Chapter XXVII: Part 27

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"This capital of Australia Felix had for a long time been known to some squatters from Tasmania."

1846. T. H. Braim, `History of New South Wales,' vol. i. p. 235:

"A set of men who were to be found upon the borders of every large estate, and who were known by the name of squatters. These were ticket-of-leave holders, or freedmen who erected a but on waste land near a great public road, or on the outskirts of an estate."

1897. Australian Steam Navigation Company, `Guide Book,' p. 29:

"Nowaday squatters may be interested and possibly shocked on learning that in March, 1836, a petition was being largely signed for the prevention of `squatting, through which so much crime was daily occurring,' inasmuch as `squatting' was but another term for sly grog selling, receiving stolen property, and harbouring bushrangers and assigned servants. The term `squatter,' as applied to the class it now designates--without which where would Australia now be?--was not in vogue till 1842."

(2) A pastoral tenant of the Crown, often renting from the Crown vast tracts of land for pasturage at an almost nominal sum. The term is still frequently, but incorrectly, used for a man rearing and running stock on freehold land. Pastoralist is now the more favoured term.

1840. F. P. Labillicre, `Early History of the Colony of Victoria' (edition 1878), vol. ii. p. 189:

"In a memorandum of December 19th, 1840, `on the disposal of Lands in the Australian Provinces,' Sir George Gipps informs the Secretary of State on the subject, and states that,--'A very large proportion of the land which is to form the new district of Port Phillip is already in the licensed occupation of the Squatters of New South Wales, a class of persons whom it would be wrong to confound with those who bear the same name in America, and who are generally persons of mean repute and of small means, who have taken unauthorized possession of patches of land. Among the Squatters of New South Wales are the wealthiest of the land, occupying, with the permission of the Government, thousands and tens of thousands of acres. Young men of good families and connexions in England, officers of the army and navy, graduates of Oxford and Cambridge, are also in no small number amongst them.'"

1844. `Port Phillip Patriot,' July 8, p. 3, col. 3:

"The petitioner has already consigned the whole country to the class squatter in perpetuity."

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 165:

"The squatters of Australia Felix will meet on horseback, upon Batman's Hill, on the 1st of June, for the purpose of forming a Mutual Protection Society. From the Murray to the sea-beach, from the Snowy Mountains to the Glenelg, let no squatter be absent."

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

"`Squatters.' A word not to be found in `Johnson's Dictionary'; of Canadian extraction, literally to sit on the haunches: in Australia a term applied to the sheep farmers generally; from their being obliged frequently to adopt that position."

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition' (Introd.), p. 15:

"We were received with the greatest kindness by my friends the `squatters,' a class principally composed of young men of good education, gentlemanly habits, and high principles."

1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 168:

"The Port Phillip squatters, as occupants of the territory of New South Wales, were afterwards required to take out an annual depasturing licence in terms of a Colonial Act passed at Sydney."

(p. 246): "The modern squatters, the aristocratic portion of the colonial community."

1851. `Australasian,' p. 298:

"In 1840 the migratory flockmaster had become a settled squatter. A wretched slab but is now his home; for furniture he has a rough bush-made table, and two or three uncouth stools."

1861. T. McCombie, Australian Sketches,' p. 128:

"The term squatter was applied in the first instance to signify, as in America, such as erected huts on unsold land. It thus came to be applied to all who did not live on their own land, to whom the original and more expressive name of settler continued to be applied. When the owners of stock became influential from their education and wealth, it was thought due to them to change this term for one more suitable to their circumstances, as they now included in their order nearly every man of mark or wealth in Australia. The Government suggested the term `tenants of the Crown,' the press hinted at `licensed graziers,' and both terms were in partial use, but such is the prejudice in favour of what is already established, that both were soon disused, and the original term finally adopted."

1862. G. T. Lloyd, `Thirty-three Years in Tasmania and Victoria,' p. 478:

"The term `squatter' . . . is thus derived:--A flock-master settling in Australia could drive his stock to, and occupy, any tract of country, which, from its extent and pastoral capabilities, might meet his comprehensive views; always provided, that such lands had not been already appropriated. . . . Early flock-masters were always confirmed in their selection of lands, according to the quantity of stock they possessed. . . . The Victorian Squatter who can number but five or six thousand sheep is held to be a man of no account. . . . Those only, who can command the shearing of from ten to forty thousand fleeces annually, are estimated as worthy of any note."

1866. Lady Barker, `Station Life in New Zealand,' p. 47:

"The squatters (as owners of sheepstations are called)."

1868. J. Bonwick, `John Batman, Founder of Victoria,' p. 94:

"In the language of the times, Messrs. Evans, Lancey, and subsequently J. P. Fawkner, were squatters. That term is somewhat singular as applied to the latter, who asserts that he founded the colony to prevent its getting into the hands of the squatters. The term was then applied to all who placed themselves upon public lands without licence."

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 265:

"It is not too much to say that all the early success of Australia was due to the squatters of New South Wales, who followed the steps of Captain McArthur."

1878. `The Australian,' vol. i. p. 532:

"I have been a super, a small freeholder, and a middling-sized squatter, at different times."

1889. Rev. J. H. Zillmann, `Australian Life,' p. 165:

"The Squatters are the large leaseholders and landed proprietors of the colony, whose cry has always been that the country was unfit for agricultural settlement, and only adapted for the pastoral pursuits in which they were engaged. . . . It is true the old squatter has been well-nigh exterminated."

1893. J. F. Hogan, `Robert Lowe,' p. 36:

"The pastoral enterprise of the adventurous squatters. Originally unrecognized trespassers on Crown lands. . . ."

(3) Applied as a nickname to a kind of Bronze-wing Pigeon (q.v.).

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

"On the plains you find different kinds of pigeons, the squatters being most common--plump, dust-coloured little fellows, crouching down to the ground quite motionless as you pass. I have frequently killed them with my stock-whip."

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 114:

"Gentle little squatter-pigeons cooed lovingly in answer to their mates on all sides."

<hw>Squatterarchy</hw>, n. squatters collectively.

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

"The Squatterarchy of the Koorong rose up in a body and named its hero, martyr."

<hw>Squatterdom</hw>, n. the state of being a squatter, or collective word for squatters; the squatter-party.

1866 (circiter). `Political parody':

"The speaker then apologised, the Members cried, Hear, Hear; And e'en the ranks of squatterdom could scarce forbear to cheer."

1868. J. Bonwick, `John Batman, Founder of Victoria,' p. 94:

"Writes to another at a distance upon the subject of squatterdom."

<hw>Squatting</hw>, adj.

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition' (Introd.), p. 13:

"During my recent excursions through the squatting districts, I had accustomed myself to a comparatively wild life."

1847. J. D. Lang, `Cooksland,' p. 268:

"The large extent of land occupied by each Squatting Station."

1890. `The Argus,' June 7, p. 4, col. 2:

"A gathering of the squatting and bush life of Australia."

<hw>Squattocracy</hw>, n. squatters collectively.

1846. C. P. Hodgson, `Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 118:

"Throughout the Colony generally, English are the most numerous, then the Scotch, then the Irish, amongst the Squattocracy."

1872. C. H. Eden, `My Wife and I in Queensland,' p. 59:

"The howl for the abolition of the squattocracy had not yet been fostered under the malign influence of shortsighted politicians."

1885. R. M. Praed, `Head Station,' p. 35 (`Century'):

"The bloated squattocracy represents Australian conservatism."

1890. E. W. Hornung, `A Bride from the Bush,' p. 243:

"The hearty, hospitable manner of the colonial `squatocracy.'"

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Squatter's Dream,' c. iv. p. 42:

"He trusted to pass into the ranks of the Squatocracy."

<hw>Squattocratic</hw>, adj. connected with previous word.

1854. `Melbourne Morning Herald,' Feb. 18, p. 4, col. 5:

"Squattocratic Impudence." [A heading.]

<hw>Squeaker</hw>, n. a vernacular name applied to various birds from their cries. See quotations.

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. ii. pl. 45:

"Strepera Anaphonensis, Grey Crow-shrike; Squeaker of the Colonists."

1855. W. Blandowski, `Transactions of Philosophical Society, Victoria,' vol. i. p. 63:

"The Squeaker (Strepera anaphonensis) is a shy and solitary bird, living entirely on the flats, and is remarkable on account of its frequenting only the same locality. He is hence easily distinguished from the Gymnorhina tibicen, whose shrill and piping voice is so well known on all the high lands."

1896. A. J. North, `List of Insectivorous Birds of New South Wales,' part i. p. 1:

"A local name is often more apt to mislead and confuse than to assist one in recognizing the particular species on which it is bestowed. This is chiefly due to the same local name being applied to two or more species.For instance, Corcorax melanorhamphus, Xerophila leucopsis, and Myzantha garrula are all locally known in different parts of the Colony by the name of `Squeaker.'"

<hw>Squid</hw>, n. a marine animal. The Australian species is Sepioteuthis australis, Quoy and Gaim.

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

"None of the Squid family seems to be sought after, although certain kinds are somewhat abundant in our waters. It is stated by the New South Wales Fisheries Enquiry Commission, 1880, that `the cephalopods might be made a source of a considerable profit for exportation to Japan and China. In both these countries all animal substances of a gelatinous character are in great request, and none more than those of the cuttle-fish tribe; the squid (Sepioteuthis australis) is highly appreciated, and in consequence is highly prized. The cuttle-fish (sepia) is of rather inferior quality, and the star-fish of the fishermen (octopus) not used at all.'"

1892. R L. Stevenson, `The Wrecker,' p. 345:

"You can't fill up all these retainers on tinned salmon for nothing; but whenever I could get it, I would give 'em squid. Squid's good for natives, but I don't care for it, do you?-- or shark either."

<hw>Squire</hw>, n. name given to the fish called Schnapper at two years old. See Schnapper.

<hw>Squirrel</hw>, n. See Flying-Squirrel.

<hw>Stamper</hw>, or <hw>Stamphead</hw>, n. "A cast-iron weight, or head, fixed on to a shank or lifter, and used for stamping or reducing quartz to a fine sand." (Brough Smyth, `Glossary.') The word is used elsewhere as a term in machinery. In Australia, it signifies the appliance above described. The form stamphead is the earlier one. The shorter word stamper is now the more usual.

1869. J. F. Blanche, `Prince's Visit,' p. 25:

"For steam and stampers now are all the rage."

1880. A. Sutherland, `Tales of Goldfields,' p. 76:

"The battery was to have eight stampers."

1890. `Goldfields of Victoria,' p. 11:

"This, with the old battery, brings the number of stampers up to sixty."

Ibid. p. 15:

"A battery of twenty-six stamp heads."

<hw>Star of Bethlehem</hw>. The Old World plant is Ornithogalum umbellatum; the name is given in Australia to Chamaescilla corymbosa, and in Tasmania to Burchardia umbellata, R. Br., both of the Liliaceae.

<hw>Star-fern</hw>, n. name given in Victoria to Gleichenia flabellata, R. Br.; called also Fan-fern. See Fern.

<hw>Starling</hw>, n. English bird-name. The Australian species is the Shining Starling, Calornis metallica. The common English starling is also acclimatised.

<hw>Start</hw>, n. The young Australian has a fine contempt for the English word to begin, which he never uses where he can find any substitute. He says commence or start, and he always uses commence followed by the infinitive instead of by the verbal noun, as "The dog commenced to bark."

1896. Modern talk in the train:

"The horse started to stop, and the backers commenced to hoot."

<hw>Station</hw>, n. originally the house with the necessary buildings and home-premises of a sheep-run, and still used in that sense: but now more generally signifying the run and all that goes with it. Stations are distinguished as Sheep-stations and Cattle-stations.

1833. C. Sturt, `Southern Australia,' vol. i. (Introd.):

"They . . . will only be occupied as distant stock-stations."

1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 120:

"Their [squatters'] huts or houses, gardens, paddocks, etc., form what is termed a station, while the range of country over which their flocks and herds roam is termed a run."

1868. J. Bonwick, `John Batman, Founder of Victoria,' p. 35:

"The lecturer assured his audience that he came here to prevent this country being a squatting station."

1870. A. L. Gordon, `Bush Ballads,' p. 17:

"The sturdy station-children pull the bush flowers on my
grave."

1890. E. D. Cleland, `The White Kangaroo,' p. 4:

"Station--the term applied in the colonies to the homesteads of the sheep-farmers or squatters."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood,'Miner's Right,' c. xviii. p. 171:

"Men who in their youth had been peaceful stockmen and station-labourers."

1896. A. B. Paterson, `Man from Snowy River,' p. 125:

"I'm travelen' down the Castlereagh and I'm a station-hand, I'm handy with the ropin' pole, I'm handy with the brand, And I can ride a rowdy colt, or swing the axe all day, But there's no demand for a stationhand along the Castlereagh."

<hw>Station-jack</hw>, n. a form of bush cookery.

1853. `The Emigrant's Guide to Australia.' (Article on Bush-Cookery, from an unpublished MS. by Mrs. Chisholm], pp. 111-12:

"The great art of bush-cookery consists in giving a variety out of salt beef and flour . . . let the Sunday share be soaked on the Saturday, and beat it well . . . take the . . . flour and work it into a paste; then put the beef into it, boil it, and you will have a very nice pudding, known in the bush as `Station jack.'"

<hw>Stavewood</hw>, n. another name for the Flindosy Beech. See Beech.

<hw>Stay-a-while</hw>, n. a tangled bush; sometimes called Wait-a-while (q.v.).

<hw>Steamer</hw>, n. obsolete name for a colonial dish. See quotation.

1820. Lieut. C. Jeffreys, R.N., `Geographical and Descriptive Delineations of the Island of Van Dieman's Land,' p. 69:

"Their meal consisted of the hindquarters of a kangaroo cut into mincemeat, stewed in its own gravy, with a few rashers of salt pork; this dish is commonly called a steamer."

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. i. p. 309:

"Our largest animals are the Kangaroos . . . making most delicious stews and steaks, the favourite dish being what is called a steamer, composed of steaks and chopped tail, (with a few slices of salt pork) stewed with a very small quantity of water for a couple of hours in a close vessel."

<hw>Stewart Islander</hw>, n. name given to the oyster, Ostrea chiloensis, Sowerby; so called because it is specially abundant on Stewart Island off the south coast of New Zealand. The Stewart Island forms are mud oysters, those of Sydney Cove growing on rock. See Oyster.

<hw>Stick-Caterpillar</hw>, n. See Phasmid.

<hw>Stick-up</hw>, v. tr. (1) The regular word for the action of bushrangers stopping passers-by on the highway and robbing them.

(2) In the case of a bank or a station, simply to rob.

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. ii. c. xiii. p. 502:

"It was only the previous night that he had been `stuck up' with a pistol at his head."

1855. W. Howitt, `Two Years in Victoria,' vol. ii. p. 187:

"Unless the mail came well armed, a very few men could `stick it up,' without any trouble or danger."

1857. `Melbourne Punch,' Feb. 19, p. 26, col. 1:

"I have been stuck up, trampled in the mud."

1869. J. Townend, `Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 140:

"Five or six bushrangers took up a position about a mile from town, and (to use a colonial phrase) `stuck up' every person that passed."

1869. Mrs. W. M. Howell, `The Diggings and the Bush,' p. 93:

"The escort has been `stuck up,' and the robbers have taken notes to the value of L700, and two thousand ounces of gold."

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 253:

"We had a revolver apiece in case of being `stuck up' on the road."

1888. Rolf Boldrewood, `Robbery under Arms,' p. 168:

"We could make more money in one night by `sticking up' a coach or a bank than in any other way in a year . . . Any one who has been stuck up himself knows that there's not much chance of doing much in the resisting line." [The operation is then explained fully.]

1890. Lyth, `Golden South,' c.viii. p. 68:

"Accounts of bushrangers `sticking up' stations, travellers, and banks were very frequent."

1893. `Sydney Morning Herald,' Aug. 26, p. 4. col. 6:

"The game of sticking up hotels used to be in the old days a popular one, and from the necessary openness of the premises the practice was easy to carry out."

(3) Humorously applied to a collector or a beggar. In `Twenty- five Years of St. Andrews' (vol. ii. p. 87), A. K. H. B. tells a story of a church dignitary, who was always collecting money for church building. When a ghost appeared at Glamis Castle, addressing the ghost, the clergyman began--that "he was most anxious to raise money for a church he was erecting; that he had a bad cold and could not well get out of bed; but that his collecting-book was on the dressing-table, and he would be `extremely obliged' for a subscription." An Australian would have said he "stuck up" the ghost for a subscription.

1890. E. W. Hornung, `A Bride from the Bush,' p. 297:

"You never get stuck up for coppers in the streets of the towns."

(4) Bring a kangaroo to bay.

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

"We knew that she had `stuck up' or brought to bay a large forester."

1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 15:

"The fiercest fighter I ever saw `stuck up' against a red gum-tree."

(5) Simply to stop.

1863. S. Butler, `First Year in Canterbury Settlement,' p. 68:

"This [waterfall] `stuck us up,' as they say here concerning any difficulty."

1890. `The Argus,' June 7, p. 4, col. 2:

"We are stuck up for an hour or more, and can get a good feed over there."

(6) To pose, to puzzle.

1896. Modern:

"I was stuck up for an answer."

"That last riddle stuck him up."

1897. `The Australasian,' Jan. 2, p. 33, col. 1:

"The professor seems to have stuck up any number of candidates with the demand that they should `construct one simple sentence out of all the following.'"

<hw>Sticker-up</hw>, n. sc. a bushranger.

1879. W. J. Barry, `Up and Down,' p. 197:

"They had only just been liberated from gaol, and were the stickers-up, or highwaymen mentioned."

<hw>Sticker-up/2</hw>, n. a term of early bush cookery, the method, explained in first quotation, being borrowed from the aborigines.

1830. `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 112:

"Which he cooked in the mode called in colonial phrase a sticker up. A straight twig being cut as a spit, the slices were strung upon it, and laid across two forked sticks leaning towards the fire."

1852. Mrs. Meredith, `My Home in Tasmania,' vol. i. p. 55:

"Here I was first initiated into the bush art of `sticker-up' cookery . . . the orthodox material here is of course kangaroo, a piece of which is divided nicely into cutlets two or three inches broad and a third of an inch thick. The next requisite is a straight clean stick, about four feet long, sharpened at both ends. On the narrow part of this, for the space of a foot or more, the cutlets are spitted at intervals, and on the end is placed a piece of delicately rosy fat bacon. The strong end of the stick-spit is now stuck fast and erect in the ground, close by the fire, to leeward; care being taken that it does not burn." ". . . to men that are hungry, stuck-up kangaroo and bacon are very good eating." . . . "our `sticker-up' consisted only of ham."

1862. G. T. Lloyd, `Thirty-three Years in Tasmania and Victoria,' p. 103:

"Pounds of rosy steaks . . . skilfully rigged after the usual approved fashion (termed in Bush parlance a sticker-up'), before the brilliant wood fire, soon sent forth odours most grateful to the hungered way-worn Bushmen."

<hw>Stilt</hw>, n. English bird-name. In New Zealand, the species are--

The Black Stilt-- Himantopus novae-zelandiae, Gould; Maori name, Kaki.

Pied S., or Whiteheaded S.-- H. leucocephalus, Gould; Maori name, Tutumata.

White-necked S.-- H. albicollis, Buller.

H. leucocephalus (the White-headed Stilt) is also present in Australia, and the world-wide species, H. pectoralis, Du Bus. (the Banded Stilt), is found through all Australasia.

<hw>Stingareeing</hw>, n. the sport of catching Stingrays, or Stingarees.

1872. Hutton and Hector, `Fishes of New Zealand,' p. 121:

"It has been recently discovered by the writer of the animated article in the `Field' on Fishing in New Zealand [London, Nov. 25, 1871], that `stingareeing' can be made to afford sport of a most exciting kind."

<hw>Stinging-tree</hw>, n. a Queensland name for the Giant Nettle, or Nettle-tree (q.v.)

1890. A. J. Vogan, `The Black Police,' p. 209:

"The stinging-tree, . . . the most terrible of all vegetable growths. This horrible guardian of the Queensland jungle stands from five to fifteen feet in height, and has a general appearance somewhat similar to that of a small mulberry-tree. Their peculiarly soft and inviting aspect is caused by an almost invisible coating of microscopic cillia, and it is to these that the dangerous characteristics of the plant are due. The unhappy wanderer in these wilds, who allows any part of his body to come in contact with those beautiful, inviting tongues of green, soon finds them veritable tongues of fire, and it will be weeks, perhaps months, ere the scorching agony occasioned by their sting is entirely eradicated."

<hw>Sting-moth</hw>, n. an Australian moth, Doratifera vulnerans. The larva has at each end of the body four tubercles bearing stinging hairs. (`Standard.')

<hw>Stinkwood</hw>, n. The name is given to various woods in different parts of the world, from their unpleasant smell. In Tasmania, it is applied to the timber of Zieria smithii, Andr., N.O. Rutaceae.

1832. J. Bischoff, `Van Diemen's Land,' p. 175:

"The timber in this district I found to be principally myrtle, sassafras, and stinkwood."

<hw>Stint</hw>, n. English bird-name. The Australian species are--

Curlew Stint-- Tringa subarquata, Gmel.

Little S.-- T. ruficollis.

Sharp-tailed S.-- T. acuminata, Horsf.

<hw>Stitch-bird</hw>, n. a bird of New Zealand. See quotation.

1885. Hugh Martin, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xviii. art. xxii. p. 112:

"Pogonornis cincta (Hihi, Matahiore, stitch-bird), North Island."

[From a list of New Zealand birds that ought to be protected.]

1888. W. L. Buller, `Birds of New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 101:

"Pogonornis cincta, Gray. [A full description.]"

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

"Stitch-bird (Pogonornis cincta), formerly abundant in the North Island, but now extinct on the main-land, and found only in some of the outlying islets. The rarest and one of the most beautiful of native Passerines."

<hw>Stock</hw>, n. The word has many meanings. In the one from which the Australian compounds are made, it denotes horses, cattle, or sheep, the farmer's stock in trade. Of course, this use is not peculiar to Australia, but it is unusually common there.

1802. G. Barrington, `History of New South Wales,' c. ix. p. 320:

"The cattle suffered much, and some of both the public and private stock perished."

<hw>Stock-agent</hw>, n. more usually in the form Stock and Station-agent. The circumstances of Australian life make this a common profession.

<hw>Stock-holder</hw>, n. a grazier; owner of large herds of cattle, or flocks of sheep.

1820. Lieut. Chas. Jeffreys, `Delineations of Van Dieman's Land' [sic], p. 25:

"Near this is the residence of D. Rose, Esq., formerly an officer of the 73rd regiment, and now a large land and stockholder."

1824. E. Curr, `Account of Van Diemen's Land,' p. 83:

"The most negligent stock-holders now carefully house their wool, and many take the trouble to wash their sheep."

<hw>Stock-horse</hw>, n. horse accustomed to go after cattle used in mustering and cutting-out (q.v.).

1874. W. H. L. Ranken, `Dominion of Australia,' c. vi. p. 122:

"The Australian stock-horse is a wonderful animal. . . . He has a wonderful constitution, splendid feet, great endurance, and very good temper."

1890. `The Argus,' June 14, p.4, col. 1:

"A twenty-year-old stock-horse."

<hw>Stock-hut</hw>, n. the hut of a stock-man.

1833. C. Sturt, `Southern Australia,' vol. ii. c. ii. p. 21:

"We crossed the Underaliga creek a little below the stock-hut."

<hw>Stock-keep</hw>, v. a quaint compound verb.

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Colonial Reformer,' c. x. p. 96 (1890):

"`What can you do, young man?' `Well, most things . . . fence, split, milk, drive bullocks, stock-keep, plough."

<hw>Stock-keeper</hw>, n. equivalent to a shepherd, or herdsman.

1821. Governor Macquarie, `Government Notice,' June 30, 1821, in E. Curr's `Van Diemen's Land' (1824), p. 154:

"To yard the flocks at night . . . for the purpose of keeping the stock-keepers in check, and sufficient shepherds should be kept to ensure constant attention to the flock."

1828. Governor Arthur in J. Bischoff's `Van Diemen's Land,' 1832, p. 185:

"Every kind of injury committed against the defenceless natives by the stock-keepers."

<hw>Stock-man</hw>, n. used in Australia for a man employed to look after stock.

1821. Governor Macquarie, `Government Notice,' June 30, 1821, in E. Curr's `Van Diemen's Land' (edition 1824), p. 155:

"It is the common practice with owners of flocks to allow their shepherds to acquire and keep sheep . . . it affords to the stock-men a cover frequently for disposing dishonestly of sheep belonging to their master."

1822. G. W. Evans, `Description of Van Diemen's Land,' p. 68:

"At its junction there is a fine space, named by the stockmen Native Hut Valley."

1833. C. Sturt,' Southern Australia,'vol. i. c. i. p. 6:

"He was good enough to send for the stockman (or chief herdsman)."

1846. J L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. ii. c. xii. p. 402:

"An exchange of looks I caught the overseer and stockman indulging in."

1854. W. Golder, `Pigeons' Parliament,' p. 96:

"Here and there a stockman's cottage stands."

1882. A. J. Boyd, `Old Colonials,' p. 5:

"Would you still exchange your comfortable home and warm fireside . . . for a wet blanket, a fireless camp, and all the other etceteras of the stockman's life?"

1886. H. C. Kendall, `Poems,' p. 17:

"One stooped--a stockman from the nearer hills To loose his wallet strings."

<hw>Stock-rider</hw>, n. a man employed to look after cattle, properly on an unfenced station.

1870. A. L. Gordon, `Bush Ballads' [Title]:

"The Sick Stock-rider."

1892. Gilbert Parker, `Round the Compass in Australia,' p. 33:

"`Thus far into the bowels of the land Have we marched on without impediment,'

said a lithe-limbed stock-rider, bearded like a pard, as he lit his pipe--the bushman's only friend. And this was once a fellow of St. John's, Cambridge."

<hw>Stock-riding</hw>, n. the occupation of a Stock-rider (q.v.).

1880. Fison and Howitt, `Kamilaroi and Kurnai,' p. 260 [Footnote]:

"Like other Australian aborigines, the Kurnai have a natural aptitude for stock-riding."

<hw>Stock-route</hw>, n. When land is first let in surveyed blocks to a Squatter (q.v.), and is, of course, unfenced, the lessee is required by law to leave passages through it from two to four chains wide, at certain intervals, as a right-of-way for travelling sheep and cattle. These are called Stock-routes. He may fence these routes if he chooses--which he very rarely does--but if he fences across the route he must provide gates or slip-rails (q.v.), or other free passage.

1896. `The Argus,' May 21, p. 5, Col. 1:

"To-day the Land Board dealt with the application for the re-appraisement of the Yantara pastoral holding. The manager said that owing to deterioration of the feed through the rabbits, from 9 to 10 acres were required to carry a sheep. . . . Thirteen trial wells had been put down on the holding, all of which had bottomed on a drift of salt water. Four stock routes passed through the area, one being the main stock route from South-western Queensland. . . . Wild dogs had been troublesome since the February rains. . . . There were Government bores on the run."

1896. A. B. Paterson, `Man from Snowy River,' p. 51:

"Now Saltbush Bill was a drover tough, as ever the country
knew,
He had fought his way on the Great Stock Routes from the
sea to the Big Barcoo."

<hw>Stock-up</hw>, v. complete the number of animals on a station, so that it may carry its full complement.

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Squatter's Dream,' c. vii. p. 68:

"I shall decide to stock up as soon as the fences are finished."

<hw>Stock-whip</hw>, n. whip for driving cattle. See quotations.

1857. W. Howitt, `Tallangetta,' vol. i. p. 100:

"The stock-whip, with a handle about half a yard long and a thong of three yards long, of plaited bullock-hide, is a terrible instrument in the hands of a practised stockman. Its sound is the note of terror to the cattle; it is like the report of a blunderbuss, and the stockman at full gallop will hit any given spot on the beast that he is within reach of, and cut the piece away through the thickest hide that bull or bison ever wore."

1870. A. L. Gordon, `Bush Ballads,' p. 14:

"With a running fire of stock-whips and a fiery run of hoofs."

1872. C. H. Eden, `My Wife and I in Queensland,' p. 76:

"The stock-whip, which bears such a prominent part in all dealings with cattle, is from twelve to fourteen feet in length, with a short light handle of about fourteen inches long, to which it is attached by a leather keeper as on a hunting crop. . . . The whip is made of a carefully selected strip of green hide, great attention having been paid to curing it."

<hw>Stocks-man</hw>, n. an unusual form for Stock-man (q.v.).

1862. F. J. Jobson, `Australia,' c. vi. p. 145:

"We saw the stocksman seated upon his bony long-limbed steed."

<hw>Stone-lifter</hw>, n. a Melbourne name for the fish Kathetostoma laeve, Bl., family Trachinidae, one of the genera of the "Stargazers" (Uranoscopina), which have eyes on the surface of the head.

<hw>Stonewall</hw>, v. intr. (1) A Parliamentary term: to make use of the forms of the House so as to delay public business.

(2) To obstruct business at any meeting, chiefly by long-winded speeches.

(3) To play a slow game at cricket, blocking balls rather than making runs.

1876. `Victorian Hansard,' Jan., vol. xxii. p. 1387:

"Mr. G. Paton Smith wished to ask the honourable member for Geelong West whether the six members sitting beside him (Mr. Berry) constituted the `stone wall' that had been spoken of? Did they constitute the stone wall which was to oppose all progress--to prevent the finances being dealt with and the business of the country carried on? It was like bully Bottom's stone wall. It certainly could not be a very high wall, nor a very long wall, if it only consisted of six."

1884. G. W. Rusden, `History of Australia,' vol. iii. p. 405:

"Abusing the heroic words of Stonewall Jackson, the Opposition applied to themselves the epithet made famous by the gallant Confederate General."

1894. `The Argus,' Jan. 26, p. 3, col. 5:

"The Tasmanians [sc. cricketers] do not as a rule stonewall."

<hw>Stonewood</hw>, n. Callistemon salignus, De C., N.O. Myrtaceae; called also the River Tea-tree.

1894. `Melbourne Museum Catalogue--Economic Woods,' No. 48:

"Stonewood."

<hw>Store</hw>, n. a bullock, cow, or sheep bought to be fattened for the market.

1874. W. H. L. Ranken, `Dominion of Australia,' c. xiii. p. 233:

"They then, if `stores,' pass to the rich salt-bush country of Riverina."

<hw>Store-cattle</hw>, n. lean cattle bought to be fattened for the market; often contracted to stores (q.v.).

1885. R. M. Praed, `Head-Station,' p. 74:

"Oh, we're not fit for anything but store-cattle: we are all blady grass."

<hw>Stranger</hw>, n. name given in Victoria and Tasmania to the Rock-Whiting, Odax richardsoni, Gunth., family Labridae. The Stranger, which is a marine fish, is caught occasionally in the fresher water of the upper estuary of the Derwent; hence its name. See Whiting.

1875. `Spectator' (Melbourne), June 19, 1881, p. 1:

"Common fish such as . . . garfish, strangers, silvers, and others.'

<hw>Stringy-bark</hw>, n. (1) any one of various Gums, with a tough fibrous bark used for tying, for cordage, for roofs of huts, etc.

1845. J. O. Balfour, `Sketch of New South Wales,' p. 37:

"The string bark [sic] tree is also useful, and its bark, which is of a fibrous texture, often more than an inch in thickness, parts easily from the wood, and may be obtained ten or twelve feet in length, and seven or eight in breadth."

1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 73:

"The natives appear also to like the fruit of the pandanus, of which large quantities are found in their camps, soaking in water contained in vessels formed of stringy-bark."

1850. J. B. Clutterbuck, `Port Phillip in 1849,' p. 27:

"In truth, the forests of Australia (consisting principally of woods of iron-bark, stringy-bark, and other species of the Eucalyptus) seen at a distance, just before sunset, are noble objects--perfect pictures."

1862. G. T. Lloyd, `Thirty-three Years in Tasmania and Victoria,' p. 29:

"The stringy bark tree is so named from the ropy nature of its bark, which is frequently used for tying on the rods and thatch of sheds, huts, and barns in the country."

1862. W. Archer, `Products of Tasmania,' p. 39:

"Gum-topped String-bark, sometimes called white gum (Eucalyptus gigantea, var.). A tree resembling the Blue Gum in foliage, with rough bark similar to Stringy Bark towards the stem."

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. p. 237:

"Stringy-bark trees were also seen--so called, because the rough bark has a brown tenacious fibre, like that of the cocoanut, which can be split off in sheets to make the roofs of houses, or unravelled into a fibre that will tie like string."

1868. Carleton, `Australian Nights,' p. 2:

"The mia-mia that the native dark Had formed from sheets of stringy bark."

1873. T. Laslett, `Timber and Timber Trees,' p. 204:

"The Stringy-bark tree is of straight growth, and takes its name from the strip-like character of its bark. . . . The wood is of a brown colour, hard, heavy, strong and close in the grain. It works up well . . . in ship-building, for planking, beams, keels and keelsons, and in civil architecture for joists, flooring, etc. Upon the farms it is used for fences and agricultural implements: it is also employed for furniture and for all ordinary purposes."

1880. Fison and Howitt, `Kamilaroi and Kurnai,' p. 196:

"Down to the waist they are all wound round with frayed stringy-bark in thick folds."

1894. `The Age,' Oct. 19, p. 5, col. 8:

"Granite and stringy-bark are always associated with `hungry' country."

(2) Bush slang for bad whisky.

1890. A. J. Vogan, `The Black Police,' p. 217:

"Stringy-bark, a curious combination of fusil oil and turpentine, labelled `whisky.'"

<hw>Stringy-bark</hw>, adj. equivalent to "bush."

1833. Oct. `New South Wales Magazine,' vol. 1. p. 173:

". . . the workmanship of which I beg you will not scrutinize, as I am but, to use a colonial expression, `a stringy-bark carpenter.'"

1853. C. Rudston Read, `What I Heard, Saw, and Did at the Australian Gold Fields,' p. 53:

". . . after swimming a small river about 100 yards wide he'd arrive at old Geordy's, a stringy bark settler . . ."

<hw>Sturt's Desert Pea</hw>, n. a beautiful creeper, Clianthus dampieri, Cunn., N.O. Leguminosae, which will only grow in very dry, sandy soil. It is sometimes called Lobster's Claw, from its clusters of brilliant scarlet flowers with black-purple centres, like a lobster's claw. Called also Glory Pea (q.v.). See Clianthus.

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. p. 29:

"Amongst which appears the beautiful Clianthus, known to the colonists as Sturt's desert pea."

[Footnote]: "Woodward in `Dampier's Voyages,' vol. iii. cap. 4, pl. 2. The plant is there called Colutea Novae-Hollandiae. Its name now is Clianthus Dampieri. R. Brown proposed the name of Eremocharis, from the Greek 'eraemos, desert."

[Dampier's voyage was made in 1699, and the book published in 1703. Mr. Woodward contributed notes on the plants brought home by Dampier.]

<hw>Stump-jump Plough</hw>, n. a farm implement, invented in Australia, for ploughing the wheat-lands, which are often left with the stumps of the cleared trees not eradicated.

1896. `Waybrook Implement Company' (Advt.):

"It is only a very few years since it came into use, and no one ever thought it was going to turn a trackless scrub into a huge garden. But now from the South Australian border right through to the Murray, farms and comfortable homesteads have taken the place of dense scrub. This last harvest, over three hundred thousand bags of wheat were delivered at Warracknabeal, and this wonderful result must, in the main, be put down to the Stump-jump Plough. It has been one of the best inventions this colony has ever been blessed with."

<hw>Stump-tailed Lizard</hw>, n. an Australian lizard, Trachydosaurus rugosus, Gray.

<hw>Styphelia</hw>, n. scientific name of a genus of shrubby plants of New Zealand and Australia, of the N.O. Epacrideae. It contains the Five-Corners (q.v.).

1793. J. E. Smith, `Specimen of the Botany of New Holland,' p. 46:

"We adopt Dr. Solander's original name Styphelia, derived from stuphelos, harsh, hard, or firm, expressive of the habit of the whole genus and indeed of the whole natural order."

<hw>Sucker</hw>, n. name given in New Zealand to the fish Diplocrepis puniceus, Rich., family Gobiesocidae. This is a family of small, marine, littoral fishes provided with a ventral disc, or adhesive apparatus. Other genera of the family occur in Australasia.

<hw>Sugar</hw>, n. slang for money. It may be doubted if it is specially Australian.

1887. J. Bonwick, `Romance of Wool Trade,' p. 273 (quoting `Victoria, the El Dorado'):

"I hear him sing out `sold again, and got the sugar' (a colonial slang word for ready money); `half a sheep for a shilling.'"

<hw>Sugar-Ant</hw>, n. a small ant, known in many parts of Australia by this name because of its fondness for sweet things.

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

"The sun reaches a sugar-ant and rouses him from his winter sleep. Out he scurries, glad to greet the warmth, and tracks hurriedly around. He feels the sun, but the cold damp ground tells him the time is not yet come when at evening he will sally forth in long columns over the soft warm dust in search of the morrow's meal; so, dazzled by the unaccustomed glare, he seeks his hiding-place once more."

<hw>Sugar-bag</hw>, n. nest of honey, and the honey.

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 67:

"The regular sharp chop-chop of the tomahawks could be heard here and there, where some of them had discovered a sugar-bag (nest of honey) or a 'possum on a tree."

Ibid. vol. ii. p. 129:

"The tiny bee which manufactures his adored chewgah-bag."

[Footnote: "Sugar-bag--the native pigeon-English word for honey."]

<hw>Sugar-Grass</hw>, n. an Australian grass, Erianthus fulvus, Kunth., N.O. Gramineae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 106:

"The `Sugar Grass' of colonists, so called on account of its sweetness; it is highly productive, and praised by stockowners. Cattle eat it close down, and therefore it is in danger of extermination, but it is readily raised from seed."

<hw>Sugar-Gum</hw>, n. an Australian Gum, Eucalyptus corynocalyx of South Australia and North-Western Victoria. The foliage is sweet, and attractive to cattle. See Gum.

<hw>Sultana-bird</hw>, n. a name for the Swamp-Hen (q.v.), Porphyrio melanonotus, Temm.

1872. A. Domett, `Ranolf,' p. 223:

"Black sultana-birds, blue-breasted as deep ocean."

<hw>Summer-bird</hw>, n. the Old Colonists' name for the Wood-swallows. See Swallow. In Tasmania it is applied to a species of Shrike, Graucalus melanops, Lath. The name refers to the migratory habits of both birds.

1895. C. French, Government entomologist, letter to `Argus,' Nov. 29:

"The wood-swallows, known to us old colonists as summer birds, are migratory, making their appearance about September and disappearing about the end of January."

<hw>Summer Country</hw>, n. In New Zealand (South Island), country which can be used in summer only; mountain land in Otago and Canterbury, above a certain level.

<hw>Sun-bird</hw>, n. a common name of various birds. Applied in Australia to Cinnyris frenata, Mull.

1869. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia' (Supplement), pl. 45:

"`This pretty Sun-bird,' says Mr. MacGillivray, `appears to be distributed along the whole of the northeast coast of Australia, the adjacent islands, and the whole of the islands in Torres Straits.'"

<hw>Sundew</hw>, n. There are many species of this flower in Australia and Tasmania, most of them peculiar to Australasia; Drosera spp., N.O. Droseraceae.

1888. `Cassell's Picturesque Australasia,' vol. ii. p. 236:

"Smooth, marshy meadows, gleaming with the ruby stars of millions of tiny little sundews."

<hw>Sundowner</hw>, n. a tramp who takes care to arrive at a station at sundown, so that he shall be provided with `tucker' (q.v.) at the squatter's cost: one of those who go about the country seeking work and devoutly hoping they may not find it.

1880. G. n. Oakley, in `Victoria in 1880,' p. 114 [Title of poem of seventeen stanzas]:

"The Sundowner."

1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 32:

"When the real `sundowner' haunts these banks for a season, he is content with a black pannikin, a clasp knife, and a platter whittled out of primaeval bark."

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

"Sundowners are still the plague of squatocracy, their petition for `rashons' and a bed amounting to a demand."

1891. F. Adams, `John Webb's End,' p. 34:

"`Swagsmen' too, genuine, or only `sundowners,'--men who loaf about till sunset, and then come in with the demand for the unrefusable `rations.'"

1892. `Scribner's Magazine,' Feb., p. 143:

"They swell the noble army of swagmen or sundowners, who are chiefly the fearful human wrecks which the ebbing tide of mining industry has left stranded in Australia."

[This writer does not differentiate between Swagman (q.v.) and Sundowner.]

1893. `Sydney Morning Herald,' Aug. 12, p. 8, col. 7:

"Numbers of men who came to be known by the class name of `sundowners,' from their habit of straggling up at fall of evening with the stereotyped appeal for work; and work being at that hour impossible, they were sent to the travellers' hut for shelter and to the storekeeper or cook for the pannikin of flour, the bit of mutton, the sufficiency of tea for a brew, which made up a ration."

1896. `Windsor Magazine,' Dec., p. 132:

"`Here,' he remarked, `is a capital picture of a Queensland sundowner.' The picture represented a solitary figure standing in pathetic isolation on a boundless plain. `A sundowner?' I queried. `Yes; the lowest class of nomad. For days they will tramp across the plains carrying, you see, their supply of water. They approach a station only at sunset, hence the name. At that hour they know they will not be turned away.' `Do they take a day's work?' `Not they! There is an old bush saying, that the sundowner's one request is for work, and his one prayer is that be may not find it.'"

<hw>Super</hw>, n. short for superintendent, sc. of a station.

1870. A. L. Gordon, `Bush Ballads,' p. 23:

"What's up with our super to-night? The man's mad."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Colonial Reformer,' c. ix. p. 83:

"That super's a growlin' ignorant beggar as runs a feller from daylight to dark for nothing at all."

1890. `The Argus,' June 10, p. 4, col. 1:

"He . . . bragged of how he had bested the super who tried to `wing him' in the scrub."

<hw>Superb-Dragon</hw>, n. an Australian marine fish, Phyllopteryx foliatus, Shaw. See Sea-Dragon.

1880. Mrs. Meredith, `Tasmanian Friends and Foes,' pl. 7:

"`Superb-Dragon--Phyllopteryx Foliatus.' This is one of the `Pipe fishes,' order Lophobranchii. It has been compared to the ghost of a seahorse (Hippocampus) with its winding sheet all in ribbons around it; and the tattered cerements are like in shape and colour to the seaweed it frequents, so that it hides and feeds in safety. The long ends of ribs which seem to poke through the skin to excite our compassion are really `protective resemblances,' and serve to allure the prey more effectually within reach of these awful ghouls. Just as the leaf-insect is imitative of a leaf, and the staff insect of a twig, so here is a fish like a bunch of seaweed. (Tenison-Woods.)" [Compare Phasmid.]

<hw>Superb-Warbler</hw>, n. any Australian bird of the genus Malurus (q.v.), especially M. cyaneus, the Blue Wren.

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 80:

"We also observed the Superb Warbler, Malurus cyaneus, of Sydney."

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. iii. pl. 18:

"Malurus Cyaneus, Vieill., Blue Wren; Superb Warbler of the Colonists."

1896. F. G. Aflalo, `Natural History of Australia,' p. 136:

"The best known are . . . and the Blue Wren or Superb Warbler (Malurus cyaneus), both of which I have repeatedly watched in the Sydney Botanic Gardens. . . . They dart about the pathways like mice, but rarely seem to fly. There are a dozen other Superb Warblers."

<hw>Supple-jack</hw>, n. The word is English in the sense of a strong cane, and is the name of various climbing shrubs from which the canes are cut; especially in America. In Australia, the name is given to similar creeping plants, viz.--Ventilago viminalis, Hook., N.O. Rhamnaceae; Clematis aristata, R. Br., N.O. Ranunculaceae. In New Zealand, to Ripogonum (spp.).

1818. `History of New South Wales,' p. 47:

"The underwood is in general so thick and so bound together by that kind of creeping shrub called supple-jack, interwoven in all directions, as to be absolutely impenetrable."

1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 218:

"After a tedious march . . . along a track constantly obstructed by webs of the kareau, or supple-jack, we came to the brow of a descent."

1857. C. Hursthouse, `New Zealand, the Britain of the South,' vol. i. p. 135:

"Supple-jack snares, root-traps, and other parasitical impediments."

1867. F. Hochstetter, `New Zealand,' p. 135:

"Two kinds of creepers extremely molesting and troublesome, the so-called `supple-jack' of the colonists (Ripogonum parviflorum), in the ropelike creeping vines of which the traveller finds himself every moment entangled."

1872. A. Domett, `Ranolf,' p. 11:

"The tangles black
Of looped and shining supple jack."

1874. W. M. B., `Narrative of Edward Crewe,' p. 199:

The supple-jack, that stopper to all speedy progression in the New Zealand forest."

1881. J.L. Campbell, `Poenamo,' p. 154:

"Forty or fifty feet of supple-jack. This creeper is of the thickness of your finger, and runs along the ground, and goes up the trees and springs across from one tree to the other, spanning great gaps in some mysterious manner of its own--a tough, rascally creeper that won't break, that you can't twist in two, that you must cut, that trips you by the foot or the leg, and sometimes catches you by the neck . . . so useful withal in its proper places."

1882. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' p. 71:

"Threading with somewhat painful care intricacies formed by loops and snares of bewildering supple-jacks, that living study of Gordian entanglement, nature-woven, for patient exercise of hand and foot."

1892. A. Sutherland, `Elementary Geography of British Colonies,' p. 309:

"Laced together by creepers called supple-jacks, which twine and twist for hundreds of yards, with stems as thick as a man's wrist, so as to make the forests impassable except with axes and immense labour."

<hw>Surfacing</hw>, n. (1) Wash-dirt lying on the surface of the ground.

(2) verbal n. Gold-digging on the surface of the ground.

1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 133:

"What is termed `surfacing' consists of simply washing the soil on the surface of the ground, which is occasionally auriferous."

1861. Mrs. Meredith, `Over the Straits,' c. iv. p. 133:

"I've been surfacing this good while; but quartz-reefin's the payinest game, now."

1866. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches' [Second Series], p. 133:

"What is termed `surfacing' consists of simply washing the soil on the surface of the ground, which is occasionally auriferous."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Miner's Right,' c. xv. p. 153:

"They have been mopping up some rich surfacing."

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

"`Surfacing' or `loaming.' Small canvas bags are carried by the prospector, and top soil from various likely-looking spots gathered and put into them, the spots being marked to correspond with the bags. The contents are then panned off separately, and if gold is found in any one of the bags the spot is again visited, and the place thoroughly overhauled, even to trenching for the reef."

<hw>Swag</hw>, n. (1) Used in the early days, and still by the criminal class, in the ordinary sense of Thieves' English, as booty, plunder.

1837. J. Mudie, `Felonry of New South Wales,' p. 181:

"In short, having brought with her a supply of the `swag,' as the convicts call their ill-gotten cash, a wife seldom fails of having her husband assigned to her, in which case the transported felon finds himself his own master."

1879. R. H. Barham, `Ingoldsby Legends' (Misadventures at Margate):

"A landsman said, `I twig the drop,--he's been upon the mill, And `cause he gammons so the flats, ve calls him Veepin' Bill.' He said `he'd done me very brown, and neatly stowed the swag,' -That's French, I fancy, for a hat,--or else a carpet-bag."

(2) A special Australian use: a tramp's bundle, wrapt up in a blanket, called a Bluey (q.v.). Used also for a passenger's luggage.

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 59:

"A number of the slang phrases current in St. Giles's Greek bid fair to become legitimatized in the dictionary of this colony: plant, swag, pulling up, and other epithets of the Tom and Jerry school, are established--the dross passing here as genuine, even among all ranks."

1853. S. Sidney, `Three Colonies of Australia,' p. 361:

"His leathern overalls, his fancy stick, and his `swag' done up in mackintosh."

1855. W. Howitt, `Two Years in Victoria,' vol. i. p. 384:

"There were others with huge swags suspended from a pole, with which they went on, like the Children of Israel carrying the gigantic bunches of the grapes of Canaan."

1865. J. O. Tucker, `Australian Story,' c. i. p. 86:

"The cumbrous weight of blankets that comprised my swag."

1867. Lady Barker, `Station Life in New Zealand,' p. 127:

"A pair of large double blankets to make the tent of,--that was one swag, and a very unwieldy one it was, strapped knapsack fashion, with straps of flax leaves."

1868. J. Bonwick, `John Batman, Founder of Victoria,' p. 51:

"Three white men, the Sydney natives, and Batman, who carried his swag the same as the rest, all armed."

1871. C. L. Money, `Knocking About in New Zealand,' p. 9:

"With my rug and blankets on my back (such a bundle being called a `swag')."

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 285:

"Swag, which consists of his personal properties rolled up in a blanket."

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

"His cumbrous attire and the huge swag which lay across the seat."

1888. A. Reischek, in Buller's `Birds of New Zealand,' vol. ii. p. 93:

"With the hope that there would now be a few fine days, I at once packed up my swag with provisions, ammunition, blanket, &c."

1892. `The Australasian,' May 7, p. 903, col. 1:

"Kenneth, in front, reminded me comically of Alice's White Knight, what with the billies dancing and jingling on his back, and the tomahawk in his belt, and his large swag in front."

1896. H. Lawson, `When the World was Wide,' p. 95:

"I suppose he's tramping somewhere,
Where the bushmen carry swags,
Cadging round the wretched stations
With his empty tucker-bags."

<hw>Swag</hw>, v. to tramp the bush, carrying a swag.

1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 5:

"There was the solitary pedestrian, with the whole of his supplies, consisting of a blanket and other necessary articles, strapped across his shoulders--this load is called the `swag,' and the mode of travelling `swagging it.'"

<hw>Swag-like</hw>, adv. in the fashion of a swag.

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

"He strapped the whole lot together, swag-like."

<hw>Swagger</hw>, n. Same as Swagman (q.v.). Specially used in New Zealand. The word has also the modern English slang sense.

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