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

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

Australia.]

<hw>Australasia</hw>, n. (and its adjectives), name

"given originally by De Brosses to one of his three divisions

of the alleged Terra australis." (`O.E.D.') Now used as

a larger term than Australian, to include the continent of

Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, Fiji and islands. For

peculiar use of the name for the Continent in 1793, see

Australia.

1756. Charles de Brosses, `Histoire des Navigations aux Terres

Australes,' tom. i. p. 80:

"On peut de meme diviser le monde austral inconnu en trois

portions. .. .L'une dans l'ocean des Indes au sud de l'Asie que

j'appellerai par cette raison australasie."

1766. Callander, `Terra Australis,' i. p. 49 (Translation of

de Brosses)(`O.E.D.):

"The first [division] in the Indian Ocean, south of Asia, which

for this reason we shall call Australasia."

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

"Other Australasian snakes."

1823. Subject for English poem at Cambridge University:

`Australasia.'

[The prize (Chancellor's Medal) was won by Winthrop Mackworth

Praed. William Charles Wentworth stood second.] The concluding

lines of his poem are:

"And Australasia float, with flag unfurl'd,

A new Britannia in another world."

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

"How far had these ideas been acted upon by the Colonists of

Austral Asia?" [sic.]

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

"`The Austral-Asiatic Review,' by Murray, also made its

appearance [in Hobart] in February, 1828."

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

" Katie walks

By the long wash of Australasian seas

Far off, and holds her head to other stars,

And breathes in converse seasons."

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

1857. Daniel Bunce [Title]:

"Australasiatic reminiscences."

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

"The Australasian."

1880. Alfred R. Wallace [Title]:

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

Travel.']

1881. David Blair [Title]:

"Cyclopaedia of Australasia."

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

"It was neither Cockney nor Yankee, but a nasal blend of both:

it was a lingo that declined to let the vowels run alone, but

trotted them out in ill-matched couples, with discordant and

awful consequences; in a word, it was Australasiatic of the

worst description."

1890. `Victorian Consolidated Statutes,' Administration and

p.obate Act, Section 39:

"`Australasian Colonies,' shall mean all colonies for the time

being on the main land of Australia. ..and shall also include

the colonies of New Zealand, Tasmania and Fiji and any other

British Colonies or possessions in Australasia now existing or

hereafter to be created which the Governor in Council may from

time to time declare to be Australasian Colonies within the

meaning of this Act."

1895. Edward Jenks [Title]:

"History of the Australasian Colonies."

1896. J. S. Laurie [Title]:

"The Story of Australasia."

<hw>Australia</hw>, n., and <hw>Australian</hw>,

adj. As early as the 16th century there was a belief in

a Terra australis (to which was often added the epithet

incognita), literally "southern land," which was

believed to be land lying round and stretching outwards from

the South Pole.

In `Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of

Australasia,' Sydney, Jan. 1892, is printed a paper read at the

Geographical Congress at Berne, by E. Delmar Morgan, on the

`Early Discovery of Australia.' This paper is illustrated by

maps taken from `Nordenskiold's Atlas.' In a map by Orontius

Finoeus, a French cosmographer of Provence, dated 1531, the

Terra australis is shown as "Terra Australis recenter

inventa, sed nondum plene cognita." In Ortelius' Map, 1570, it

appears as "Terra Australis nondum cognita." In Gerard

Mercator's Map, 1587, as "Terra Australis" simply.

In 1606 the Spaniard Fernandez de Quiros gave the name of

Terra Australis del Espiritu Santo to land which he

thought formed part of the Great Southland. It is in fact one

of the New Hebrides.

The word "Australian " is older than "Australia"

(see quotations, 1693 and 1766). The name Australia was

adapted from the Latin name Terra Australis. The

earliest suggestion of the word is credited to Flinders, who

certainly thought that he was inventing the name. (See

quotation, 1814.) Twenty-one years earlier, however, the word

is found (see quotation, 1793); and the passage containing it

is the first known use of the word in print. Shaw may thus be

regarded as its inventor. According to its title-page, the

book quoted is by two authors, the Zoology, by Shaw and

the Botany by Smith. The Botany, however, was

not published. Of the two names--Australia and

Australasia--suggested in the opening of the quotation,

to take the place of New Holland, Shaw evidently favoured

Australia, while Smith, in the `Transactions of the

Linnaean Society,' vol. iv. p. 213 (1798), uses

Australasia for the continent several times. Neither

name, however, passed then into general use. In 1814, Robert

Brown the Botanist speaks of "Terra Australis," not of

"Australia." "Australia" was reinvented by Flinders.

Quotations for " Terra Australis"--

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

"For the site, if you will needs urge me to it, I am not fully

resolved, it may be in Terra Australis incognita, there

is room enough (for of my knowledge, neither that hungry

Spaniard nor Mercurius Britannicus have yet discovered half of

it)."

Ibid. p. 314:

"Terra Australis incognita. ..and yet in likelihood it

may be so, for without all question, it being extended from the

tropic of Capricorn to the circle Antarctic, and lying as it

doth in the temperate zone, cannot choose but yield in time

some flourishing kingdoms to succeeding ages, as America did

unto the Spaniards."

Ibid. p. 619:

"But these are hard-hearted, unnatural, monsters of men,

shallow politicians, they do not consider that a great part of

the world is not yet inhabited as it ought, how many colonies

into America, Terra Australis incognita, Africa may be

sent?"

Early quotations for "Australian"

1693. `Nouveau Voyage de la Terre Australe, contenant les

Coutumes et les Moeurs des Australiens, etc.' Par Jaques

Sadeur [Gabriel de Foigny].

[This is a work of fiction, but interesting as being the first

book in which the word Australiens is used. The next

quotation is from the English translation.]

1693. `New Discovery, Terra Incognita Australis,' p. 163

(`O.E.D.'):

"It is easy to judge of the incomparability of the Australians

with the people of Europe."

1766. Callander, `Terra Australis' (Translation of De Brosses),

c. ii. p. 280:

"One of the Australians, or natives of the Southern World,

whom Gonneville had brought into France."

Quotations for "Australia"

1793. G. Shaw and I. E. Smith, `Zoology and Botany of New

Holland,' p. 2:

"The vast Island or rather Continent of Australia, Australasia,

or New Holland, which has so lately attracted the particular

attention of European navigators and naturalists, seems to

abound in scenes of peculiar wildness and sterility; while the

wretched natives of many of those dreary districts seem less

elevated above the inferior animals than in any other part of

the known world; Caffraria itself not excepted; as well as less

indued with the power of promoting a comfortable existence by

an approach towards useful arts and industry. It is in these

savage regions however that Nature seems to have poured forth

many of her most highly ornamented products with unusual

liberality."

1814. M. Flinders, `Voyage to Terra Australis,' Introduction,

p. iii. and footnote:

"I have . . . ventured upon the readoption of the original

Terra Australis, and of this term I shall hereafter make

use, when speaking of New Holland [sc. the West] and New

South Wales, in a collective sense; and when using it in the

most extensive signification, the adjacent isles, including

that of Van Diemen, must be understood to be comprehended."

[Footnote]: "Had I permitted myself any innovation upon the

original term, it would have been to convert it into Australia;

as being more agreeable to the ear, and an assimilation to the

names of the other great portions of the earth."

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

vol. i. p. 9:

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

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

"Farewell, Australia! You are a rising child, and doubtless

some day will reign a great princess in the South; but you are

too great and ambitious for affection, yet not great enough for

respect. I leave your shores without sorrow or regret."

1852. A Liverpool Merchant [Title]:

"A Guide to Australia and the Gold Regions."

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' c. viii. (new

ed.) p. 152:

"The colonies are determined to be separate. Australia is a

term that finds no response in the patriotic feeling of any

Australian. . . . But this will come to an end sooner or later.

The name of Australia will be dearer, if not greater, to

Australian ears than the name of Great Britain."

[Mr. Trollope's prophecy has come true, and the name of

Australia is now dearer to an Australian than the name of his

own separate colony. The word "Colonial" as indicating

Australian nationality is going out of fashion. The word

"Australian" is much preferred.]

1878. F. P. Labilliere, `Early History of the Colony of

Victoria,' vol. i. p. 184:

"In a despatch to Lord Bathurst, of April 4th, 1817, Governor

Macquarie acknowledges the receipt of Captain Flinders's charts

of `Australia.' This is the first time that the name of

Australia appears to have been officially employed. The

Governor underlines the word. . . . In a private letter to

Mr. Secretary Goulbourn, M.P., of December 21st, 1817, [he]says

. . . `the Continent of Australia, which, I hope, will be the

name given to this country in future, instead of the very

erroneous and misapplied name hitherto given it of New Holland,

which, properly speaking, only applies to a part of this

immense Continent.'"

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

"It is pleasant to reflect that the name Australia was selected

by the gallant Flinders; though, with his customary modesty, he

suggested rather than adopted it."

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

"Condemning the absurd practice of using the word `Colonial' in

connection with our wines, instead of the broader and more

federal one, `Australian.' In England our artists, cricketer,

scullers, and globe-trotters are all spoken of and acknowledged

as Australians, and our produce, with the exception of wine, is

classed as follows:--Australian gold and copper, Australian

beef and mutton, Australian butter, Australian fruits, &c."

Ibid. p. 14:

"Merops or Bee-Eater. A tribe [of birds] which appears to be

peculiarly prevalent in the extensive regions of Australia."

<hw>Australian</hw> flag, n. Hot climate and country

work have brought in a fashion among bushmen of wearing a belt

or leather strap round the top of trousers instead of braces.

This often causes a fold in the shirt protruding all round from

under the waistcoat, which is playfully known as "the

Australian flag." Slang.

<hw>Australioid</hw> and <hw>Australoid</hw>, adj. like

Australian, sc. aboriginal--a term used by ethnologists. See

quotations.

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

"The Australoid type contains all the inhabitants of Australia

and the native races of the Deccan."

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

"He [Professor Huxley] distinguishes four principal types of

mankind, the Australioid, Negroid, Mongoloid, and Xanthochroic,

adding a fifth variety, the Melanochroic. The special points

of the Australioid are a chocolate-brown skin, dark brown or

black eyes, black hair (usually wavy), narrow (dolichocephalic)

skull, brow-ridges strongly developed, projecting jaw, coarse

lips and broad nose. This type is best represented by the

natives of Australia, and next to them by the indigenous tribes

of Southern India, the so-called coolies."

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

Thrush.

<hw>Avocet</hw>, n. a well-known European bird-name.

The Australian species is the Red-necked A., Recurvirostra

nova-hollandiae, Vieill.

<hw>Aweto</hw>, n. Maori name for a

vegetable-caterpillar of New Zealand. See quotation.

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

". . . the aweto, or vegetable-caterpillar, called by

the naturalists Hipialis virescens. It is a perfect

caterpillar in every respect, and a remarkably fine one too,

growing to a length in the largest specimens of three and a

half inches and the thickness of a finger, but more commonly to

about a half or two-thirds of that size. . . . When

full-grown, it undergoes a miraculous change. For some

inexplicable reason, the spore of a vegetable fungus

Sphaeria Robertsii, fixes itself on its neck, or between

the head and the first ring of the caterpillar, takes root and

grows vigorously . . . exactly like a diminutive bulrush from 6

to 10 inches high without leaves, and consisting solely of a

single stem with a dark-brown felt-like head, so familiar in

the bulrushes . . . always at the foot of the rata."

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

"The dye in question was a solution of burnt or powdered resin,

or wood, or the aweto, the latter a caterpillar, which,

burrowing in the vegetable soil, gets a spore of a fungus

between the folds of its neck, and unable to free itself, the

insect's body nourishes the fungus, which vegetates and

occasions the death of the caterpillar by exactly filling the

interior of the body with its roots, always preserving its

perfect form. When properly charred this material yielded a

fine dark dye, much prized for purposes of moko." [See

Moko.]

<hw>Axe-breaker</hw>, n. name of a tree, Notelaea

longifolia, Vent., N.O. Jasmineae.

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

"Axe-breaker. Wood hard, close-grained and firm. Its

vernacular name emphasizes its hardness."

<hw>Baal</hw>, or <hw>Bail</hw>, interj. and adv.

"An aboriginal expression of disapproval." (Gilbert Parker,

Glossary to `Round the Compass in Australia,' 1888.) It was

the negative in the Sydney dialect.

1893. J. F. Hogan, `Robert Lowe,' p. 271, quoting from `The

Atlas' (circa 1845):

"Traces, however, of the Egyptian language are discoverable

among the present inhabitants, with whom, for instance, the

word `Bale' or `Baal' is in continual use . . . ." [Evidently

a joke.]

<hw>Babbler</hw>, n. a bird-name. In Europe, "name

given, on account of their harsh chattering note, to the

long-legged thrushes." (`O.E.D.') The group "contains a great

number of birds not satisfactorily located elsewhere, and has

been called the ornithological waste-basket." (`Century.') The

species are--

The Babbler--

Pomatostomus temporalis, V. and H.

Chestnut-crowned B.--

P. ruficeps, Hart.

Red-breasted B.--

P. rubeculus, Gould.

White-browed B.--

P. superciliosus, V. and H.

<hw>Back-blocks</hw>, n. (1) The far interior of

Australia, and away from settled country. Land in Australia is

divided on the survey maps into blocks, a word confined, in

England and the United States, to town lands.

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

(q.v.).

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

". . . we were doomed to see the whole of our river-frontage

purchased. . . . The back blocks which were left to us were

insufficient for the support of our flocks, and deficient in

permanent water-supply. . . ."

1880. J. Mathew, Song--`The Bushman':

"Far, far on the plains of the arid back-blocks

A warm-hearted bushman is tending his flocks.

There's little to cheer in that vast grassy sea:

But oh! he finds pleasure in thinking of me.

How weary, how dreary the stillness must be!

But oh! the lone bushman is dreaming of me."

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

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

to the sheep up here in the `backblocks.'"

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

"The back-blocks are very effectual levellers."

1893. Haddon Chambers, `Thumbnail Sketches of Australian

Life,' p. 33

"In the back-blocks of New South Wales he had known both hunger

and thirst, and had suffered from sunstroke."

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

"Although Kara is in the back-blocks of New South Wales, the

clothes and boots my brother wears come from Bond Street."

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

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

"`What a nice mare that is of yours!' said one of the

back-block youngsters."

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