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

"A roomy, roughly-finished building known as the `barracks.'

. . . . Three of the numerous bedrooms were tenanted by young

men, . . . neophytes, who were gradually assimilating the love

of Bush-land."

<hw>Barracouta</hw>, or <hw>Barracoota</hw>, n. The

name, under its original spelling of Barracuda, was

coined in the Spanish West Indies, and first applied there to a

large voracious fish, Sphyraena pecuda, family

Sphyraenidae. In Australia and New Zealand it is

applied to a smaller edible fish, Thyrsites atun,

Cuv. and Val., family Trichiuridae, called Snook

(q.v.) at the Cape of Good Hope. It is found from the Cape of

Good Hope to New Zealand.

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

"We hook the barracuda fish."

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

p. 69:

"Sphyrenidae. The first family is the barracudas, or

sea-pike." [Footnote]: "This name is no doubt the same as

Barracouta and is of Spanish origin. The application of it to

Thyrsites atun in the Southern seas was founded on some

fancied resemblance to the West Indian fish, which originally

bore the name, though of course they are entirely different."

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

compare Cornstalk.

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

(q.v.).

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

See quotation.

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

"For sheep, too, is made the `basket fence.' Stakes are driven

in, and their pliant `stuff' interwoven, as in a stake hedge in

England."

<hw>Bastard Dory</hw> and <hw>John Dory</hw> (q.v.), spelt also

<HW>Dorey</HW>, n. an Australian fish, Cyttus australis,

family Cyttidae; the Australian representative of

Zeus faber, the European "John Dory," and its close

relative, is called Bastard Dorey in New Zealand, and

also Boar-fish (q.v.).

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

"Histiopterus. . . .The species figured attains to a

length of twenty inches, and is esteemed as food. It is known

at Melbourne by the names of `Boar-fish' or `Bastard Dorey'

(fig.), Histiopterus recurvirostris."

<hw>Bastard Trumpeter</hw>, n. a fish. See Morwong,

Paper-fish, and Trumpeter. In Sydney it is

Latris ciliaris, Forst., which is called Moki in

New Zealand; in Victoria and Tasmania, L. forsteri,

Casteln.

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

"The bastard trumpeter (Latris Forsteri). . . .Scarcely

inferior to the real trumpeter, and superior to it in abundance

all the year round, comes the bastard trumpeter. . . This fish

has hitherto been confounded with Latris ciliaris

(Forst.); but, although the latter species has been reported as

existing in Tasmanian waters, it is most probably a mistake:

for the two varieties (the red and the white), found in such

abundance here, have the general characters as shown

above. . . They must be referred to the Latris Forsteri

of Count Castelnau, which appears to be the bastard trumpeter

of Victorian waters."

<hw>Bat-fish</hw>, n. The name in England is given to a

fish of the family Maltheidae. It is also applied to

the Flying Gurnard of the Atlantic and to the Californian

Sting-ray. In Australia, and chiefly in New South Wales, it is

applied to Psettus argenteus, Linn., family

Carangidae, or Horse Mackerels. Guenther says that the

"Sea Bats," which belong to the closely allied genus

Platax, are called so from the extraordinary length of

some portion of their dorsal and anal fins and of their

ventrals.

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

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

"The Bathurst bur (Xanthium spinosuzn), a plant with

long triple spines like the barbary, and burs which are ruinous

to the wool of the sheep--otherwise, itself very like a

chenopodium, or good-fat-hen."

<hw>Bats-wing-coral</hw>, n. the Australian wood

Erythrina vespertilio, Bentham, N.O. Leguminosae.

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

"Batswing Coral. . . .The wood is soft, and used by the

aborigines for making their `heilamans,' or shields. It is

exceedingly light and spongy, and of the greatest difficulty to

work up to get anything like a surface for polishing."

<hw>Bauera</hw>, n. a shrub, Bauera rubioides,

Andr., N.O. Saxifrageae, the Scrub Vine, or

Native Rose; commonly called in Tasmania "Bauera,"and

celebrated for forming impenetrable thickets in conjunction

with "cutting grass," Cladium psittacorum, Labill.

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

"Bauera rubiaefolia. Madder leaved Bauera. A pretty little

plant with pink flowers. This genus is named after the

celebrated German draughtsman, whose splendid works are yet

unrivalled in the art, especially of the Australian plants

which he depicted in his voyage round New Holland with

Capt. Flinders in the Investigator."

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

"The Bauera scrub . . . is a tiny, beautiful shrub . . . Although

the branches are thin and wiry, they are too tough and too much

entangled in mass to cut, and the only mode of progress often

is to throw one's self high upon the soft branching mass and

roll over to the other side. The progress in this way is slow,

monotonous, and exhausting."

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

"Cutting-grass swamps and the bauera, where a dog can't hardly

go,

Stringy-bark country, and blackwood beds, and lots of it broken

by snow."

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

"Interposing the even more troublesome Bauera shrub; whose

gnarled branches have earned for it the local and expressive

name of `tangle-foot' or `leg ropes.' [It] has been named by

Spicer the `Native Rose.'"

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

aboriginal drink.

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

"A good jorum of bull (washings of a sugar bag)" [given

to aborigines who have been working].

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

"The flowers are gathered, and by steeping them a night in

water the natives made a sweet beverage called `bool.'"

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

"In the flowers of a dwarf species of banksia

(B. ornata) there is a good deal of honey, and this was

got out of the flowers by immersing them in water. The water

thus sweetened was greedily swallowed by the natives. The

drink was named beal by the natives of the west of

Victoria, and was much esteemed."

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

<hw>Bean, Queensland</hw>, or <hw>Leichhardt</hw>, or

<hw>Match-box</hw>, n. Entada scandens, Benth.,

N.O. Leguminosae. Though this bean has two Australian

names, it is really widely distributed throughout the tropics.

A tall climbing plant; the seeds are used for match-boxes.

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

"The seeds are about two inches across, by half-an-inch thick,

and have a hard woody and beautifully polished shell, of a dark

brown or purplish colour. These seeds are converted into

snuff-boxes, scent-bottles, spoons, etc., and in the Indian

bazaars they are used as weights. (`Treasury of Botany.') In

the colonies we usually see the beans of this plant mounted

with silver, as match-boxes. The wood itself is soft, fibrous,

and spongy."

<hw>Bean-Tree</hw>, n. called also Moreton Bay

Chestnut, Castanospermum australe, Cunn. and Fraser,

N.O. Leguminosae; a tall tree with red flowers and large

seed-pods. The timber of young specimens has beautiful dark

clouding.

<hw>Bear, Native</hw>, n. the colonists' name for an

animal called by the aborigines Koala, Koolah, Kool-la, and

Carbora (Phascolarctus cinereus). It is a tree-climbing

marsupial, about two feet in length, like a small bear in its

heavy build. Its food is the young leaves of the Eucalyptus,

and it is said that the Native Bear cannot be taken to England

because it would die on board ship, owing to there being no

fresh gum leaves. The writers are incorrect who call the

animal a sloth.

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

p. 317

"Our coola (sloth or native bear) is about the size of an

ordinary poodle dog, with shaggy, dirty-coloured fur, no tail,

and claws and feet like a bear, of which it forms a tolerable

miniature. It climbs trees readily and feeds upon their

leaves."

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

"The bear (phascolomys) of the colonists is in reality a

species of sloth, and partakes of all the characteristics of

that animal; it is of the marsupial order, and is found chiefly

in the neighbourhood of thickly timbered high land; its flesh

is used by the aborigines for food, but is tough and

unpalatable; its usual weight is from eight to twelve pounds."

[Note: Phascolomys is the name of the Wombat, not the

Bear.]

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

"The luckless carbora fell crashing through the

branches." [Footnote] "The native name of an animal of the

sloth species, but incorrectly called by the colonists a bear."

1855. W. Blandowski, `Transactions of Philosophical Society of

Victoria,' vol. i. p. 68:

"The koala or karbor (Phascolarctus cinereus) frequents

very high trees, and sits in places where it is most sheltered

by the branches. . . . Its fur is of the same colour as the

bark . . . like the cat has the power of contracting and

expanding the pupil of the eye . . . . Its skin is remarkably

thick . . . dense woolly fur . . . . The natives aver that the

koala never drinks water."

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and

Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. p. 448:

"They were soon entirely out of provisions, but found a sort of

substitute by living on the native bear (Phascolarctus

cinereus), which was plentiful even in the forests."

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

"Look, high up in the branches of that tall tree is a native

bear! It sits motionless. It has something the appearance of

a solemn old man. How funny his great ears and Roman nose

look! He sits on the branch as if it was a chair, holding with

hand-like claws the surrounding twigs."

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

"We learned that a koala or native bear (Phascolarctus

cinereus) was sitting on a tree near the but of a

shepherd . . . not a dangerous animal. It is called `native

bear,' but is in no wise related to the bear family. It is an

innocent and peaceful marsupial, which is active only at night,

and sluggishly climbs the trees, eating leaves and sleeping

during the whole day. As soon as the young has left the pouch,

the mother carries it with her on her back. The Australian

bear is found in considerable numbers throughout the eastern

part of the continent, even within the tropical circle."

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

<hw>Beardie</hw>, or <hw>Beardy</hw>, n. a fish. In

Scotland the name is applied to the Bearded Loach,

Nemachilus barbatus, of Europe; in New South Wales the

name is given to the fish Lotella marginata, Macl., of

the family Gadidae, or Cod-fishes, which is also called

Ling (q.v.).

<hw>Beaver-rat</hw>, n. an aquatic rodent, something

like the English water-rat, genus Hydromys.

1864. `Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land'

[paper by Morton Allport], p. 62:

"Common to both fresh and brackish water is the yellow bellied

beaver-rat or musk-rat (Hydromys chrysogaster)."

<hw>Beech</hw>, n. There is only one true Beech in

Australia, Fagus cunninghamii, Hook,

N.O. Cupuliferae; but the name is applied to many other

kinds of Australian trees, viz.--

(1) Simply to

Cryptocarya glaucescens, R. Br., N.O. Laurineae,

called also Black Sassafras, White Laurel, She Beech, and Black

Beech.

Flindersia australis, R. Br., N.O. Meliaceae,

called also Flindosa Ash, Crow's Ash, and Rasp-pod, and

invariably Myrtle to Tasmania.

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

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

Phyllanthus ferdinandi, Muell. and Arg., N.O.

Euphorbiaceae, called also Pencil Cedar in Southern

New South Wales.

Schizomeria ovata, D. Don, N.O. Saxifrageae,

called also Corkwood, Light-wood, Coachwood, and White Cherry.

Trochocarpa laurina, R. Br., N.O. Epacrideae,

called also Brush Cherry, and Brush Myrtle.

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