

"The construction of the war pas . . . exhibits the inventive faculty of the New Zealanders better than any other of their works. . . . Their shape and size depended much on the nature of the ground and the strength of the tribe. They had double rows of fences on all unprotected sides; the inner fence, twenty to thirty feet high, was formed of poles stuck in the ground, slightly bound together with supple-jacks, withes, and torotoro creepers. The outer fence, from six to eight feet high, was constructed of lighter materials. Between the two there was a dry ditch. The only openings in the outer fence were small holes; in the inner fence there were sliding bars. Stuck in the fences were exaggerated wooden figures of men with gaping mouths and out-hanging tongues. At every corner were stages for sentinels, and in the centre scaffolds, twenty feet high, forty feet long, and six broad, from which men discharged darts at the enemy. Suspended by cords from an elevated stage hung a wooden gong twelve feet long, not unlike a canoe in shape, which, when struck with a wooden mallet, emitted a sound heard in still weather twenty miles off. Previously to a siege the women and children were sent away to places of safety."

1863. T. Moser, `Mahoe Leaves,' p. 14:

"A pah is strictly a fortified village, but it has ceased to be applied to a fortified one only, and a collection of huts forming a native settlement is generally called a pah now-a-days."

1867. F. Hochstetter, `New Zealand,' p. 22:

"They found the pah well fortified, and were not able to take it."

1879. Clement Bunbury, `Fraser's Magazine, June, p. 761:

"The celebrated Gate Pah, where English soldiers in a panic ran away from the Maoris, and left their officers to be killed."

1889. Cassell's' Picturesque Australasia,' vol. iv. p. 46:

"A sally was made from the pah, but it was easily repulsed. Within the pah the enemy were secure."

<hw>Pachycephala</hw>, n. the scientific name for the typical genus of Pachycephalinae, founded in 1826 by Vigors and Horsfield. It is an extensive group of thick-headed shrikes, containing about fifty species, ranging in the Indian and Australian region, but not in New Zealand. The type is P. gutturalis, Lath., of Australia. (`Century.') They are singing-birds, and are called Thickheads (q.v.), and often Thrushes (q.v.). The name is from the Greek pachus, thick, and kephalae, the head.

<hw>Packer</hw>, n. used for a pack-horse.

1875. Wood and Lapham, `Waiting for Mail,' p. 59:

"The boys took notice of a horse, some old packer he looked like."

1890. `The Argus,' June 7, p. 4, col. 1:

"The Darling drover with his saddle-horses and packers."

<hw>Paddock</hw>. (1) 1n England, a small field; in Australia, the general word for any field, or for any block of land enclosed by a fence. The `Home-paddock' is the paddock near the Homestation, and usually very large.

1832. J. Bischoff, `Van Diemen's Land,' c. vi. p. 148:

"There is one paddock of 100 acres, fenced on four sides."

1844. `Port Phillip Patriot,' July 25, p. 3, col. 6:

"A 300-acre grass paddock, enclosed by a two-rail fence."

1846. C. P. Hodgson, `Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 42:

"The paddocks are so arranged that hills may afford shelter, and plains or light-timbered flats an escape from the enormous flies and other persecuting enemies."

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

"`Paddocks,' as the various fields are called (some of these `paddocks' contain 12,000 acres)."

(2) An excavation made for procuring wash-dirt in shallow ground. A place built near the mouth of a shaft where quartz or wash-dirt is stored. (Brough Smyth, `Glossary of Mining Terms,' 1869.)

1895. `Otago Witness,' Nov. 21, p. 22, col. 5:

"A paddock was opened at the top of the beach, but rock-bottom was found."

<hw>Paddock</hw>, v. to divide into paddocks.

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' c. xx. p. 302:

"When a run is paddocked shepherds are not required; but boundary riders are required."

<hw>Paddy Lucerne</hw>, n. i.q. Queensland Hemp. See under Hemp.

<hw>Paddymelon</hw>, n. the name of a small Wallaby (q.v.), Macropus thetidis, Less. It is certainly a corruption of an aboriginal name, and is spelt variously pademelon, padmelon, and melon simply. (See Melon-holes.) This word is perhaps the best instance in Australia of the law of Hobson-Jobson, by which a strange word is fitted into a language, assuming a likeness to existing words without any regard to the sense. The Sydney name for kangaroo was patagorang. See early quotations. This word seems to give the first half of the modern word. Pata, or pada, was the generic name: mella an adjective denoting the species. Paddymalla (1827) marks an intermediate stage, when one-half of the word had been anglicised. At Jervis Bay, New South Wales, the word potalemon was used for a kangaroo.

1793. J. Hunter, `Voyage,' p. 547:

"The pattagorang and baggaray frequently supplied our colonists with fresh meals, and Governor Phillip had three young ones, which were likely to live: he has not the least doubt but these animals are formed in the false belly."

1798. D. Collins, `Account of English Colony in New South Wales,' vol. i. p. 548:

"The pat-ta-go-rang or kangooroo was (bood-yer-re) good, and they ate it whenever they were fortunate enough to kill one."

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. i. p. 310:

"The wallabee and paddymalla grow to about sixty pounds each."

1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 212:

"Had hunted down a paddymelon (a very small species of kangaroo, which is found in the long grass and thick brushes)."

1845. Clement Hodgkinson, `Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay,' p. 45:

"The brush-kangaroos or pademellas were thus gradually enclosed."

1846. G. H. Haydon, `Five Years in Australia Felix,' p. 47:

"A small species of the kangaroo tribe, called by the sealers paddymelon, is found on Philip Island, while none have been seen on French Island."

1851. J. Henderson, `Excursions in New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 129:

"The small kind of kangaroo, however, called by the natives `Paddy Melon,' and which inhabits the dense brushes or jungles, forms a more frequent, and more easily obtained article of food."

1863. M. K. Beveridge, `Gatherings,' p. 41:

"An apron made from skin of Paddie-Melon."

1863. B. A. Heywood, `Vacation Tour at the Antipodes,' p. 107:

"In the scrub beyond, numbers of a small kind of kangaroo called `Paddy- Mellans,' resort."

[Footnote] "I cannot guarantee the spelling."

1888. Cassell's' Picturesque Australasia,' vol. ii. p. 90:

"The kangaroo and his relatives, the wallaby and the paddymelon."

1890. A. H. S. Lucas, `Handbook of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science,' p. 62:

"Onychogale fraenatus and its ally O. lunatus. Mr. Le Souef reports that the former are fairly numerous in the Mallee country to the north-west of the Colony, and are there known as Pademelon." [This seems to be only a local use.]

1893. J. L. Purves, Q.C., in `The Argus,' Dec. 14, p. 9, col. 7:

"On either side is a forest, the haunt of wombats and tree-bears, and a few paddymelons."

<hw>Paddymelon-Stick</hw>, n. a stick used by the aborigines for knocking paddymelons (q.v.) on the head.

1851. J. Henderson, `Excursions in New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 129:

"These are hunted in the brushes and killed with paddy mellun sticks with which they are knocked down. These sticks are about 2 feet long and an inch or less in diameter."

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 56:

"Nulla-mullahs, paddy-melon sticks, boomerangs, tomahawks, and heelimen or shields lay about in every direction."

<hw>Pah</hw>, n. i.q. Pa (q.v.).

<hw>Pake</hw>, n. Maori name for a coarse mat used against rain. A sack thrown over the shoulders is called by the settlers a Pake.

<hw>Pakeha</hw>, n. Maori word for a white man. The word is three syllables, with even accent on all. A Pakeha Maori is an Englishman who lives as a Maori with the Maoris. Mr. Tregear, in his `Maori Comparative Dictionary,' s.v. Pakepakeha, says: "Mr. John White [author of `Ancient History of the Maoris'] considers that pakeha, a foreigner, an European, originally meant `fairy,' and states that on the white men first landing sugar was called `fairy-sand,' etc." Williams' `Maori Dictionary' (4th edit.) gives, "a foreigner: probably from pakepakeha, imaginary beings of evil influence, more commonly known as patupaiarehe, said to be like men with fair skins." Some express this idea by "fairy." Another explanation is that the word is a corruption of the coarse English word, said to have been described by Dr. Johnson (though not in his dictionary), as "a term of endearment amongst sailors." The first a in Pakeha had something of the u sound. The sailors' word would have been introduced to New Zealand by whalers in the early part of the nineteenth century.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p. 187:

"Pakeha, s. an European; a white man."

1832. A. Earle, `Narrative of Nine Months' Residence in New Zealand,' p. 146:

"The white taboo'd day, when the packeahs (or white men) put on clean clothes and leave off work" [sc. Sunday].

1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' c. i. p. 73:

"We do not want the missionaries from the Bay of Islands, they are pakeha maori, or whites who have become natives."

1854. W. Golder, `Pigeons' Parliament,' canto iii. p. 44:

"Aiding some vile pakehas In deeds subversive of the laws."

1876. F. E. Maning [Title]:

"Old New Zealand, by a Pakeha Maori."

1884. T. Bracken, `Lays of the Maori,' p. 15:

"Long ere the pale pakeha came to the shrine."

<hw>Palberry</hw>, n. a South Australian name for the Native Currant. See Currant. The word is a corruption of the aboriginal name Palbri, by the law of Hobson-Jobson.

<hw>Palm, Alexandra</hw>, n. a Queensland timber-tree, Ptychosperma alexandrae, F. v. M., N.O. Palmeae.

<hw>Palm, Black</hw>, n. a Queensland timber-tree, Ptychosperma normanbyi, F. v. M., N.O. Palmeae.

<hw>Palm, Cabbage</hw>, n. i.q. Cabbage-tree (q.v.)

<hw>Palm Nut</hw>, n. See under Nut.

<hw>Palm, Walking-Stick</hw>, n. a Queensland plant, Bacularia monostachya, F. v. M., N.O. Palmeae. So called because the stem is much used for making walking-sticks.

<hw>Panel</hw>, n. the part between two posts in a post-and-rail fence. See also Slip-panel.

1876. A. L. Gordon, `Sea-spray,' p. 148:

"In the jar of the panel rebounding, In the crash of the splintering wood, In the ears to the earth-shock resounding, In the eyes flashing fire and blood."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Colonial Reformer,' c. xviii. p. 226:

"A panel of fencing is not quite nine feet in length."

<hw>Pan</hw>, or <hw>Pan-wash</hw>, <hw>Pan-out</hw>, <hw>Pan-off</hw>, verbs, to wash the dirt in the pan for gold. Some of the forms, certainly pan-out, are used in the United States.

1870. J. O. Tucker, `The Mute,' p. 40:

"Others to these the precious dirt convey, Linger a moment till the panning's through."

1880. G. Sutherland, `Tales of Gold fields,' p. 4:

"On the very day of their arrival they got a lesson in pan-washing."

Ibid. p. 36:

"All the diggers merely panned out the earth."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Miner's Right,' c. vii. p. 79:

"These returned gnomes having been brought to light, at once commenced to pan off according to the recognized rule and practice."

<hw>Pannikin</hw>, n. a small tin cup for drinking. The word is not Australian. Webster refers to Marryat and Thackeray. The `Century' quotes Blackmore. This diminutive of pan is exceedingly common in Australia, though not confined to it.

1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 200:

"He went to the spring and brought me a pannican full."

(p. 101): "Several tin pannicans."

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 87:

"We caught the rain in our pannikins as it dropt from our extended blankets."

1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 190:

"There is a well-known story of two bullock-drivers, who, at a country public-house on their way to the town, called for a dozen of champagne, which they first emptied from the bottles into a bucket, and then deliberately drank off from their tin pannikins."

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

"He was considered sufficiently rewarded in having the `honour' to drink his `pannikin' of tea at the boss's deal table."

1880. G. Sutherland, `Tales of Goldfields,' p. 44:

"A small pannikin full of gold dust."

<hw>Pannikin-boss</hw>, or <hw>Pannikin-overseer</hw>, n. The term is applied colloquially to a man on a station, whose position is above that of the ordinary station-hand, but who has no definite position of authority, or is only a `boss' or overseer in a small way.

<hw>Papa</hw>, n. Maori word for a bluish clay found along the east coast of the North Island.

<hw>Paper-bark Tree</hw>, or <hw>Paper-barked Tea-tree</hw>, n. Called also Milk-wood (q.v.). Name given to the species Melaleuca leucodendron, Linn. Its bark is impervious to water.

1842. `Western Australia,' p. 81:

"There is no doubt, from the partial trial which has been made of it, that the wood of the Melaleuca, or tea-tree, could be rendered very serviceable. It is sometimes known by the name of the paper-bark tree from the multitudinous layers (some hundreds) of which the bark is composed. These layers are very thin, and are loosely attached to each other, peeling off like the bark of the English birch. The whole mass of the bark is readily stripped from the tree. It is used by the natives as a covering for their huts."

[Compare the New Zealand Thousand-jacket.]

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries of Australia,' vol. i. c. v. p. 106:

"The face of the country was well but not too closely covered with specimens of the red and white gum, and paper-bark tree."

1847. E. W. Landor, `The Bushman; or, Life in a New Country,' p. 212:

"Fish and other things are frequently baked in the bark of the papertree."

1857. J. Askew, `Voyage to Australia and New Zealand,' p. 433:

"The dead bodies are burnt or buried, though some in North Australia place the corpse in the paper bark of the tea-tree, and deposit it in a hollow tree."

<hw>Paper-fish</hw>, n. a Tasmanian name. See Bastard Trumpeter and Morwong.

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

"The young [of the bastard trumpeter] are always coloured, more or less, like the red, and are known by some as `paper-fish.' The mature form of the silver bastard is alone caught. This is conclusive as favouring the opinion that the silver is simply the mature form of the red."

<hw>Paradise, Bird of</hw>, n. English bird-name, originally applied in Australia to the Lyre-bird (q.v.), now given to Manucoda gouldii, Gray. Called also the Manucode (q.v.).

1802. D. Collins, `Account of New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 300:

"By him [Wilson, a convict] the first bird of paradise ever seen in this country had been shot." [This was the Lyre-bird.]

<hw>Paradise-Duck</hw>, n. bird-name applied to the New Zealand duck, Casarca variegata, Gmel. See Duck quotation, 1889, Parker.

1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' c. 1. p. 57:

"These (wild ducks of different sorts) are principally the black, the grey, the blue-winged, and the paradise-duck, or `pu tangi tangi,' as it is called by the natives. The last is nearly as large as a goose, and of beautiful plumage."

<hw>Paradoxus</hw>, n. a shortened form of the former scientific name of the Platypus, Paradoxus ornithorrhynchus. Sometimes further abbreviated to Paradox. The word is from the Greek paradoxos, `Contrary to opinion, strange, incredible.' (`L. & S.')

1817. O'Hara, `The History of New South Wales,' p. 452:

"In the reaches or pools of the Campbell River, the very curious animal called the paradox, or watermole, is seen in great numbers."

<hw>Paramatta</hw>/sic/, n. "A fabric like merino, of worsted and cotton. So named from Paramatta, a town near Sydney, New South Wales." (Skeat, `Etymological Dictionary,' s.v.) According to some, the place named Parramatta means, in the local Aboriginal dialect, "eels abound," or "plenty of eels." Others rather put it that para = fish, and matta= water. There is a river in Queensland called the Paroo, which means "fish-river."

NOTE.—The town Parramatta, though formerly often spelt with one r, is now always spelt with two.

1846. C. P. Hodgson, `Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 367:

"A peculiar tweed, made in the colony, and chiefly at Paramatta, hence the name."

1883. J. Hector, `Handbook of New Zealand, p. 19:

"Paramattas, fine cloths originally made from the Paramatta wool, with silk warps, though now woollen."

<hw>Pardalote</hw>, n. anglicised form of the scientific bird-name Pardalotus (q.v.), generally called Diamond birds (q.v.); a genus of small short-tailed birds like the Flycatchers. The species are—

Black-headed Pardalote— Pardalotus melanocephalus, Gould.

Chestnut-rumped P.— P. uropygialis, Gould.

Forty-spotted P.— P. quadragintus, Gould; called also Forty-Spot (q.v.).

Orange-tipped P.— P. assimilis, Ramsay.

Red-browed P.— P. rubricatus, Gould.

Red-tipped P.— P. ornatus, Temm.

Spotted P.— P. punctatus, Temm.; the bird originally called the Diamond Bird (q.v.).

Yellow-rumped P.— P. xanthopygius, McCoy.

Yellow-tipped P.— P. affinis, Gould.—

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. ii. pl. 35:

"No species of the genus to which this bird belongs is more widely and generally distributed than the spotted pardalote, Pardalotus punctatus."

<hw>Pardalotus</hw>, n. scientific name for a genus of Australian birds, called Diamond birds (q.v.), and also Pardalotes (q.v.), from Grk. pardalowtos, spotted like the pard.

<hw>Parera</hw>, n. Maori name for the genus Duck (q.v.).

1855. Rev. R. Taylor, `Te Ika a Maui,' p. 407:

"Family, Anatida—Parera, turuki (Anas superciliosa), the duck; very similar to the wild duck of England."

<hw>Parra</hw>, n. a popular use for the fuller scientific name Parra gallinacea. Called also the Jacana (q.v.), and the Lotus-bird (q.v.).

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

"The egg of the comb-crested parra shines amongst its neighbours so vividly that it at once catches the eye, and suggests a polished agate rather than an egg. The bird itself is something of a gem, too, when seen skipping with its long water-walking claws over the floating leaves of pink and blue water-lilies."

<hw>Parrakeet</hw>, n. (various spellings). From French. Originally from Spanish periquito, dim. of sp. perico, a little parrot. Hence used generally in English to signify any small parrot. The Australian species are—

Alexandra Parrakeet— Spathopterus (Polytelis) alexandra, Gould.

Beautiful P.— Psephotus pulcherrimus, Gould.

Black-tailed P.— Polytelis melanura, Vig. and Hors.; called also Rock-pebbler.

Blue-cheeked P.— Platycercus amathusiae, Bp.

Cockatoo P.— Calopsittacus novae-hollandiae Gmel.

Crimson-bellied P.— Psephotus haematogaster, Gould.

Golden-shouldered P.— Psephotus chrysopterygius, Gould.

Green P.— Platycercus flaviventris, Temm.

Ground P.— Pezoporus formosus, Lath.

Mallee P.— Platycercus barnardi, Vig. and Hors.

Many-coloured P.— Psephotus multicolor, Temm.

Night P.— Pezoporus occidentalis, Gould.

Pale-headed P:— Platycercus pallidiceps, Vig.

Pheasant P.— P. adelaidensis, Gould.

Red-backed P.— Psephotus haematonotus, Gould.

Red-capped P.— P. spurius, Kuhl.

Rock P.— Euphema petrophila, Gould.

Smutty P.— Platycercus browni, Temm.

Yellow P.— P. flaveolus, Gould.

Yellow-banded P. P. zonarius, Shaw.

Yellow-cheeked P. P. icterotis, Temm.

Yellow-collared P.— P. semitorquatus, Quoy and Gaim.; called also Twenty-eight (q.v.).

Yellow-mantled P.— P. splendidus, Gould.

Yellow-vented P.— Psephotus xanthorrhous, Gould.

See also Grass-Parrakeet, Musk-Parrakeet, Rosella, and Rosehill. The New Zealand Green Parrakeet (called also Kakariki, q.v.) has the following species—

Antipodes Island P.- Platycercus unicolor, Vig.

Orange-fronted P.— P. alpinus, Buller.

Red-fronted P.— P. novae-zelandiae, Sparrm.

Rowley's Parrakeet— Platycercus rowleyi, Buller.

Yellow-fronted P.— P. auriceps, Kuhl.

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Journal,' p. 80:

"The cockatoo-parrakeet of the Gwyder River (Nymphicus Novae-Hollandiae, Gould)."

1867. A. G. Middleton, `Earnest,' p. 93:

"The bright parroquet, and the crow, black jet, For covert, wing far to the shade."

1889. Prof. Parker, `Catalogue of New Zealand Exhibition,' p. 118:

"There are three species of parrakeet, the red-fronted (Platycercus Novae-Zelandiae), the yellow-fronted (P. auriceps), and the orange-fronted (P. alpinus). The genus Platycercus is found in New Zealand, New Guinea, and Polynesia."

<hw>Parrot-bill</hw>, n. See Kaka-bill.

<hw>Parrot-fish</hw>, n. name given in Australia to Pseudoscarus pseudolabrus; called in the Australian tropics Parrot-perch. In Victoria and Tasmania, there are also several species of Labricthys. In New Zealand, it is L. psittacula, Rich.

<hw>Parrot-Perch</hw>, n. See Parrot-fish.

<hw>Parrot's-food</hw>, n. name given in Tasmania to the plant Goodenia ovata, Sm., N.O. Goodeniaceae.

<hw>Parsley, Wild</hw>, n. Apium leptophyllum, F. v. M., N.O. Umbelliferae. Parsley grows wild in many parts of the world, especially on the shores of the Mediterranean, and this species is not endemic in Australia.

<hw>Parsnip, Wild</hw>, n. a poisonous weed, Trachymene australis, Benth., N.O. Umbelliferae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 142:

"Recently (Dec. 1887) the sudden death of numbers of cattle in the vicinity of Dandenong, Victoria, was attributed to their having eaten a plant known as the wild parsnip. . . . Its action is so powerful that no remedial measures seem to be of any avail."

<hw>Parson-bird</hw>, n. the New Zealand bird Prosthemadera novae-zelandiae, Gmel.; Maori name, Tui (q.v.). See also Poe.

1855. Rev. R. Taylor, `Te Ika a Maui,' p. 401:

"Cook named this beautiful and lively bird the parson and mocking-bird. It acquired the first name from its having two remarkable white feathers on the neck like a pair of clergyman's bands."

[Mr. Taylor is not correct. Cook called it the Poe-bird (q.v.). The name `Parson-bird' is later.]

1857. C. Hursthouse, `New Zealand the Britain of the South,' vol. i. p. 118:

"The most common, and certainly the most facetious, individual of the ornithology is the tui (parson-bird). Joyous Punchinello of the bush, he is perpetual fun in motion."

1858. C. W., `Song of the Squatters,' `Canterbury Rhymes' (2nd edit.), p. 47:

"So the parson-bird, the tui, The white-banded songster tui, In the morning wakes the woodlands With his customary music. Then the other tuis round him Clear their throats and sing in concert, All the parson-birds together."

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

"The tui, or parson-bird, most respectable and clerical-looking in its glossy black suit, with a singularly trim and dapper air, and white wattles of very slender feathers—indeed they are as fine as hair—curled coquettishly at each side of his throat, exactly like bands."

1888. Dr. Thomson, apud Buller, `Birds of New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 95:

"Sitting on the branch of a tree, as a pro tempore pulpit, he shakes his head, bending to one side and then to another, as if he remarked to this one and to that one; and once and again, with pent-up vehemence, contracting his muscles and drawing himself together, his voice waxes loud, in a manner to awaken sleepers to their senses."

1890. W. Colenso, `Bush Notes,' `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. xxxiii. art. lvii. p. 482:

"It is very pleasing to hear the deep rich notes of the parson-bird—to see a pair of them together diligently occupied in extracting honey from the tree-flowers, the sun shining on their glossy sub-metallic dark plumage."

<hw>Partridge-Pigeon</hw>, n. an Australian pigeon.

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 8:

"The partridge-pigeon (Geophaps scripta) abounded in the Acacia groves."

<hw>Partridge-wood</hw>, n. another name for the Cabbage-Palm (q.v.).

<hw>Passion-flower, Native</hw>, n. Several species of the genus Passiflora are so called in Australia; some are indigenous, some naturalised.

1859. H. Kingsley, `Geoffrey Hamlyn,' p. 398:

"The native passion-flower, scarlet and orange, was tangled up with the common purple sarsaparilla and the English honeysuckle and jessamine."

<hw>Pastoralist</hw>, n. The squatters are dropping their old name for this new one. A Pastoralist is a sheep or cattle-farmer, the distinction between him and an Agriculturist being, that cultivation, if he undertakes it at all, is a minor consideration with him.

1891. March 15 [Title]:

"The Pastoralists' Review," No. 1.

1892. `Scribner's Magazine,' Feb., p. 147:

"A combination has been formed by the squatters under the name of the Pastoralists' Union."

<hw>Patagorang</hw>, n. one of the aboriginal names for the Kangaroo (q.v.), and see Paddy-melon.

<hw>Pataka</hw>, n. Maori word for storehouse, supported on a post to keep off rats. See Whata.

1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' c. i. p. 283:

"We landed at the pataka, or stage."

<hw>Patiki</hw>, n. the Maori name for the Flounder (q.v.). The accent is on the first syllable of the word.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of the Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p. 190:

"Patiki, s. a fish so called."

1844. F. Tuckett, `Diary,' May 31:

"A fine place for spearing soles or patike (the best of fish)."

1855. Rev. R. Taylor, `Te Ika a Maui,' p. 412:

"Patiki, common name for the sole and flat-fish; the latter is found in rivers, but decreases in size as it retires from the sea."

1879. Captain Mair, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xii. art. xlvi. p. 316:

"Large patiki, flat-fish, are occasionally speared up the river."

<hw>Patriot</hw>, n. Humorously applied to convicts.

1796. In `History of Australia,' by G. W. Rusden (1894), p. 49 [Footnote]:

"In 1796 the Prologue (erroneously imputed to a convict Barrington, but believed to have been written by an officer) declared:

`True patriots we, for be it understood We left our country for our country's good.'"

<hw>Patter</hw>, v. to eat. Aboriginal word, and used in pigeon- English, given by Collins in his vocabulary of the Port Jackson dialect. Threlkeld says, ta is the root of the verb, meaning "to eat."

1833. C. Sturt, `Southern Australia,' vol. ii. c. vii. p. 223:

"He himself did not patter (eat) any of it."

<hw>Patu</hw>, n. Maori generic term for all hand-striking weapons. The mere (q.v.) is one kind.

1882. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' p. 82:

"It (fern-root) was soaked, roasted, and repeatedly beaten with a small club (patu) on a large smooth stone till it was supple."

<hw>Paua</hw>, n. the Maori name for the Mutton- fish (q.v.). Also used as the name for Maori fishhooks, made of the paua shell; the same word being adopted for fish, shell, and hook.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand' (Church Missionary Society), p. 191:

"Paua, s. a shell-fish so called."

1855. Rev. R. Taylor, `Te Ika a Maui,' p. 416:

"Pawa (Haliotis iris), or mutton-fish. This beautiful shell is found of considerable size; it is used for the manufacture of fish-hooks."

1855. Ibid. p.397:

"The natives always tie a feather or two to their paua, or fish-hooks."

1877. W. L. Buller, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. x. art. xix. p. 192:

"Elaborately carved, and illuminated with paua shell."

1882. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' p. 162:

"Immense piles of paua shells (Haliotis iris), heaped up just above the shore, show how largely these substantial molluscs were consumed."

<hw>Payable</hw>, adj. In Australia, able to be worked at a profit: that which is likely to pay; not only, as in England, due for payment.

1884. R. L. A. Davies, `Poems and Literary Remains,' p. 38:

"We . . . expect to strike a payable lead on a hill near . . . A shaft is bottomed there, and driving is commenced to find the bottom of the dip."

1890. `Goldfields of Victoria,' p. 15:

"Good payable stone has been struck."

1894. `The Argus,' March 28, p. 5, col. 5:

"Good payable reefs have been found and abandoned through ignorance of the methods necessary to obtain proper results."

<hw>Pea, Coral</hw>, n. See Coral Pea.

<hw>Pea, Darling</hw>, n. See Darling Pea.

<hw>Pea, Desert</hw>, n. See Sturt's Desert Pea.

<hw>Pea, Flat</hw>, n. See Flat Pea.

<hw>Pea, Glory</hw>, n. another name for the Clianthus (q.v.).

<hw>Pea, Heart</hw>, n. i.q. Balloon-Vine (q.v.).

<hw>Pea-plant</hw>, n. The term is applied sometimes to any one of various Australian plants of the N.O. Leguminosae.

<hw>Peach-berry</hw>, n. a Tasmanian berry, Lissanthe strigosa, Smith, N.O. Epacrideae.

<hw>Peach, Native</hw>, n. another name for the Quandong (q.v.), and for Emu-Apple (q.v.).

1877. F. v. Mueller, `Botanic Teachings, p. 42:

"The so-called native Peach-tree of our desert tracts is a true Santalum, S. acuminatum."

<hw>Peacocking</hw>, vb. n. Australian slang. To peacock apiece of country means to pick out the eyes of the land by selecting or buying up the choice pieces and water-frontages, so that the adjoining territory is practically useless to any one else.

1894. W. Epps, `Land Systems of Australasia,' p. 28:

"When the immediate advent of selectors to a run became probable, the lessees endeavoured to circumvent them by dummying all the positions which offered the best means of blocking the selectors from getting to water. This system, commonly known as `peacocking' . . ."