Austral English

1892. A. Sutherland, `Elementary Geography of British Colonies,' p. 274:

"The brush-turkeys, which are not really turkeys but birds of that size, build big mounds of decaying vegetable matter, lay their eggs on the top, cover them over with leaves, and leave the whole to rot, when the heat of the sun above and of the fermentation below, hatches the eggs, and the young creep out to forage for themselves without ever knowing their parents." [2.]

1893. Professor H. A. Strong, in `Liverpool Mercury,' Feb. 13:

"The well-known `wild turkey' of Australian colonists is a bustard, and he has the good sense to give a wide berth to the two-legged immigrants indeed the most common method of endeavouring to secure an approach to him is to drive up to him in a buggy, and then to let fly. The approach is generally made by a series of concentric circles, of which the victim is the centre. His flesh is excellent, the meat being of a rich dark colour, with a flavour resembling that of no other game bird with which I am acquainted." [1.]

1893. `The Argus,' March 25, p. 3, col. 5:

"The brush-turkey (Talegalla), another of the sand-builders, lays a white egg very much like that of a swan, while the third of that wonderful family, the scrub-hen or Megapode, has an egg very long in proportion to its width." [2.]

<hw>Turmeric</hw>, i.q. Stinkwood (q.v.); also applied occasionally to Hakea dactyloides, Cav., N.O. Proteaceae. See Hakea.

<hw>Turnip-wood</hw>, n. the timbers of the trees Akania hillii, J. Hook., N.O. Sapindaceae, and Dysoxylon Muelleri, Benth., N.O. Meliaceae, from their white and red colours respectively.

<hw>Turpentine, Brush</hw>, name given to two trees— Metrosideros leptopetala, F. v. M., also called Myrtle; and Rhodamnia trinervia, Blume, both N.O. Myrtaceae.

<hw>Turpentine-Tree</hw>, n. The name is applied to many trees in Australia yielding a resin, but especially to the tree called Tallow-Wood (q.v.), Eucalyptus microcorys, F. v. M., N.O. Myrtaceae; to Eucalyptus punctata, De C., N.O. Myrtaceae, called also Leather- Jacket, Hickory, Red-, and Yellow-Gun, and Bastard-Box; and to E. stuartiana, F. v. M., N.O. Myrtaceae. In New Zealand, it is also applied to the Tarata. See Mapau.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 523:

"[E. Stuartiana is] frequently called Turpentine Tree, or Peppermint Tree. In Victoria it is known as Apple Tree, Apple-scented Gum, White Gum, and Mountain Ash. It is the Woolly Butt of the county of Camden (New South Wales). Occasionally it is known as Stringybark. It is called Box about Stanthorpe (Queensland), Tea Tree at Frazer's Island (Queensland), and Red Gum in Tasmania."

<hw>Turquoise-Berry</hw>, n. i.q. Solomon's Seal (q.v.).

<hw>Tussock-grass</hw>, n. Tussock is an English word for a tuft of grass. From this a plant of the lily family, Lomandra longifolia, R. Br., N.O. Lilaceae, is named Tussock-grass; it is "considered the best native substitute for esparto." (`Century.')

1884. Rolf Boldrewood, `Melbourne Memories,' c. v. p. 38:

"The roof was neatly thatched with the tall, strong tussock-grass."

<hw>Tussocker</hw>, n. a New Zealand name for a Sundowner (q.v.).

1889. Vincent Pyke, `Wild Will Enderby':

"Now, a `sun-downer,' or `tussocker'—for the terms are synonymous—is a pastoral loafer; one who loiters about till dusk, and then makes for the nearest station or hut, to beg for shelter and food."

<hw>Tutu</hw>, or <hw>Toot</hw>, n. Maori name for a shrub or small tree, Coriaria ruscifolia, Linn., or C. sarmentosa, Forst., of New Zealand, widely distributed. It bears greenish flowers, and shiny pulpy black berries. From these the Maoris make a wine resembling light claret, taking care to strain out and not to crush the seeds, which are poisonous, with an action similar to that of strychnine. It goes also by the name of Wineberry-bush, and the Maori name is Anglicised into Toot. In Maori, the final u is swallowed rather than pronounced. In English names derived from the Maori, a vowel after a mute letter is not sounded. It is called in the North Island Tupakihi. In Maori, the verb tutu means to be hit, wounded, or vehemently wild, and the name of the plant thus seems to be connected with the effects produced by its poison. To "eat your toot": used as a slang phrase; to become acclimatised, to settle down into colonial ways.

1857. R. Wilkin, in a Letter printed by C. Hursthouse, `New Zealand,' p. 372:

"The plant called `tutu' or `toot' appears to be universal over New Zealand. If eaten by sheep or cattle with empty stomachs, it acts in a similar manner to green clover, and sometimes causes death; but if partaken of sparingly, and with grass, it is said to possess highly fattening qualities. None of the graziers, however, except one, with whom I conversed on the subject, seemed to consider toot worth notice; . . . it is rapidly disappearing in the older settled districts and will doubtless soon disappear here."

1857. C. Hursthouse, `New Zealand,' p. 395:

"The wild shrub Tutu (Coriaria ruscifolia), greedily devoured by sheep and cattle, produces a sort of `hoven' effect, something like that of rich clover pastures when stock break in and over feed. . . . Bleeding and a dose of spirits is the common cure. . . Horses and pigs are not affected by it."

1861. C. C. Bowen, `Poems,' p. 57:

"And flax and fern and tutu grew In wild luxuriance round."

1867. F. Hochstetter, `New Zealand,' p. 139:

"The toot-plant, tutu or tupakihi of the Maoris (Coriaria sarmentosa, Forst. = C. ruscifolia, L.), is a small bush, one of the most common and widely distributed shrubs of the islands. [New Zealand.] It produces a sort of `hoven' or narcotic effect on sheep and cattle, when too greedily eaten. It bears a fruit, which is produced in clusters, not unlike a bunch of currants, with the seed external, of a purple colour. The poisonous portion of the plant to man are the seeds and seedstalks, while their dark purple pulp is utterly innoxious and edible. The natives express from the berries an agreeable violet juice (carefully avoiding the seed), called native wine."

1872. A. Domett, `Ranolf,' p. 103:

"The tutu-tree,
Whose luscious purple clusters hang so free
And tempting, though with hidden seeds replete
That numb with deadly poison all who eat."

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

"Tupakihi, tree tutu. A perennial shrub ten to eighteen feet high; trunk six to eight inches in diameter. The so-called berries (fleshy petals) vary very much in succulence. . . . The juice is purple, and affords a grateful beverage to the Maoris; and a wine, like elderberry wine, has been made from them. The seeds and leaves contain a poisonous alkaloid, and produce convulsions, delirium and death, and are sometimes fatal to cattle and sheep."

1884. Alfred Cox, `Recollections,' p. 258:

"When footpaths about Christchurch were fringed with tutu bushes, little boys were foolish enough to pluck the beautiful berries and eat them. A little fellow whose name was `Richard' ate of the fruit, grew sick, but recovered. When the punster heard of it, he said, `Ah! well, if the little chap had died, there was an epitaph all ready for him, Decus et tutamen. Dick has ate toot, amen.'"

1889. G. P. Williams and W. P. Reeves, `Colonial Couplets,' p. 20:

"You will gather from this that I'm not `broken in,'
And the troublesome process has yet to begin
Which old settlers are wont to call `eating your tutu;'
(This they always pronounce as if rhyming with boot)."

1889. Vincent Pyke, `Wild Will Enderby, p. 16 [Footnote]:

"The poisonous tutu bushes. A berry-bearing, glossy-leaved plant, deadly to man and to all animals, except goats."

1891. T. H. Potts, `New Zealand Country Journal,' vol. xv. p. 103:

"The Cockney new chum soon learnt to `eat his toot,' and he quickly acquired a good position in the district."

<hw>Twenty-eight</hw>, n. another name for the Yellow-collared Parrakeet. Named from its note. See Parrakeet.

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. v. pl. 19:

"Platycercus Semitorquatus, Quoy and Gaim., Yellow-collared Parrakeet; Twenty-eight Parrakeet, Colonists of Swan River. It often utters a note which, from its resemblance to those words, has procured for it the appellation of `twenty-eight' Parrakeet from the Colonists; the last word or note being sometimes repeated five or six times in succession."

<hw>Twine Bush</hw>, n. i.q. Hakea flexilis. See Hakea.

<hw>Twine, Settler's</hw>, n. See Settler's Twine.

<hw>Two-hooded Furina-Snake</hw>. See under Snake.

U

<hw>Umbrella-bush</hw>, Acacia osswaldi, F. v. M., N.O. Leguminosae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 363:

"Often called `Umbrella-Bush,' as it is a capital shade tree.
A small bushy tree."

1894. `Melbourne Museum Catalogue—Economic Woods,' No. 17:

"The plant is exquisitely adapted for tall hedges. It is often called the `umbrella tree,' as it gives a capital shade. The heart-wood is dark, hard, heavy and close-grained."

<hw>Umbrella-grass</hw>, i.q. Native Millet, Panicum decompositum, R. Br., N.O. Gramineae. See Millet. It is called Umbrella-grass, from the shape of the branches at the top of the stem representing the ribs of an open umbrella.

<hw>Umbrella-tree</hw>, n. name given to Brassaia actinophylla, Endl., N.O. Araliaceae, from the large leaves being set, like umbrella-ribs, at the top of numerous stems.

<hw>Umu</hw>, n. Maori word, signifying a native oven.

1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 75:

"The tangi had terminated; the umu or `cooking holes' were smoking away for the feast."

1855. Rev. R. Taylor, `Te Ika, a Maui,' p. 389:

"The native oven (umu hangi) is a circular hole of about two feet in diameter and from six to twelve inches deep."

1872. `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. v. p. 96:

". . . being all in and around the umus (or native ovens) in which they had been cooked."

1882. S. Locke, `Traditions of Taupo,' `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. xv. art. liv. p. 440:

"They killed Kurimanga the priest and cooked him in an oven, from which circumstance the place is called Umu-Kuri."

1889. S. P. Smith, `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. xxii. p. 98:

"An oven of stones, exactly like a Maori umu or hangi."

1893. `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. xxvi. p. 432:

"The oumu or haangi, in which food was cooked, was only a hole scooped in the ground, of a size proportioned to that which was to be cooked."

<hw>Union Nut</hw>, n. a fine cabinet timber, Bosistoa sapindiformis, F. v. M., N.O. Rutaceae.

<hw>"Unlock the lands."</hw> A political cry in Victoria, meaning open up for Free-selection (q.v.) the lands held by squatters on lease.

1887. J. F. Hogan, `The Irish in Australia,' p. 290:

"The democratic party, that had for its watchword the expressive phrase, `Unlock the lands.'"

<hw>Unpayable</hw>, adj. not likely to pay for working; not capable of yielding a profit over working expenses. (A very rare use.)

1896. `The Argus,' Dec. 26, p. 5, col. 3:

"Unpayable Lines.—The Commissioner of Railways has had a return prepared showing the results of the working of 48 lines for the year ending 30th June, 1896. Of these, 33, covering 515 miles, do not pay working expenses, and are reckoned to be the worst lines in the colony."

<hw>Utu</hw>, n. a Maori word for "Return, price paid, reward, ransom, satisfaction for injuries received, reply." (Williams.) Sometimes corrupted by Englishmen into Hoot (q.v.).

1840. J. S. Polack, `Manners and Customs of New Zealand,' vol. ii. p. 63:

"Utu or payment is invariably expected for any injustice committed, and is exacted in some shape, the sufferer feeling debased in his own opinion until he obtains satisfaction. The Utu, similar to the tapu, enters into everything connected with this people."

1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 29:

"He asserted that we should pay for the tapu; but suggested as an amendment that the utu or `payment' should be handed to him."

1855. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes,' p. 252:

"Utu, which may be freely translated `blood for blood,' is with him [the Maori] a sacred necessity. It is the lex talionis carried out to the letter. The exact interpretation of the formidable little word `Utu' is, I believe, `payment.'"

1857. C. Hursthouse, `New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 61:

"The learned commissioner's court was instantly besieged by bands of natives vociferating for more `utu' (payment), and threatening the settlers with the tomahawk if more `utu' were not instantly accorded."

1872. A. Domett, `Ranolf,' p. 470:

"Besides that, for such shining service done,
A splendid claim, he reckoned, would arise
For `utu'—compensation or reward."

1873. H. Carleton, `Life of Henry Williams,' p. 79:

"Blood for blood, or at least blood money, is Maori law. Better the blood of the innocent than none at all, is a recognised maxim of the Maori law of utu."

V

<hw>Vandemonian</hw>, n. and adj. belonging to Van Diemen's land, the old name of Tasmania; generally used of the convicts of the early days; and the demon in the word is a popular application of the law of Hobson-Jobson. Now obsolete.

1852. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes,' (edition 1855), p. 533:

"The Van Diemonians, as they unpleasingly call themselves, or permit themselves to be called, are justly proud of their horse-flesh."

1853. S. Sidney, `Three Colonies of Australia' (2nd edit.), p. 171:

"One of the first acts of the Legislative Assemblies created by the Australian Reform Bill of 1850 was to pass . . . acts levelled against Van Diemonian expirees."

1855. W. Howitt, `Two Years in Victoria,' vol. i, p. 367:

"Unquestionably some of the Van Diemenian convicts."

1867. `Cassell's Magazine,' p. 440:

"`I never wanted to leave England,' I have heard an old Vandemonian observe boastfully. `I wasn't like one of these `Jemmy Grants' (cant term for `emigrants'); I could always earn a good living; it was the Government as took and sent me out."

<hw>Vandemonianism</hw>, n. rowdy conduct like that of an escaped convict; the term is now obsolete.

1863. `Victorian Hansard,' April 22, vol. ix. p. 701:

"Mr. Houston looked upon the conduct of hon. gentlemen opposite as ranging from the extreme of vandemonianism to the extreme of nambypambyism."

<hw>Van Diemen's Land</hw>, the name given to the colony now called Tasmania, by Abel Jansz Tasman, the Dutch navigator, in 1642, after Anthony Van Diemen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. The name was changed to Tasmania (q.v.) in 1853, on the granting of Responsible Government.

<hw>Vedalia</hw>, n. a genus of greedily predatory ladybirds. The V. cardinalis of Australia was imported by the United States Government from Australia and New Zealand into California in 1888-89, in order to kill the fluted scale (Icerya purchasi), a fruit-pest. It destroyed the scale in nine months.

<hw>Velvet-fish</hw>, n. name given in Tasmania to the fish Holoxenus cutaneus, Gunth., family Cirrhitidae. The skin is covered with minute appendages, so soft to the touch as to suggest velvet; the colour is deep purplish red.

<hw>Verandah</hw>, n. In Australia, the heat of the sun makes verandahs much commoner than in England. They are an architectural feature of all dwelling-houses in suburb or in bush, and of most City shops, where they render the broad side-walks an almost continuous arcade. "Under the Verandah " has acquired the meaning, "where city men most do congregate."

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' c. xxvii. p. 418:

"In Melbourne there is the `verandah'; in Sandhurst there is a `verandah'; in Ballaarat there is a `verandah.' The verandah is a kind of open exchange—some place on the street pavement, apparently selected by chance, on which the dealers in mining shares do congregate."

1895. Modern. Private Letter of an Australian on Tour:

"What I miss most in London is the Verandahs. With this everlasting rain there is no place to get out of a shower, as in Melbourne. But I suppose it pays the umbrella-makers."

<hw>V-hut</hw>, a term used in the province of Canterbury, New Zealand. See quotations.

1857. R. B. Paul, `Letters from Canterbury,' p. 57:

"The form is that of a V hut, the extremities of the rafters being left bare, so as to form buttresses to the walls" (of the church).

1863. S. Butler, `First Year in Canterbury,' p. 73:

"I am now going to put up a V-hut on the country that I took up on the Rangitata. . . . It consists of a small roof set up on the ground; it is a hut all roof and no walls."

1879. C. L.Innes, `Canterbury Sketches,' p. 20:

"In case my readers may not know what a `V' hut is like, I will describe one:—It is exactly as if you took the roof off a house and stood it on the ground, you can only stand upright in the middle."

1896. Jan. A Traveller's note:

"Not long ago a Canterbury lady said—`I was born in a V-hut, and christened in a pie-dish.'"

<hw>Victoria</hw>, n. the name of the smallest of all the Australian colonies. It was separated from New South Wales in 1851, when it was named after Queen Victoria. Sir Thomas Mitchell had before given it the name of "Australia Felix," and Dr. J. D. Lang wanted the name "Phillipsland." He published a book with that title in 1847. Previous to separation, the name used was "the Port Phillip District of New South Wales."

<hw>Village Settlement</hw>, the system, first adopted in New Zealand, whence it spread to the other colonies, of settling families on the land in combination. The Government usually helps at first with a grant of money as well as granting the land.

<hw>Vine</hw>, n. In Australia, the word is loosely applied to many trailing or creeping plants, which help to form scrubs and thickets. In the more marked cases specific adjectives are used with the word. See following words.

1849. J. P. Townsend, `Rambles in New South Wales,' p. 22:

"With thick creepers, commonly called `vines.'"

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

"Impenetrable vine-scrubs line the river-banks at intervals."

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 25:

"Vitis in great abundance and of many varieties are found especially in the scrubs, hence the colonists call this sort of brush, vine-scrub."

<hw>Vine, Balloon</hw>. See Balloon Vine.

<hw>Vine, Burdekin</hw>. Called also Round Yam, Vitis opaca, F. v. M., N.O. Ampelideae.

<hw>Vine, Caustic</hw>, i.q. Caustic-Plant (q.v.).

<hw>Vine, Lawyer</hw>. See Lawyer.

<hw>Vine, Macquarie Harbour</hw>, or <hw>Macquarie Harbour Grape</hw> (q.v.). Same as Native Ivy. See Ivy.

1891. `Chambers' Encyclopaedia,' s.v. Polygonaeae:

"Muhlenbeckia adpressa is the Macquarie Harbour Vine of Tasmania, an evergreen climbing or trailing shrub of most rapid growth, sometimes 60 feet in length. It produces racemes of fruit somewhat resembling grapes or currants, the nut being invested with the large and fleshy segments of the calyx. The fruit is sweetish and subacid, and is used for tarts."

1884. R. L. A. Davies, `Poems and Literary Remains,' p. 99:

"How we saw the spreading myrtles,
   Saw the cypress and the pine,
Saw the green festoons and bowers
   Of the dark Macquarie vine,
Saw the blackwoods and the box-trees,
   And the spiral sassafrases,
Saw the fairy fern-trees mantled
   With their mossy cloak of grasses."

<hw>Vine, Native Pepper</hw>. See Climbing Pepper, under Pepper.

<hw>Vine, Wonga Wonga</hw>. See Wonga Wonga Vine.

W

<hw>Waddy</hw>. (1) An aboriginal's war club. But the word is used for wood generally, even for firewood. In a kangaroo hunt, a man will call out, "Get off and kill it with a waddy," i.e. any stick casually picked up. In pigeon-English, "little fellow waddy" means a small piece of wood.

In various dictionaries, e.g. Stanford, the word is entered as of aboriginal origin, but many now hold that it is the English word wood mispronounced by aboriginal lips. L. E. Threlkeld, in his `Australian Grammar,' at p. 10, enters it as a "barbarism "—"waddy, a cudgel." A `barbarism,' with Threlkeld, often means no more than `not in use on the Hunter River'; but in this case his remark may be more appropriate.

On the other hand, the word is given as an aboriginal word in
Hunter's `Vocabulary of the Sydney Dialect' (1793), and in
Ridley's `Kamilaroi' (1875), as used at George's River. The
Rev. J. Mathew writes:

"The aboriginal words for fire and wood are very often, in fact nearly always, interchangeable, or interchanged, at different places. The old Tasmanian and therefore original Australian term for wood and fire, or one or the other according to dialect, is wi (wee) sometimes win. These two forms occur in many parts of Australia with numerous variants, wi being obviously the radical form. Hence there were such variants as wiin, waanap, weenth in Victoria, and at Sydney gweyong, and at Botany Bay we, all equivalent to fire. Wi sometimes took on what was evidently an affixed adjective or modifying particle, giving such forms as wibra, wygum, wyber, wurnaway. The modifying part sometimes began with the sound of d or j (into which of course d enters as an element). Thus modified, wi became wadjano on Murchison River, Western Australia; wachernee at Burke River, Gulf of Carp.; wichun on the Barcoo; watta on the Hunter River, New South Wales; wudda at Queanbeyan, New South Wales. These last two are obviously identical with the Sydney waddy = `wood.' The argument might be lengthened, but I think what I have advanced shows conclusively that Waddy is the Tasmanian word wi + a modifying word or particle."

1814. Flinders, `Voyage,' vol. ii. p. 189:

"Some resembling the whaddie, or wooden sword of the natives of
Port Jackson."

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 20:

"It is amusing to see the consequential swagger of some of these dingy dandies, as they pass lordly up our streets, with a waddie twirling in their black paws."

1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 66:

"Such a weapon as their waddy is: it is formed like a large kitchen poker, and nearly as heavy, only much shorter in the handle. The iron-bark wood, of which it is made, is very hard, and nearly as heavy as iron."

1844. Mrs. Meredith, `Notes and Sketches of New South Wales,' p. 106:

"The word `waddie,' though commonly applied to the weapons of the New South Wales aborigines, does not with them mean any particular implement, but is the term used to express wood of any kind, or trees. `You maan waddie 'long of fire,' means `Go and fetch firewood.'"

1845. J. O. Balfour, `Sketch of New South Wales,' p. 17:

"The Lachlan black, who, with his right hand full of spears, his whaddie and heleman in his left, was skipping in the air, shouting his war cry."

185o. J. B. Clutterbuck, `Port Phillip in 1849,' p. 54:

"A waddy, a most formidable bludgeon."

1855. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes,' p. 101:

"The waddy is a heavy, knobbed club about two feet long, and is used for active service, foreign or domestic. It brains the enemy in the battle, or strikes senseless the poor gin in cases of disobedience or neglect."

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

"The landlord swore to the apparition of a huge blackfellow flourishing a phantasmal `waddy.'"

1879. C. W. Schuermann, `Native Tribes of Australia—Port Lincoln Tribe,' p. 214:

"The wirris, by the whites incorrectly named waddies, are also made of gum saplings; they are eighteen inches in length, and barely one inch in diameter, the thin end notched in order to afford a firm hold for the hand, while towards the other end there is a slight gradual bend like that of a sword; they are, however, without knobs, and every way inferior to the wirris of the Adelaide tribes. The natives use this weapon principally for throwing at kangaroo-rats or other small animals."

1886. R. Henty, `Australiana,' p. 18:

"The `waddy' is a powerful weapon in the hands of the native. With unerring aim he brings down many a bird, and so materially assists in replenishing the family larder."

1892. J. Fraser, `Aborigines of New South Wales,' p. 74:

"A general name for all Australian clubs is `waddy,' and, although they are really clubs, they are often used as missiles in battle."

(2) The word is sometimes used for a walking-stick.

<hw>Waddy</hw>, v. trans. to strike with a waddy.

1855. Robert Lowe (Viscount Sherbrooke), `Songs of the Squatters,' canto ii. st. 7:

"When the white thieves had left me, the black thieves
appeared,
My shepherds they waddied, my cattle they speared."

1869. `Victorian Hansard,' Nov. 18, vol. ix. p. 2310, col. 2:

"They were tomahawking them, and waddying them, and breaking their backs."

1882. A. Tolmer, `Reminiscences,' p. 291:

"In the scuffle the native attempted to waddy him."

1893. `The Argus,' April 8, p. 4, col. 3:

"Only three weeks before he had waddied his gin to death for answering questions asked her by a blacktracker."

1896. A. B. Paterson, `Man from Snowy River,' p. 45:

"For they waddied one another, till the plain was strewn with
dead,
While the score was kept so even that they neither got
ahead."

<hw>Waddy Wood</hw>, or <hw>White Wood</hw>, n. name given in Tasmania to the tree Pittosporum bicolor, Hook., N.O. Pittosporeae; from which the aboriginals there chiefly made their Waddies.

1851. `Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land,' vol. i. p. 156:

"11th October, 1848. . . a sample of a very fine close-grained white timber, considered by him suitable for wood-engraving purposes, obtained in a defile of Mount Wellington. It seems to be the young wood of Pittosporum bicolor, formerly in high estimation amongst the Aborigines of Tasmania, on account of its combined qualities of density, hardness, and tenacity, as the most suitable material of which to make their warlike implement the waddie."

<hw>Wagtail</hw>, or <hw>Wagtail Fly-catcher</hw>, n. an Australian bird, Rhipidura tricolor, the Black-and-white Fantail, with black-and-white plumage like a pied wagtail. See also quotation, 1896. The name is applied sometimes in Gippsland, and was first used in Western Australia as a name for the Black-and-white Fantail. See Fantail.

1885. R. M. Praed, `Head-Station,' p. 24:

"He pointed to a Willy-wagtail which was hopping cheerfully from stone to stone."

1896. A. J. North, `List of the Insectivorous Birds of New South Wales,' pt i. p. 13:

"Salltoprocta motacilloides, Vig. and Horsf. `Black and White Fantail.' `Water Wagtail.'. . . From this bird's habit of constantly swaying its lengthened tail feathers from side to side it is locally known in many districts as the `Willy Wagtail.'"

<hw>Wahine</hw>, n. Maori word for a woman. The i is long.

1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 29:

"Having enquired how many (wives) the Kings of England had, he laughed heartily at finding they were not so well provided, and repeatedly counted `four wahine' (women) on his fingers."

1852. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes' (edition 1855), p. 289:

"A group of whyenees and piccaninnies."

1893. `Otago Witness,' Dec. 21, p. 11, col. 5:

"It is not fit that a daughter of the great tribe should be the slave-wife of the pakeha and the slave of the white wahine."

<hw>Waipiro</hw>, n. Maori name for spirits,— literally, stinking water, from piro, stinking, and wai, water. In New Zealand geography, the word Wai is very common as the first part of many names of harbours, lakes, etc. Compare North-American Indian Fire-water.

1845. W. Brown, `New Zealand and its Inhabitants,' p. 132:

"Another native keeps a grog-shop, and sells his waipero, as he says, to Hourangi drunken pakehas."

1863. F. Maning (Pakeha Maori), `Old New Zealand,' p. 169:

"He would go on shore, in spite of every warning, to get some water to mix with his waipiro, and was not his canoe found next day floating about with his paddle and two empty case bottles in it?"

1873. Lt.-col. St. John, `Pakeha Rambles through Maori Lands,' p. 167:

"When we see a chance of getting at waipiro, we don't stick at trifles."

1887. The Warrigal, `Picturesque New Zealand,' `Canterbury Weekly Press,' March 11:

"The priest was more than epigrammatic when he said that the Maoris' love for `waipiro' (strong waters) was stronger than their morals."

<hw>Wairepo</hw>, n. Maori name for the fish called Stingray.

<hw>Wait-a-while</hw>, n. also called Stay-a-while: a thicket tree.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 306:

"Acacia colletioides, A. Cunn., N.O. Leguminosae, `Wait-a-while' (a delicate allusion to the predicament of a traveller desirous of penetrating a belt of it)."

<hw>Waka</hw>, n. Maori word for canoe. Waka huia is a box for keeping feathers, originally the feathers of the huia (q.v.).

1874. W. M. Baynes, `Narrative of Edward Crewe,' p. 81:

"`Whaka' is the native name, or rather the native genetic term, for all canoes, of which there are many different kinds, as tete, pekatu, kopapa, and others answering in variety to our several descriptions of boats, as a `gig,' a `whaleboat,' a `skiff,' a `dingy,' etc."

1878. R. C. Barstow, `On the Maori Canoe,' `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' vol. xi. art. iv. p. 72:

"Canoes may be divided into four classes; Waka-taua or Waka-hitau were canoes, fully carved; the Waka-tetee, which, generally smaller, had a plain figure-head and stern; Waka-tiwai, an ordinary canoe of one piece, and the kopapa or small canoe, usually used for fishing, travelling to cultivation, etc."

<hw>Wakiki</hw>, n. shell money of the South Sea Islands.

<hw>Waler</hw>, n. Anglo-Indian name for an Australian horse imported from New South Wales into India, especially for the cavalry. Afterwards used for any horse brought from Australia.

1863. B. A. Heywood, `Vacation Tour at the Antipodes,' p. 134:

"Horses are exported largely from Australia to India even. I have heard men from Bengal talk of the `Walers,' meaning horses from New South Wales."

1866. G. 0. Trevelyan, `Dawk Bungalow,' p. 223 [Yule's `Hobson Jobson']:

"Well, young Shaver, have you seen the horses? How is the
Waler's off fore-leg?"

1873. `Madras Mail,' June 25 [Yule's `Hobson Jobson']:

"For sale. A brown Waler gelding."

1888. R. Kipling, `Plain Tales from the Hills,' p. 224:

"The soul of the Regiment lives in the Drum-Horse who carries the silver kettle-drums. He is nearly always a big piebald Waler."

1896. `The Melburnian,' Aug. 28, p. 62:

"C. R. Gaunt is Senior Subaltern of the 4th (Royal Irish)
Dragoon Guards, at present stationed at Rawul Pindi in India.
He won the Regimental Cup Steeplechase this year on an
Australian mare of his own. Australian horses are called
`Walers' in India, from the circumstance of their being
generally imported from New South Wales."

<hw>Walking-Leaf</hw>, n. See Phasmid.

<hw>Walking-stick</hw>, n. See Phasmid.

<hw>Walking-stick Palm</hw>, n. See under Palm.

<hw>Wallaby</hw>, n. a name used for the smaller kinds of Kangaroos of the genus Macropus (q.v.), formerly classed as Halmaturus. An aboriginal word. See Collins, 1798, below. (Wolbai, in the Kabi dialect of South Queensland, means a young creature.) Also spelt Walloby, Wallabee, and Wallobi. As in the case of Kangaroo (q.v.), the plural is a little uncertain, Wallaby or Wallabies. Some of them are sometimes called Brush-Kangaroos (q.v.). The following are the species—

Agile Wallaby—
Macropus agilis, Gould.

Aru Island W.—
M. brunnii, Schraeber.

Black-gloved W.—
M. irma, Jourd.

Black-striped W.—
M. dorsalis, Gray.

Black-tailed W.—
M. ualabatus, Less. and Garm.

Branded W.—
M. stigmaticus, Gould.

Cape York W.—
M. coxeni, Gray.

Dama W.—
M. eugenii, Desm.

Pademelon—
M. thetidis, Less.

Parma W.—
M. parma , Waterh.

Parry's W.—
M. parryi, Bennett.

Red-legged W.—
M. wilcoxi, McCoy.

Red-necked W., Grey's W.—
M. ruficollis, Desm.

Rufous-bellied W.—
M. billardieri, Desm.

Short-tailed W.—
M. brachyurus, Quoy and Gaim.

Sombre W.—
M. brownii, Ramsay.

In addition, there are six species of Rock-Wallaby (q.v.), genus Petrogale (q.v.). See also Paddymelon.

Three species of Nail-tailed Wallabies, genus Onychogale (q.v.), are confined to Australia. They are the Nail-tailed Wallaby, Onychogale unguifera, Gould; Bridled W., O. frenata, Gould; Crescent W., O. lunata, Gould.

Three species of Hare-Wallabies (genus Lagorchestes, q.v.), confined to Australia, are the Spectacled Hare-Wallaby, Lagorchestes conspiculatus, Gould; Common H. W., L. leporoides, Gould; Rufous H. W., L. hirsutus, Gould.

One species, called the Banded-Wallaby (genus, Lagostrophus, q.v.), confined to Western Australia, is L. fasciatus, Peron and Less.

For etymology, see Wallaroo.

1798. D. Collins, `Account of English Colony in New South Wales,' p. 614 [Vocabulary]:

"Wal-li-bah—a black kangaroo."

1830. R. Dawson' `Present State of Australia,' p. 111:

"In the long coarse grass with which these flats are always covered, a species of small kangaroo is usually found, which the natives call the `wallaby.' Their colour is darker than that of the forest kangaroo, approaching almost to that of a fox, and they seat themselves in the grass like a hare or a rabbit."

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

"The wallabee is not very common."

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. i. c. ix. p. 267:

"The Wallaby are numerous on this part of the island."

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

"Rock wallabies were very numerous."

Ibid. c. xii. p. 418:

"They returned with only a red wallabi (Halmaturus agilis)."

1850. J. B. Clutterbuck, `Port Phillip in 1849,' p. 37:

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

1855. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes,' p. 12:

"Sipping doubtfully, but soon swallowing with relish, a plate of wallabi-tail soup."

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. ii. p. 18:

"Eyre succeeded in shooting a fine wallaby."

[Note]: "A small kind of kangaroo, inhabiting the scrub."

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' c. vii. p. 117:

"I have also been frowned upon by bright eyes because I could not eat stewed wallabi. Now the wallabi is a little kangaroo, and to my taste it is not nice to eat even when stewed to the utmost with wine and spices."

1880. Garnet Watch, `Victoria in 1880,' p. 7:

"To hear . . . that wallabies are `the women of the native race' cannot but be disconcerting to the well-regulated colonial mind." [He adds a footnote]: "It is on record that a journalistically fostered impression once prevailed, to high English circles, to the effect that a certain colonial Governor exhibited immoral tendencies by living on an island in the midst of a number of favourite wallabies, whom he was known frequently to caress."

188x. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 213:

"Now one hears the pat-pat-pat of a wallaby."

1885. J. B. Stephens, `To a Black Gin,' p. 5:

"Of tons of 'baccy, and tons more to follow,—
Of wallaby as much as thou could'st swallow,—
Of hollow trees, with 'possums in the hollow."

1886. J. A. Froude, `Oceana,' p. 309:

"My two companions . . . went off with the keeper [sic] to shoot wallaby. Sir George (Grey) has a paternal affection for all his creatures, and hates to have them killed. But the wallaby multiply so fast that the sheep cannot live for them, and several thousands have to be destroyed annually."

1888. Sir C. Gavan Duffy, in the `Contemporary Review,' vol. liii. p. 3:

"`Morality!' exclaimed the colonist. `What does your lordship suppose a wallaby to be?' `Why, a half-caste, of course.' `A wallaby, my lord, is a dwarf kangaroo!'"

<hw>Wallaby-Bush</hw>, n. a tall shrub or tree, Beyeria viscosa, Miq., N.O. Euphorbiaceae. Same as the Pinkwood of Tasmania.

<hw>Wallaby-Grass</hw>, n. an Australian grass, Danthonia penicillata, F. v. M., N.O. Gramineae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 82:

"`Wallaby Grass.' This perennial artificial grass is useful for mixed pasture."

<hw>Wallaby-skin</hw>, the skin, with the hair on it, of the wallaby, prized as a warm and ornamental fur for rugs.

1890. `The Argus,' June13, p.6, col. 2:

"A quantity of hair, a wallaby-skin rug.

<hw>Wallaby track, On the</hw>, or <hw>On the Wallaby</hw>, or <hw>Out on the Wallaby</hw>, or simply <hw>Wallaby</hw>, as adj. [slang]. Tramping the country on foot, looking for work. Often in the bush the only perceptible tracks, and sometimes the only tracks by which the scrub can be penetrated, are the tracks worn down by the Wallaby, as a hare tramples its "form." These tracks may lead to water or they may be aimless and rambling. Thus the man "on the wallaby" may be looking for food or for work, or aimlessly wandering by day and getting food and shelter as a Sundowner (q.v.) at night.

1869. Marcus Clarke, `Peripatetic Philosopher' (Reprint), p. 41:

"The Wimmera district is noted for the hordes of vagabond `loafers' that it supports, and has earned for itself the name of `The Feeding Track.' I remember an old bush ditty, which I have heard sung when I was on the `Wallaby.' . . . At the station where I worked for some time (as `knockabout man') three cooks were kept during the `wallaby' season—one for the house, one for the men, and one for the travellers."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `A Colonial Reformer,' p. 82:

"`What is the meaning of `out on the wallaby'?' asked Ernest. `Well, it's bush slang, sir, for men just as you or I might be now, looking for work or something to eat; if we can't get work, living on the country, till things turn round a little.'"

Ibid. p. 388:

"Our friends who pursue the ever-lengthening but not arduous track of the wallaby in Australia."

1893. Gilbert Parker, `Pierre and his People,' p. 242:

"The wallaby track? That's the name in Australia for trampin' west, through the plains of the Never Never Country, lookin' for the luck o' the world."

1894. Longmans' `Notes on Books' (May 31), p. 206:

"`On the Wallaby: a Book of Travel and Adventure.' `On the Wallaby' is an Australianism for `on the march,' and it is usually applied to persons tramping the bush in search of employment."

1894. Jennings Carmichael, in `Australasian,' Dec. 22, p. 1127, col. 5:

"A `wallaby' Christmas, Jack, old man!—
   Well, a worse fate might befall us!
The bush must do for our church to-day,
   And birds be the bells to call us.
The breeze that comes from the shore beyond,
   Thro' the old gum-branches swinging,
Will do for our solemn organ chords,
   And the sound of children singing."

1896. H. Lawson, `When the World was Wide,' p. 134:

"Though joys of which the poet rhymes
Was not for Bill an' me
I think we had some good old times
Out on the Wallaby."

<hw>Wallaroo</hw>, n. native name for a large species of Kangaroo, the mountain kangaroo, Macropus robustus, Gould. The black variety of Queensland and New South Wales is called locally the Wallaroo, the name Euro being given in South and Central Australia to the more rufous- coloured variety of the same species.

In the aboriginal language, the word walla meant `to jump,' and walla-walla `to jump quickly.'

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

"The wallaroo, of a blackish colour, with coarse shaggy fur, inhabiting the hills."

1846. C. P. Hodgson, `Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 157:

"Some very fierce and ready to attack man, such as the large mountain `wolloroo.'"

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 481:

"Charley shot a Wallooroo just as it was leaping, frightened by our footsteps, out of its shady retreat to a pointed rock."

[On p. 458, Leichhardt spells Wallurus, plural]

1862. H. C. Kendall, `Poems,' p. 50:

"The Wallaroos grope through the tufts of the grass."

1868 (before). C. Harpur, `Creek of the Four Graves'(edition 1883), p. 49:

"Up the steep,
Between the climbing forest-growths they saw,
Perched on the bare abutments of the hills,
Where haply yet some lingering gleam fell through,
The wallaroo look forth."

[Footnote]: "A kind of large kangaroo, peculiar to the higher and more difficult mountains."

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 328:

"A wallaroo, a peculiar kind of kangaroo (Macropus robustus), which was kept tame at a station, showed a marked fondness for animal food, particularly for boiled salt beef. A dove had been its companion, and these two animals were the best of friends for half-a-year, when the wallaroo one day killed its companion and partly ate it."

1895. `The Australasian,' June 22, 1181, col. 1 [Answers to Correspondents]:

"Professor Baldwin Spencer kindly deals with the question as follows:—What is the distinction between a wallaroo and a wallaby?—A wallaroo is a special form of kangaroo (Macropus robustus) living in the inland parts of Queensland and New South Wales. Wallaby is the name given to several kinds of smaller kangaroos, such as the common scrub wallaby (Macropus ualabatus) of Victoria. The wallaroo is stouter and heavier in build, its fur thicker and coarser, and the structure of its skull is different from that of an ordinary wallaby."

<hw>Wallflower, Native</hw>, n. a Tasmanian name for Pultenaea subumbellata, Hook., N.O. Leguminosae. In Australia, used as another name for one of the Poison- Bushes (q-v.).

<hw>Wandoo</hw>, n. Western Australian aboriginal word for the White Gum-tree of Western Australia, Eucalyptus redunca, Schauer, N.O. Myrtaceae. It has a trunk sometimes attaining seventeen feet in diameter, and yields a hard durable wood highly prized by wheelwrights.

<hw>Waratah</hw>, n. an Australian flower. There are three species, belonging to the genus Telopea, N.O. Proteaceae. The New South Wales species, T. speciosissima, R. Br., forms a small shrub growing on hill-sides, as does also the Tasmanian species, T. truncata, R. Br.; the Victorian species, T. oreades, F. v. M., called the Gippsland Waratah, grows to a height of fifty feet. It has a bright crimson flower about three inches in diameter, very regular. Sometimes called the Australian or Native Tulip. As emblematic of Australia, it figures on certain of the New South Wales stamps and postcards. The generic name, Telopea (q.v.), has been corrupted into Tulip (q.v.). Its earliest scientific generic name was Embothrium, Smith.

1793. E. Smith, `Specimen of Botany of New Holland,' p. 19:

"The most magnificent plant which the prolific soil of New
Holland affords is, by common consent both of Europeans and
Natives, the Waratah."

1801. Governor King, in `Historical Records of New South Wales' (1896), vol, iv. p. 514 (a Letter to Sir Joseph Banks):

"I have also sent in the Albion a box of waratahs, and the earth is secured with the seed."

1802. D. Collins, `Account of New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 66:

"Bennillong assisted, placing the head of the corpse, near which he stuck a beautiful war-ra-taw."

1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 98:

[Description, but not the name.] "A plant called the gigantic lily also flourishes on the tops of these mountains, in all its glory. Its stems, which are jointy, are sometimes as large as a man's wrist, and ten feet high, with a pink and scarlet flower at the top, which when in full blossom (as it then was) is nearly the size of a small spring cabbage."

1830. `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 66:

"Interspersed with that magnificent shrub called warratah or tulip-tree, and its beautiful scarlet flowers."

1857. D. Bunce, `Australasiatic Reminiscences,' p. 44:

"The most common of them was, however, the Telopia [sic] Tasmaniensis, or waratah, or scarlet tulip tree, as it has been occasionally termed by stock-keepers."

1864. J. S. Moore, `Spring Life Lyrics,' p. 115:

"The lily pale and waratah bright
Shall encircle your shining hair."

1883. D. B. W. Sladen, `Poetry of Exiles':

"And waratah, with flame-hued royal crown,
Proclaim the beauties round Australia's own."

1885. Wanderer, `Beauteous Terrorist,' etc., p. 62:

"And the waratahs in state,
With their queenly heads elate,
And their flamy blood-red crowns,
And their stiff-frill'd emerald gowns."

1888. D. Macdonald, I Gum Boughs,' p. 188:

"Outside the tropical Queensland forests, the scarlet flowering gum of Western Australia, and the Waratah, of Blue Mountains fame, are its [i.e. the wattle's] only rivals."

1893. `Sydney Morning Herald,' Aug. 5, p. 9, col. 1:

"The memory of many residents runs back to the time when the waratah and the Christmas-bush, the native rose and fuchsia, grew where thickly-peopled suburbs now exist. . . . The waratah recedes yearly."

1893. `Sydney Morning Herald,' Sept. 2, p. 5, col. 6:

"The wattles and waratahs are creditable instances of the value of our Australian flowers for art purposes, and the efforts of the artists to win recognition for their adaptability as subjects for the artist's brush are deserving of acknowledgment."

<hw>Warbler</hw>, n. This English birdname is applied loosely to many birds of different genera in Australia and New Zealand.

The majority of the Australian Warblers have now had other names assigned to them. (See Fly-eater and Gerygone.) The name has been retained in Australia for the following species—

Grass Warbler—
Cisticola exilis, Lath.

Grey W.—
Gerygone flaviventris, Gray.

Long-billed Reed W.—
Calamoherpe longirostris, Gould.

Reed W.—
Acrocephalus australis, Gould.

Rock W.—
Origma rubricata, Lath.

In New Zealand, it is now only specifically applied to the—

Bush Warbler—
Gerygone silvestris, Potts.

Chatham Island W.—
G. albofrontata, Gray.

Grey W.—
G. flaviventris, Gray; Maori name, Riro-riro.

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

"Grey Warbler (Gerygone flaviventris) also belongs to an Australian genus. It is remarkable for its curious and beautifully formed nest, and as being the foster-parent to the Longtailed Cuckoo, which lays its eggs in the Warbler's nest."

<hw>Warden</hw>, n. The term is applied specifically to the Government officer, with magisterial and executive powers, in charge of a goldfield.

1861. Mrs. Meredith, `Over the Straits,' c. iv. p. 141:

"The chief official in a digging settlement, the padra [sic] of the district, is entitled the warden."

<hw>Warehou</hw>, n. Maori name for the fish Neptonemus brama, Gunth., called Snotgall-Trevally in Tasmania, and called also Sea-Bream. See Trevally.

<hw>Warrener</hw>, n. a name applied by Tasmanian children to the larger specimens of the shells called Mariners (q.v.). The name is an adaptation, by the law of Hobson-Jobson, from a Tasmanian aboriginal word, Yawarrenah, given by Milligan (`Vocabulary,' 1890), as used by tribes, from Oyster Bay to Pittwater, for the ear-shell (Haliotis). The name has thus passed from shell to shell, and in its English application has passed on also to the marine shell, Turbo undulatus.

<hw>Warrigal</hw>, n. and adj. an aboriginal word, originally meaning a Dog. Afterwards extended as an adjective to mean wild; then used for a wild horse, wild natives, and in bush-slang for a worthless man. The following five quotations from vocabularies prove the early meaning of the word in the Port Jackson district, and its varying uses at later dates elsewhere.

1793. Governor Hunter, `Port Jackson,' p. 411:

"Warregal—a large dog."

1798. D. Collins, `Account of English Colony in New South Wales,' p. 614 [Vocab.]:

"Wor-re-gal—dog."

1859. D. Bunce, `Language of Aborigines of Victoria,' p. 17:

"Ferocious, savage, wild—warragul." (adj.)

Ibid. p. 46:

"Wild savage—worragal." (noun.) 1879.

Wyatt, `Manners of Adelaide Tribes,' p. 21:

"Warroo=wild."

The quotations which follow are classed under the different meanings borne by the word.

(1) A Wild Dog.

1855. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes,' p. 153:

"I have heard that the dingo, warragal or native dog, does not hunt in packs like the wolf and jackal."

1880. J. Holdsworth, `Station Hunting':

"To scoop its grassless grave
Past reach of kites and prowling warrigals."

1887. `Illustrated Australian News,' March 5:

[A picture of two dingoes, and beneath them the following quotation from Kendall—]:

"The warrigal's lair is pent in bare
Black rocks, at the gorge's mouth."

1888. `Australian Ballads and Rhymes' (edition Sladen),, p. 297:

"The following little poem, entitled `The Warrigal' (Wild Dog) will prove that he (H. Kendall) observed animal life as faithfully as still life and landscape:

`The sad marsh-fowl and the lonely owl
Are heard in the fog-wreath's grey,
Where the Warrigal wakes, and listens and takes
To the woods that shelter the prey.'"

1890. G. A. Sala, in `The Argus,' Sept. 20, p. 13, col. 1:

"But at present warrigal means a wild dog."

1891. J. B. O`Hara, `Songs of the South,' p. 22:

"There, night by night, I heard the call
The inharmonious warrigal
Made, when the darkness swiftly drew
Its curtains o'er the starry blue."

(2) A Horse.

1881. `The Australasian,' May 21, p. 647, col. 4 ["How we ran in `The Black Warragal'": Ernest G. Millard, Bimbowrie, South Australia]:

"You must let me have Topsail today, Boss,.
If we're going for that Warrigal mob."

1888. Gilbert Parker, `Round the Compass in Australia,' p. 44:

"Six wild horses—warrigals or brombies, as they are called—have been driven down, corralled, and caught. They have fed on the leaves of the myall and stray bits of salt-bush. After a time they are got within the traces. They are all young, and they look not so bad."

1890. `The Argus, `June 14, p.4, col. 2:

"Mike will fret himself to death in a stable, and maybe kill the groom. Mike's a warrigal he is."

(3) Applied to Aborigines. [See Bunce quotation, 1859.]

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Squatter's Dream,' c. xii. p. 249:

"He's a good shot, and these warrigal devils know it."

1896. Private Letter from Station near Palmerville, North Queensland:

"Warrigal. In this Cook district, and I believe in many others, a blackfellow who has broken any of the most stringent tribal laws, which renders him liable to be killed on sight by certain other blacks, is warri, an outlaw."

(4) As adjective meaning wild.

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Colonial Reformer,' c. viii. p. 68:

"Here's a real good wholesome cabbage—warrigal cabbage the shepherds call it."

<hw>Warrina</hw>, n. See Warrener.

<hw>Washdirt</hw>, n. any alluvial deposit from which gold is obtained by washing; or "the auriferous gravel, sand, clay, or cement, in which the greatest proportion of gold is found." (Brough Smyth's `Glossary,' 1869.) Often called dirt (q.v.).

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