1827. `Captain Robinson's Report,' Dec. 23_Austral English

"It was a subject of complaint among the settlers, that their

assigned servants could not be known from soldiers, owing to

their dress; which very much assisted the crime of

`bush-ranging.'"

<hw>Bush-scrubber</hw>, n. a bushman's word for a boor,

bumpkin, or slatternly person. See Scrubber.

1896. Modern. Up-country manservant on seeing his new

mistress:

"My word! a real lady! she's no bush-scrubber!"

<hw>Bush-telegraph</hw>, n. Confederates of bushrangers

who supply them with secret information of the movements of the

police.

1878. `The Australian,' vol. i. p. 507:

"The police are baffled by the false reports of the

confederates and the number and activity of the bush

telegraphs."

1893. Kenneth Mackay, `Out Back,' p. 74:

"A hint dropped in this town set the bush telegraphs riding in

all directions."

<hw>Bushwoman</hw>, n. See quotation.

1892. `The Australasian,' April 9, p. 707, col. 1:

"But who has championed the cause of the woman of the bush--

or, would it be more correct to say bushwoman, as well as

bushman?--and allowed her also a claim to participate in the

founding of a nation?"

<hw>Bush-wren</hw>, n. See Wren.

1888. W. L. Buller, `Birds of New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 108:

[A full description.]

<hw>Bushed</hw>, adj., quasi past participle,

lost in the bush; then, lost or at a loss.

1661. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 115:

"I left my seat to reach a shelter, which was so many miles

off, that I narrowly escaped being `bushed.'"

1865. W. Howitt, `Discovery in Australia,' vol. i. p. 283:

"The poor youth, new to the wilds, had, in the expressive

phrase of the colonials, got bushed, that is, utterly

bewildered, and thus lost all idea of the direction that he

ought to pursue."

1885. R. M. Praed, `Australian Life,' p. 29:

"I get quite bushed in these streets."

1896. `The Argus,' Jan. 1, p. 4, col. 9:

"The Ministry did not assume its duty of leading the House, and

Mr. Higgins graphically described the position of affairs by

stating that the House was `bushed;' while Mr. Shiels compared

the situation to a rudderless ship drifting hither and

thither."

<hw>Bustard</hw>, n. "There are about twenty species,

mostly of Africa, several of India, one of Australia, and three

properly European." (`Century.') The Australian variety is

Eupodotis australis, Gray, called also Wild

Turkey, Native Turkey, and Plain Turkey. See

Turkey.

<hw>Buster, Southerly</hw>, n. The word is a corruption

of `burster,' that which bursts. A sudden and violent squall

from the south. The name, used first in Sydney, has been

adopted also in other Australian cities. See Brickfielder.

1863. F. Fowler, in `Athenaeum,' Feb. 21, p. 264, col. 1:

"The cold wind or southerly buster which . . . carries a thick

cloud of dust . . . across the city."

1878. `The Australian,' vol. i. p. 587:

"Southerly Busters by `Ironbark.'"

1886. F. Cowan, `Australia, a Charcoal Sketch':

"The Buster and Brickfielder: austral red-dust blizzard;

and red-hot Simoom."

1889. Rev. J. H. Zillmann, `Australian Life,' p. 40:

"Generally these winds end in what is commonly called a

`southerly buster.' This is preceded by a lull in the hot

wind; then suddenly (as it has been put) it is as though a

bladder of cool air were exploded, and the strong cool

southerly air drives up with tremendous force. However

pleasant the change of temperature may be it is no mere pastime

to be caught in a `southerly buster,' but the drifting rain

which always follows soon sets matters right, allays the dust,

and then follows the calm fresh bracing wind which is the more

delightful by contrast with the misery through which one has

passed for three long dreary days and nights."

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

"You should see him with Commodore Jack out in the teeth

of the `hard glad weather,' when a southerly buster sweeps

up the harbour."

1896. H. A.Hunt, in `Three Essays on Australian Weather'

(Sydney), p. 16:

An Essay on Southerly Bursters, . . . with Four Photographs

and Five Diagrams."

[Title of an essay which was awarded the prize of L 25 offered

by the Hon. Ralph Abercrombie.]

<hw>Butcher</hw>, n. South Australian slang for a long

drink of beer, so-called (it is said) because the men of a

certain butchery in Adelaide used this refreshment regularly;

cf. "porter" in England, after the drink of the old London

porters.

<hw>Butcher-bird</hw>, n. The name is in use elsewhere,

but in Australia it is applied to the genus Cracticus.

The varieties are--

The Butcher-bird--

Cracticus torquatus, Lath.; formerly

C. destructor, Gould.

Black B.--

C. quoyi, Less.

Black-throated B.--

C. nigrigularis, Gould.

Grey B. (Derwent Jackass)--

C. cinereus, Gould (see Jackass).

Pied B.--

C. picatus, Gould.

Rufous B.--

C. rufescens, De Vis.

Silver-backed B.--

C. argenteus, Gould.

Spalding's B.--

C. spaldingi, Masters.

White-winged B.--

C. leucopterus, Cav.

The bird is sometimes called a Crow-shrike.

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,'

vol. xv. p. 213:

"Mr. Caley observes--Butcher-bird. This bird used frequently

to come into some green wattle-trees near my house, and in wet

weather was very noisy; from which circumstance it obtained the

name of `Rain-bird.'"

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. ii. Pl. 52:

"Cracticus Destructor. Butcher Bird, name given by

colonists of Swan River, a permanent resident in New South

Wales and South Australia. I scarcely know of any Australian

bird so generally dispersed."

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 50:

"Close to the station one or two butcher-birds were piping

their morning song, a strange little melody with not many

notes, which no one who has heard it will ever forget."

<hw>Buttercup</hw>, n. The familiar English flower is

represented in Australia and Tasmania by various species of

Ranunculus, such as R. lappaceus, Sm.,

N.O. Ranunculaceae.

<hw>Butter-fish</hw>, n. a name given in Australia to

Oligorus mitchellii, Castln. (see Murray Perch);

in Victoria, to Chilodactylus nigricans, Richards. (see

Morwong); in New Zealand, to Coridodax pullus,

Forst., called also Kelp-fish. The name is in allusion

to their slippery coating of mucus. See Kelp-fish.

1850. J. B. Clutterbuck, `Port Phillip,' vol. iii. p. 44:

"In the bay are large quantities of . . . butter-fish."

1880. Guenther, `Study of Fishes,' p. 533:

"The `butter-fish,' or `kelp-fish' of the colonists of New

Zealand (C. pullus), is prized as food, and attains to a

weight of four or five pounds."

<hw>Butterfly-conch</hw>, n. Tasmanian name for a marine

univalve mollusc, Voluta papillosa, Swainson.

<hw>Butterfly-fish</hw>, n. a New Zealand sea-fish,

Gasterochisma melampus, Richards., one of the

Nomeidae. The ventral fins are exceedingly broad and

long, and can be completely concealed in a fold of the abdomen.

The New Zealand fish is so named from these fins; the European

Butterfly-fish, Blennius ocellaris, derives its name

from the spots on its dorsal fin, like the eyes in a peacock's

tail or butterfly's wing.

<hw>Butterfly-Lobster</hw>, n. a marine crustacean, so

called from the leaf-like expansion of the antennae. It is

"the highly specialized macrourous decapod Ibacus

Peronii." (W. A. Haswell.)

1880. Mrs. Meredith, `Tasmanian Friends and Foes,' p. 248:

"Those curious crustaceans that I have heard called `butterfly

lobsters'. . . the shell of the head and body (properly known

as the carapace) expands into something like wing-forms,

entirely hiding the legs beneath them."

<hw>Butterfly-Plant</hw>, n. a small flowering plant,

Utricularia dichotoma, Lab., N.O. Leutibularina.

<hw>Button-grass</hw>, n. Schaenus

sphaerocephalus, Poiret, N.O. Cyperaceae. The grass

is found covering barren boggy land in Tasmania, but is not

peculiar to Tasmania. So called from the round shaped flower

(capitate inflorescence), on a thin stalk four or five feet

long, like a button on the end of a foil.

<hw>Buzzard</hw>, n. an English bird-name applied in

Australia to Gypoictinia melanosternon, Gould, the

Black-breasted Buzzard.

<hw>Cabbage Garden</hw>, a name applied to the colony of

Victoria by Sir John Robertson, the Premier of New South Wales,

in contempt for its size.

1889. Rev. J. H. Zillmann, `Australian Life,' p. 30:

"`The cabbage garden,' old cynical Sir John Robertson, of New

South Wales, once called Victoria, but a garden

notwithstanding. Better at any rate `the cabbage garden' than

the mere sheep run or cattle paddock."

<hw>Cabbage-Palm</hw>, n. same as Cabbage-tree

(1) (q.v.).

<hw>Cabbage-tree</hw>, n (1)Name given to various palm

trees of which the heart of the young leaves is eaten like the

head of a cabbage. In Australia the name is applied to the fan

palm, Livistona inermis, R. Br., and more commonly to

Livistona australis, Martius. In New Zealand the name

is given to various species of Cordyline, especially to

Cordyline indivisa. See also Flame-tree (2).

1769. `Capt. Cook's Journal,' ed. Wharton (1893), p. 144:

"We likewise found one Cabage Tree which we cut down for the

sake of the cabage."

1802. G.Barrington, `History of New South Wales,' p. 60:

"Even the ships crews helped, except those who brought the

cabbage trees."

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discovery in Australia,' vol. ii. c. iv.

p. 132:

"Cabbage-tree . . . grew in abundance."

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 72:

"Several of my companions suffered by eating too much of the

cabbage-palm."

1865. W. Howitt, `Discovery in Australia,' vol. i. p. 414:

"Clumps of what the people of King George's Sound call

cabbage-trees."

1867. F. Hochstetter, `New Zealand,' p. 240:

"There stands an isolated `cabbage-tree' (Ti of the natives;

Cordyline Australis) nearly thirty feet high, with

ramified branches and a crown of luxuriant growth."

(2) A large, low-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, made out of the

leaves of the Cabbage-tree (Livistona).

1802. G. Barrington, `History of New South Wales,' 335:

"This hat, made of white filaments of the cabbage-tree,

seemed to excite the attention of the whole party."

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

"With scowl indignant flashing from his eye,

As though to wither each unshaven wretch,

Jack jogs along, nor condescends reply,

As to the price his cabbage-tree might fetch."

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

"Lushy Luke endeavoured to sober himself by dipping his head in

the hollowed tree-trunk which serves for the water-trough of an

up-country Australian inn. He forgot, however, to take off his

`cabbage-tree' before he ducked, and angry at having made a

fool of himself, he gave fierce orders, in a thick voice, for

his men to fall in, shoulder arms, and mark time."

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

and Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. pp. 160, 161:

"The cabbage-palm was also a new species, called by Mr. Brown

the Livistonia inermis. It was abundant; but the

cabbage (the heart of the young budding leaves) too small to be

useful as an article of food, at least to a ship's company.

But the leaves were found useful. These dried and drawn into

strips were plaited into hats for the men, and to this day the

cabbage-tree hat is very highly esteemed by the Australians, as

a protection from the sun, and allowing free ventilation."

[Note]: "A good cabbage-tree hat, though it very much resembles

a common straw hat, will fetch as much as L3."

1878. `The Australian,' vol. i. p. 527:

". . . trousers, peg-top shaped, and wore a new cabbage-tree

hat."

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

"A brand-new cabbage-tree hat protected his head."

<hw>Cabbage-tree Mob</hw>, and <hw>Cabbagites</hw>, obsolete

Australian slang for modern Larrikins (q.v)., because

wearing cabbage-tree hats.

1852. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes `(edition 1855), p. 17:

"There are to be found round the doors of the Sydney Theatre a

sort of `loafers' known as the Cabbage-tree mob,--a

class who, in the spirit of the ancient tyrant, one might

excusably wish had but one nose in order to make it a bloody

one. . . . Unaware of the propensities of the cabbagites he

was by them furiously assailed."

<hw>Cad</hw>, n. name in Queensland for the Cicada

(q.v.).

1896. `The Australasian,' Jan. 11, p. 76, col. 1:

"From the trees sounds the shrill chirp of large green cicada

(native cads as the bushmen call them)."

<hw>Caddie</hw>, n. a bush name for the slouch-hat or

wide-awake. In the Australian bush the brim is generally

turned down at the back and sometimes all round.

<hw>Cadet</hw>, n. term used in New Zealand,

answering to the Australian Colonial Experience,

or jackaroo (q.v.).

1866. Lady Barker, `Station Life in New Zealand,' p. 68:

"A cadet, as they are called--he is a clergyman's son learning

sheepfarming under our auspices."

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

"The military designation of cadet was applied to any young

fellow who was attached to a sheep or cattle station in the

same capacity as myself. He was `neither flesh nor fowl nor

good red herring,' neither master nor man. He was sent to work

with the men, but not paid."

<hw>Caloprymnus</hw>, n. the scientific name of the

genus called the Plain Kangaroo-Rat.

(Grk. kalos, beautiful, and prumnon, hinder

part.) It has bright flanks. See Kangaroo-Rat.

<hw>Camp</hw>, n. (1) A place to live in, generally

temporary; a rest.

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' pp. 46, 47:

" I was shown my camp, which was a slab but about a hundred

yards away from the big house. . . . I was rather tired, and

not sorry for the prospect of a camp."

(2) A place for mustering cattle.

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 64:

"All about the run, at intervals of fire or six miles, are

cattle-camps, and the cattle that belong to the surrounding

districts are mustered on their respective camps."

1896. A. B. Paterson, `Man from Snowy River,' p. 26:

"There was never his like in the open bush,

And never his match on the cattle-camps."

(3) In Australia, frequently used for a camping-out expedition.

Often in composition with "out," a camp-out.

1869. `Colonial Monthly,' vol. iv.p. 289:

"A young fellow with even a moderate degree of sensibility must

be excited by the novelty of his first `camp-out' in the

Australian bush."

1880. R. H. Inglis, `Australian Cousins,' p. 233:

"We're going to have a regular camp; we intend going to Port

Hocking to have some shooting, fishing, and general diversion."

(4) A name for Sydney and for Hobart, now long obsolete,

originating when British military forces were stationed there.

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

p. 70:

"It is the old resident--he who still calls Sydney, with its

population of twelve thousand inhabitants, the

camp,--that can appreciate these things: he who still

recollects the few earth-huts and solitary tents scattered

through the forest brush surrounding Sydney Cove (known

properly then indeed by the name of `The Camp')."

1852. Mrs. Meredith, `My Home in Tasmania,' vol. i. p. 193:

"Living during the winter in Hobarton, usually called `the

camp,' in those days."

<hw>Camp</hw>, v. (1) Generally in composition with

"out," to sleep in the open air, usually without any covering.

Camping out is exceedingly common in Australia owing to the

warmth of the climate and the rarity of rain.

1867. Lady Barker, `Station Life in New Zealand,' p. 125:

"I like to hear of benighted or belated travellers when they

have had to `camp out,' as it is technically called."

1875. R. and F. Hill, `What we saw in Australia,' p. 208:

"So the Bishop determined to `camp-out' at once where a good

fire could be made."

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. ii. p. 43:

"There is room here for fifty, rolled up on the floor; and

should that fail them, there is no end of other places; or the

bush, as a fall back, where, indeed, some of them prefer

camping as it is."

1891. `The Australasian,' Nov. 14, p. 963, col. 1: `A Lady in

the Kermadecs':

"For three months I `camped out' there alone, shepherding a

flock of Angoras."

(2) By extension, to sleep in any unusual place, or at an

unusual time.

1893. `Review of Reviews' (Australasian ed. ), March, p. 51:

"The campaign came to an abrupt and somewhat inglorious close,

Sir George Dibbs having to `camp' in a railway carriage, and

Sir Henry Parkes being flood-bound at Quirindi."

1896. Modern:

"Visitor,--`Where's your Mother?' `Oh, she's camping.'" [The

lady was enjoying an afternoon nap indoors.]

(3) To stop for a rest in the middle of the day.

1891. Mrs. Cross (Ada Cambridge), `The Three Miss Kings,'

p. 180:

"We'll have lunch first before we investigate the caves--if

it's agreeable to you. I will take the horses out, and we'll

find a nice place to camp before they come."

(4) To floor or prove superior to. Slang.

1886. C. H. Kendall, `Poems,' p. 207:

"At punching oxen you may guess

There's nothing out can camp him.

He has, in fact, the slouch and dress,

Which bullock-driver stamp him."

<hw>Camphor-wood</hw>, n. an Australian timber; the wood

of Callitris (Frenea) robusta, Cunn.,

N.O. Coniferae. Called also Light, Black, White,

Dark, and Common Pine, as the wood varies much in

its colouring. See Pine.

<hw>Canajong</hw>, n. Tasmanian aboriginal name for

the plants called Pig-faces (q.v.).

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 44:

"Pig-faces. It was the canajong of the Tasmanian

aboriginal. The fleshy fruit is eaten raw by the aborigines:

the leaves are eaten baked."

<hw>Canary</hw>, n. (1) A bird-name used in New Zealand

for Clitonyx ochrocephala, called also the

Yellow-head. Dwellers in the back-blocks of Australia

apply the name to the Orange-fronted Ephthianura

(E. aurifrons, Gould), and sometimes to the

White-throated Gerygone (Gerygone albigularis).

1888. W. L. Buller, `Birds of New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 56:

"Clitonyx Ochrocephala. Yellow-head. `Canary' of the

colonists."

(2) Slang for a convict. See quotations. As early as 1673,

`canary-bird' was thieves' English for a gaol-bird.

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

p. 117:

"Convicts of but recent migration are facetiously known by the

name of canaries, by reason of the yellow plumage in

which they are fledged at the period of landing."

1870. T. H. Braim, `New Homes,' c. ii. p. 72:

"The prisoners were dressed in yellow-hence called `canary

birds.'"

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Colonial Reformer,' c. vi. p. 49:

"Can't you get your canaries off the track here for about

a quarter of an hour, and let my mob of cattle pass ?"

<hw>Candle-nut</hw>, n. The name is given in Queensland

to the fruit of Aleurites moluccana, Willd.,

N.O. Euphorbiaceae. The nuts are two or more inches

diameter. The name is often given to the tree itself, which

grows wild in Queensland and is cultivated in gardens there

under the name of A. triloba, Forst. It is not endemic

in Australia, but the vernacular name of Candle-nut is

confined to Australia and the Polynesian Islands.

1883. F. M. Bailey, `Synopsis of Queensland Flora,' p. 472:

"Candle-nut. The kernels when dried and stuck on a reed are

used by the Polynesian Islanders as a substitute for candles,

and as an article of food in New Georgia. These nuts resemble

walnuts somewhat in size and taste. When pressed they yield a

large proportion of pure palatable oil, used as a drying-oil

for paint, and known as country walnut-oil and artists' oil."

<hw>Cane-grass</hw>, n. i.q. Bamboo-grass

(q.v.).

<hw>Cape-Barren Goose</hw>, n. See Goose.

1852. Mrs. Meredith, `My Home in Tasmania,' vol. i. p. 114,

[Footnote]:

"The `Cape Barren Goose' frequents the island from which it

takes its name, and others in the Straits. It is about the

same size as a common goose, the plumage a handsome mottled

brown and gray, somewhat owl-like in character."

[Cape Barren Island is in Bass Strait, between Flinders Island

and Tasmania. Banks Strait flows between Cape Barren Island

and Tasmania. The easternmost point on the island is called

Cape Barren.]

<hw>Cape-Barren Tea</hw>, n. a shrub or tree, Correa

alba, Andr., N.O. Rutaceae.

1834. Ross, `Van Diemen's Land Annual,' p. 134:

"Leptospermum lanigerum, hoary tea-tree; Acacia

decurrens, black wattle; Correa alba, Cape Barren

tea. The leaves of these have been used as substitutes for tea

in the colony."

<hw>Cape Lilac</hw>, n. See Lilac.

<hw>Cape Weed</hw>, n. In Europe, Roccella

tinctoria, a lichen from the Cape de Verde Islands, from

which a dye is produced. In New Zealand, name given to the

European cats-ear, Hypaechoris radicata. In Australia

it is as in quotation below. See `Globe Encyclopaedia,' 1877

(s.v.).

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

p. 60:

"Cape Weed. Cryptostemma Calendulaceum. (Natural

Order, Compositae.) This weed, which has proved such

a pest in many parts of Victoria, was introduced from the Cape

of Good Hope, as a fodder plant. It is an annual, flowering

in the spring, and giving a bright golden hue to the fields.

It proves destructive to other herbs and grasses, and though

it affords a nutritious food for stock in the spring, it dies

off in the middle of summer, after ripening its seeds, leaving

the fields quite bare."

<hw>Caper-tree</hw>, n. The Australian tree of this name

is Capparis nobilis, F. v. M., N.O. Capparideae.

The Karum of the Queensland aboriginals. The fruit is

one to two inches in diameter. Called also Grey Plum or

Native Pomegranate. The name is also given to

Capparis Mitchelli, Lindl. The European caper is

Capparis spinosa, Linn.

1894. `Melbourne Museum Catalogue, Economic Woods,' p. 10:

"Native Caper Tree or Wild Pomegranate. Natural Order,

Capparideae. Found in the Mallee Scrub. A small tree.

The wood is whitish, hard, close-grained, and suitable for

engraving, carving, and similar purposes. Strongly resembles

lancewood."

<hw>Captain Cook</hw>, or <hw>Cooker</hw>, n. New

Zealand colonists' slang. First applied to the wild pigs of

New Zealand, supposed to be descended from those first

introduced by Captain Cook; afterwards used as term of reproach

for any pig which, like the wild variety, obstinately refused

to fatten. See Introduction.

1879. W. Quin, `New Zealand Country Journal,' vol. iii. p. 55:

"Many a rare old tusker finds a home in the mountain gorges.

The immense tusks at Brooksdale attest the size of the wild

boars or Captain Cooks, as the patriarchs are generally named."

1894. E. Wakefield, `New Zealand after Fifty Years,' p. 85:

"The leanness and roughness of the wild pig gives it quite a

different appearance from the domesticated variety; and hence a

gaunt, ill-shaped, or sorry-looking pig is everywhere called in

derision a `Captain Cook.'"

<hw>Carbora</hw>, n. aboriginal name for (1) the

Native Bear. See Bear.

(2) A kind of water worm that eats into timber between high and

low water on a tidal river.

<hw>Cardamom</hw>, n. For the Australian tree of this

name, see quotation.

1890. C. Lumholtz,' Among Cannibals,' p. 96:

"The Australian cardamom tree." [Footnote]: "This is a

fictitious name, as are the names of many Australian plants and

animals. The tree belongs to the nutmeg family, and its real

name is Myristica insipida. The name owes its

existence to the similarity of the fruit to the real cardamom.

But the fruit of the Myristica has not so strong and

pleasant an odour as the real cardamom, and hence the tree is

called insipida."

<hw>Carp</hw>, n. The English fish is of the family

Cyprinidae. The name is given to different fishes in

Ireland and elsewhere. In Sydney it is Chilodactylus

fuscus, Castln., and Chilodactylus macropterus,

Richards.; called also Morwong (q.v.). The Murray

Carp is Murrayia cyprinoides, Castln., a percoid

fish. Chilodactylis belongs to the family

Cirrhitidae, in no way allied to Cyprinidae,

which contains the European carps. Cirrhitidae, says

Guenther, may be readily recognized by their thickened

undivided lower pectoral rays, which in some are evidently

auxiliary organs of locomotion, in others, probably, organs of

touch.

<hw>Carpet-Shark</hw>, n. i.q. Wobbegong (q.v.)

<hw>Carpet-Snake</hw>, n. a large Australian snake with

a variegated skin, Python variegata, Gray. In

Whitworth's `Anglo-Indian Dictionary,' 1885 (s.v.), we are told

that the name is loosely applied (sc. in India) to any kind of

snake found in a dwelling-house other than a cobra or a dhaman.

In Tasmania, a venomous snake, Hoplocephalus curtus,

Schlegel. See under Snake.

<hw>Carrier</hw>, n. a local name for a water-bag.

1893. A. F. Calvert, `English Illustrated,' Feb., p. 321:

"For the water-holders or `carriers' (made to fit the bodies of

the horses carrying them, or to `ride easily' on

pack-saddles)."

<hw>Carrot, Native</hw>, (1) Daucus brachiatus, Sieb.,

N.O. Umbelliferae. Not endemic in Australia.

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 64:

"The native carrot . . . was here withered and in seed."

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 124:

"Native carrot. Stock are very fond of this plant when young.

Sheep thrive wonderfully on it where it is plentiful. It is a

small annual herbaceous plant, growing plentifully on sandhills

and rich soil; the seeds, locally termed `carrot burrs,' are

very injurious to wool, the hooked spines with which the seeds

are armed attaching themselves to the fleece, rendering

portions of it quite stiff and rigid. The common carrot

belongs, of course, to this genus, and the fact that it is

descended from an apparently worthless, weedy plant, indicates

that the present species is capable of much improvement by

cultivation."

(2) In Tasmania Geranium dissectum, Linn., is also

called "native carrot."

<hw>Cascarilla, Native</hw>, n. an Australian timber,

Croton verreauxii, Baill., N.O. Euphorbiaceae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 408:

"Native cascarilla. A small tree; wood of a yellowish colour,

close-grained and firm."

<hw>Cassowary</hw>, n. The word is Malay, the genus

being found in "the Islands in the Indian Archipelago."

(`O.E.D.') The Australian variety is Casuarius

australis, Waller. The name is often erroneously applied

(as in the first two quotations), to the Emu (q.v.), which is

not a Cassowary.

1789. Governor Phillip, `Voyage,' c. xxii. p. 271:

"New Holland Cassowary. [Description given.] This bird is not

uncommon to New Holland, as several of them have been seen

about Botany Bay, and other parts. . . . Although this bird

cannot fly, it runs so swiftly that a greyhound can scarcely

overtake it. The flesh is said to be in taste not unlike

beef."

1802. G. Barrington, `History of New South Wales,'

c. xi. p. 438:

"The cassowary of New South Wales is larger in all respects

than the well-known bird called the cassowary."

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

"Casuarius Australis, Wall., Australian Cassowary,

sometimes called Black Emu."

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 73:

"One day an egg of a cassowary was brought to me; this bird,

although it is nearly akin to the ostrich and emu, does not,

like the latter, frequent the open plains, but the thick

brushwood. The Australian cassowary is found in Northern

Queensland from Herbert river northwards, in all the large

vine-scrubs on the banks of the rivers, and on the high

mountains of the coasts."

Ibid. p. 97.

"The proud cassowary, the stateliest bird of Australia

. . . this beautiful and comparatively rare creature.'"

1891. `Guide to Zoological Gardens, Melbourne':

"The Australian cassowary. . . . They are somewhat shorter

and stouter in build than the emu."

<hw>Casuarina</hw>, n. the scientific name of a large

group of trees common to India, and other parts lying between

India and Australasia, but more numerous in Australia than

elsewhere, and often forming a characteristic feature of the

vegetation. They are the so-called She-oaks (q.v.). The

word is not, however, Australian, and is much older than the

discovery of Australia. Its etymology is contained in the

quotation, 1877.

1806. `Naval Chronicles,' c. xv. p. 460:

"Clubs made of the wood of the Casuarina."

1814. R. Brown, `Botany of Terra Australis,' in M. Flinders'

`Voyage to Terra Australis,' vol. ii. p. 571:

"Casuarinae. The genus Casuarina is certainly not

referable to any order of plants at present established

. . . it may be considered a separate order. . . . The maximum

of Casuarina appears to exist in Terra Australis, where it

forms one of the characteristic features of the vegetation."

1855. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes,' p. 160:

"The dark selvage of casuarinas fringing its bank."

1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 10:

"The vegetation assumed a new character, the eucalyptus and

casuarina alternating with the wild cherry and honeysuckle."

1877. F. v. Mueller, `Botanic Teachings,' p. 34:

"The scientific name of these well-known plants is as

appropriate as their vernacular appellation is odd and

unsuited. The former alludes to the cassowary (Casuarius), the

plumage of which is comparatively as much reduced among birds,

as the foliage of the casuarinas is stringy among trees. Hence

more than two centuries ago Rumph already bestowed the name

Casuarina on a Java species, led by the Dutch colonists, who

call it there the Casuaris-Boom. The Australian vernacular

name seems to have arisen from some fancied resemblance of the

wood of some casuarinas to that of oaks, notwithstanding the

extreme difference of the foliage and fruit; unless, as

Dr. Hooker supposes, the popular name of these trees and shrubs

arose from the Canadian `Sheack.'"

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 397:

"From a fancied resemblance of the wood of casuarinas to that

of oak, these trees are called `oaks,' and the same and

different species have various appellations in various parts."

1890. C. Lumholtz; `Among Cannibals,' p. 33:

"Along its banks (the Comet's) my attention was drawn to a

number of casuarinas--those leafless, dark trees, which always

make a sad impression on the traveller; even a casual observer

will notice the dull, depressing sigh which comes from a grove

of these trees when there is the least breeze.'"

<hw>Cat-bird</hw>, n. In America the name is given to

Mimus carolinensis, a mocking thrush, which like the

Australian bird has a cry resembling the mewing of a cat. The

Australian species are--

The Cat-bird--

Ailuraedus viridis, Lath.

Spotted C.--

Ailuraedus maculosus, Ramsay.

Pomatostomus rubeculus, Gould.

Tooth-billed C.--

Scenopaeus dentirostris, Ramsay.

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. iv. pl. 11:

"Its loud, harsh and extraordinary note is heard; a note which

differs so much from that of all other birds, that having been

once heard it can never be mistaken. In comparing it to the

nightly concert of the domestic cat, I conceive that I am

conveying to my readers a more perfect idea of the note of this

species than could be given by pages of description. This

concert, like that of the animal whose name it bears, is

performed either by a pair or several individuals, and nothing

more is required than for the hearer to shut his eyes from the

neighbouring foliage to fancy himself surrounded by London

grimalkins of house-top celebrity."

1888. D.Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 36:

"One of the most peculiar of birds' eggs found about the Murray

is that of the locally-termed `cat-bird,' the shell of which is

veined thickly with dark thin threads as though covered with a

spider's web."

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals.' p. 96:

"The cat-bird (AEluraedus maculosus), which makes its

appearance towards evening, and has a voice strikingly like the

mewing of a cat."

1893. `The Argus,' March 25:

"Another quaint caller of the bush is the cat-bird, and its

eggs are of exactly the colour of old ivory."

1896. G. A. Keartland, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,'

pt. ii. Zoology, p. 92:

"Their habit of mewing like a cat has gained for them the local

cognomen of cat-birds."

<hw>Cat-fish</hw>, n. The name is applied in the Old

World to various fishes of the family Siluridae, and

also to the Wolf-fish of Europe and North America. It arises

from the resemblance of the teeth in some cases or the

projecting "whiskers" in others, to those of a cat. In

Victoria and New South Wales it is a fresh-water fish,

Copidoglanis tandanus, Mitchell, brought abundantly to

Melbourne by railway. It inhabits the rivers of the Murray

system, but not of the centre of the continent. Called also

Eel-fish and Tandan (q.v.). In Sydney the same

name is applied also to Cnidoglanis megastoma, Rich.,

and in New Zealand Kathetostoma monopterygium.

Cnidoglanis and Cnidoglanis are Siluroids, and

Kathetostoma is a"stargazer," i.e. a fish having eyes

on the upper surface of the head, belonging to the family

Trachinidsae.

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

p. 207:

"The Cat-fish, which I have frequently caught in the McLeay,

is a large and very ugly animal. Its head is provided with

several large tentacatae, and it has altogether a disagreeable

appearance. I have eat its flesh, but did not like it."

1880. Mrs. Meredith, `Tasmanian Friends and Foes,' p. 213

[Footnote]:

"Mr. Frank Buckland . . . writing of a species of rock-fish,

says--`I found that it had a beautiful contrivance in the

conformation of its mouth. It has the power of prolongating

both its jaws to nearly the extent of half-an-inch from their

natural position. This is done by a most beautiful bit of

mechanism, somewhat on the principle of what are called `lazy

tongs.' The cat-fish possesses a like feature, but on a much

larger scale, the front part of the mouth being capable of

being protruded between two and three inches when seizing

prey.'"

<hw>Cat, Native</hw>, n. a small carnivorous marsupial,

of the genus Dasyurus. The so-called native cat is not

a cat at all, but a marsupial which resembles a very large rat

or weasel, with rather a bushy tail. It is fawn-coloured or

mouse-coloured, or black and covered with little white spots; a

very pretty little animal. It only appears at night, when it

climbs fences and trees and forms sport for moonlight shooting.

Its skin is made into fancy rugs and cloaks or mantles.

The animal is more correctly called a Dasyure (q.v.).

The species are--

Black-tailed Native Cat

Dasyurus geoffroyi, Gould.

Common N.C. (called also Tiger Cat, q.v.)--

D. viverrimus, Shaw.

North Australian N.C.--

D. hallucatus, Gould.

Papuan N.C.--

D. albopienetatus, Schl.

Slender N.C.--

D. gracilis, Ramsay.

Spotted-tailed N.C. (called also Tiger Cat)--

D. maculatus, Kerr.

1880. Mrs. Meredith, `Tasmanian Friends and Foes,' p. 67:

"The native cat is similar [to the Tiger Cat; q.v.] but

smaller, and its for is an ashy-grey with white spots.

We have seen two or three skins quite black, spotted with white,

but these are very rare."

1885. H. H.Hayter, `Carboona,' p. 35:

"A blanket made of the fur-covered skins of the native cat."

1894. `The Argus,' June 23, p. 11, col. 4:

"The voices of most of our night animals are guttural and

unpleasing. The 'possum has a throaty half-stifled squeak,

the native cat a deep chest-note ending with a hiss and easily

imitated." [See Skirr.]

<hw>Catholic Frog</hw>, n. name applied to a frog living

in the inland parts of New South Wales, Notaden

bennettii, Guenth., which tides over times of drought in

burrows, and feeds on ants. Called also "Holy Cross Toad."

The names are given in consequence of a large cross-shaped

blackish marking on the back.

1801. J. J. Fletcher, `Proceedings of the Linnaean Society,

New South Wales,' vol. vi. (2nd series), p. 265:

"Notaden bennettii, the Catholic frog, or as I have

heard it called the Holy Cross Toad, I first noticed in January

1885, after a heavy fall of rain lasting ten days, off and on,

and succeeding a severe drought."

<hw>Cat's Eyes</hw>, n. Not the true Cat's-eye,

but the name given in Australia to the opercula of Turbo

smaragdus, Martyn, a marine mollusc. The operculum is the

horny or shelly lid which closes the aperture of most spiral

shell fish.

<hw>Cat's-head Fern</hw>, n. Aspidium aculeatum, Sw.:

1880. Mrs. Meredith, `Tasmanian Friends and Foes,' p. 220:

"The cat's-head fern; though why that name was given to it I

have not the remotest idea. . . . It is full of beauty--the

pinnules so exquisitely formed and indented, and gemmed beneath

with absolute constellations of Spori Polystichum

vestitum."

<hw>Catspaw</hw>, n. a Tasmanian plant, Trichinium

spathulatum, Poir., N.O. Amarantaceae.

<hw>Cat's Tail</hw>, n. See Wonga.

<hw>Cattle-bush</hw>, n. a tree, Atalaya

hemiglauca, F. v. M., N.O. Sapindacea.

It is found in South Australia, New South Wales,

and Queensland, and is sometimes called Whitewood.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 117:

"Cattle-bush . . . The leaves of this tree are eaten by stock,

the tree being frequently felled for their use during seasons

of drought."

<hw>Cattle-duffer</hw>, n. a man who steals cattle

(usually by altering their brands). See also Duffer.

1886. `Melbourne Punch,' July 15, Cartoon Verses:

"Cattle-duffers on a jury may be honest men enough,

But they're bound to visit lightly sins in those

who cattle duff."

<hw>Cattle-racket</hw>, n. Explained in quotation.

1852. `Settlers and Convicts; or Recollections of Sixteen

Years' Labour in the Australian Backwoods,' p. 294:

"A Cattle-racket. The term at the head of this chapter was

originally applied in New South Wales to the agitation of

society which took place when some wholesale system of plunder

in cattle was brought to light. It is now commonly applied to

any circumstance of this sort, whether greater or less, and

whether springing from a felonious intent or accidental."

<hw>Caustic-Creeper</hw>, n. name given to Euphorbia

drummondii, Boiss., N.O. Euphorbiaceae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 127:

"Called `caustic-creeper' in Queensland. Called `milk-plant'

and `pox-plant' about Bourke. This weed is unquestionably

poisonous to sheep, and has recently (Oct. 1887) been reported

as having been fatal to a flock near Bourke, New South

Wales. . . . When eaten by sheep in the early morning, before

the heat of the sun has dried it up, it is almost certain to be

fatal. Its effect on sheep is curious. The head swells to an

enormous extent, becoming so heavy that the animal cannot

support it, and therefore drags it along the ground; the ears

suppurate. (Bailey and Gordon.)"

<hw>Caustic-Plant</hw>, or <hw>Caustic-Vine</hw>,

n. Sarcostemma australis, R. Br., N.O.

Asclepiadea. Cattle and sheep are poisoned by eating it.

<hw>Cavally</hw>, n. the original form of the Australian

fish-name Trevally (q.v.). The form Cavally is

used to Europe, but is almost extinct in Australia; the form

Trevally is confined to Australia.

<hw>Cedar</hw>,</hw> n. The true Cedar is a Conifer

(N.O. Coniferae) of the genus Cedrus, but the

name is given locally to many other trees resembling it in

appearance, or in the colour or scent of their wood. The New

Zealand Cedar is the nearest approach to the true

Cedar, and none of the so-called Australian

Cedars are of the order Coniferae. The following

are the trees to which the name is applied in Australia:--

Bastard Pencil Cedar--

Dysoxylon rfum, Benth., N.O. Meliaceae.

Brown C.--

Ehretia acuminata, R. Br., N.O. Asperifoliae.

Ordinary or Red C.-- Cedrela australis, F. v. M.

Cedrela toona, R. Br., N.O. Meliaceae.

[C. toona is the "Toon" tree of India: its timber is

known in the English market as Moulmein Cedar; but the Baron

von Mueller doubts the identity of the Australian Cedar with

the "Toon" tree; hence his name australis.]

Pencil C.--

Dysoxylon Fraserianum, Benth., N.O. Meliaceae.

Scrub White C.-- Pentaceras australis, Hook. and Don.,

N.O. Rutacea.

White C.--

Melia composita, Willd., N.O. Meliaceae.

Yellow C.--

Rhus rhodanthema, F. v. M., N.O. Anacardiacae.

In Tasmania, three species of the genus Arthrotaxis are

called Cedars or Pencil Cedars; namely, A. cupressoides,

Don., known as the King William Pine; A. laxifolza,

Hook., the Mountain Pine; and A. selaginoides, Don., the

Red Pine. All these are peculiar to the island.

In New Zealand, the name of Cedar is applied to Libocedrus

bidwillii, Hook., N.O. Coniferae; Maori name,

Pahautea.

1838. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions, vol. i. p. 328:

"The cedar of the colony (Cedrela toona, R. Br.), which

is to be found only in some rocky gullies of the coast range."

1883. F. M. Bailey, `Synopsis of Queensland Flora,' p. 63:

"Besides being valuable as a timber-producing tree, this red

cedar has many medicinal properties. The bark is spoken of as

a powerful astringent, and, though not bitter, said to be a

good substitute for Peruvian bark in the cure of remitting and

intermitting fevers."

1883. J. Hector, `Handbook of New Zealand,' p. 123:

"Pahautea, Cedar. A handsome conical tree sixty to eighty feet

high, two to three feet in diameter. In Otago it produces a

dark-red, freeworking timber, rather brittle . . . frequently

mistaken for totara."

<hw>Celery, Australian</hw>, or <hw>Native</hw>,

n. Apium australe, Thon. Not endemic

in Australia. In Tasmania, A. prostratum, Lab.,

N.O. Umbelliferae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 7:

"Australian Celery. This plant may be utilised as a culinary

vegetable. (Mueller.) It is not endemic in Australia."

<hw>Celery-topped Pine</hw>. n. See Pine. The

tree is so called from the appearance of the upper part of the

branchlets, which resemble in shape the leaf of the garden

celery.

1889. T. Kirk, `Forest Flora of New Zealand,' p. 9:

"The tanekaha is one of the remarkable `celery-topped pines,'

and was discovered by Banks and Solander during Cook's first

voyage."

<hw>Centaury, Native</hw>, n. a plant, Erythraea

australis, R. Br., N.O. Gentianeae. In New South

Wales this Australian Centaury has been found useful in

dysentery by Dr. Woolls.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 175:

"Native centaury . . . is useful as a tonic medicine, especially

in diarrhoea and dysentery. The whole plant is used and is

pleasantly bitter. It is common enough in grass-land, and

appears to be increasing in popularity as a domestic remedy."

<hw>Centralia</hw>, n. a proposed name for the colony

South Australia ,(q.v.).

1896. J. S. Laurie, `Story of Australasia,' p. 299:

"For telegraphic, postal, and general purposes one word is

desirable for a name--e.g. why not Centralia; for West

Australia, Westralia; for New South Wales, Eastralia?"

<hw>Cereopsis</hw>, n. scientific name of the genus

of the bird peculiar to Australia, called the Cake Barren

Goose. See Goose. The word is from Grk.

kaeros, wax, and 'opsis, face, and was given

from the peculiarities of the bird's beak. The genus is

confined to Australia, and Cereopsis novae-hollandiae

is the only species known. The bird was noticed by the early

voyagers to Australia, and was extraordinarily tame when first

discovered.

<hw>Channel-Bill</hw>, n. name given to a bird

resembling a large cuckoo, Scythrops novae-hollandiae,

Lath. See Scythrops.

<hw>Cheesewood</hw>, n. a tree, so-called in Victoria (it

is also called Whitewood and Waddywood in Tasmania),

Pittosporum bicolor, Hook., N.O. Pittosporeae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 588:

"Cheesewood is yellowish-white, very hard, and of uniform

texture and colour. It was once used for clubs by the

aboriginals of Tasmania. It turns well, and should be tested

for wood engraving. (`Jurors' Reports, London International

Exhibition of 1862.') It is much esteemed for axe-handles,

billiard-cues, etc."

<hw>Cherry, Herbert River</hw>, n. a Queensland tree,

Antidesma dallachyanum, Baill., N.O. Euphorbiaceae.

The fruit is equal to a large cherry in size, and has a sharp acid

flavour.

<hw>Cherry, Native</hw>, n. an Australian tree,

Exocarpus cupressiformis, R. Br.,

N.O. Santalaceae.

1801. `History of New South Wales' (1818), p. 242:

"Of native fruits, a cherry, insipid in comparison of the

European sorts, was found true to the singularity which

characterizes every New South Wales production, the stone being

on the outside of the fruit."

1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 411:

"The shrub which is called the native cherry-tree appears like

a species of cyprus, producing its fruit with the stone united

to it on the outside, the fruit and the stone being each about

the size of a small pea. The fruit, when ripe, is similar in

colour to the Mayduke cherry, but of a sweet and somewhat

better quality, and slightly astringent to the palate,

possessing, upon the whole, an agreeable flavour."

1852. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes' (edition 1851, p. 219:

"The cherry-tree resembles a cypress but is of a tenderer

green, bearing a worthless little berry, having its stone or

seed outside, whence its scientific name of exocarpus."

1855. W. Howitt, `Two Years in Victoria,' vol. i. p. 33:

"We also ate the Australian cherry, which has its stone, not on

the outside, enclosing the fruit, as the usual phrase would

indicate, but on the end with the fruit behind it. The

stone is only about the size of a sweet-pea, and the fruit only

about twice that size, altogether not unlike a yew-berry, but

of a very pale red. It grows on a tree just like an arbor

vitae, and is well tasted, though not at all like a cherry in

flavour."

1877. F. v. Mueller, `Botanic Teachings,' p. 40:

"The principal of these kinds of trees received its generic

name first from the French naturalist La Billardiere, during

D'Entrecasteaux's Expedition. It was our common Exocarpus

cupressiformis, which he described, and which has been

mentioned so often in popular works as a cherry-tree, bearing

its stone outside of the pulp. That this crude notion of the

structure of the fruit is erroneous, must be apparent on

thoughtful contemplation, for it is evident at the first

glance, that the red edible part of our ordinary exocarpus

constitutes merely an enlarged and succulent fruit-stalklet

(pedicel), and that the hard dry and greenish portion,

strangely compared to a cherry-stone, forms the real fruit,

containing the seed."

1889. J. H. `Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 30:

"The fruit is edible. The nut is seated on the enlarged

succulent pedicel. This is the poor little fruit of which so

much has been written in English descriptions of the

peculiarities of the Australian flora. It has been likened to

a cherry with the stone outside (hence the vernacular name) by

some imaginative person."

1893. `Sydney Morning Herald,' Aug. 19, p. 7, col. 1:

"Grass-trees and the brown brake-fern, whips of native cherry,

and all the threads and tangle of the earth's green russet

vestment hide the feet of trees which lean and lounge between

us and the water, their leaf heads tinselled by the light."

<hw>Cherry-picker</hw>, n. bird-name. See quotation.

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. iv. p. 70:

"Melithreptus Validirostris, Gould. Strong-billed

Honey-eater [q.v.]. Cherry-picker, colonists of Van Diemen's

Land."

<hw>Chestnut Pine</hw>, n. See Pine.

<hw>Chewgah-bag</hw>, n. Queensland aboriginal

pigeon-English for Sugar-bag (q.v.).

<hw>Chinkie</hw>, n. slang for a Chinaman. "John,"

short for John Chinaman, is commoner.

1882. A. J. Boyd, `Old Colonials,' p. 233:

"The pleasant traits of character in our colonialised `Chinkie,'

as he is vulgarly termed (with the single variation `Chow')."

<hw>Chock-and-log</hw>, n. and adj. a particular

kind of fence much used on Australian stations. The

Chock is a thick short piece of wood laid flat, at

right-angles to the line of the fence, with notches in it to

receive the Logs, which are laid lengthwise from

Chock to Chock, and the fence is raised in four

or five layers of this chock-and-log to form, as it

were, a wooden wall. Both chocks and logs are rough-hewn or

split, not sawn.

1872. G. S. Baden-Powell,'New Homes for the Old Country,' p. 207:

"Another fence, known as `chock and log,' is composed of long

logs, resting on piles of chocks, or short blocks of wood."

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

"And to finish the Riverine picture, there comes a herd of

kangaroos disturbed from their feeding-ground, leaping through

the air, bounding over the wire and `chock-and-log' fences like

so many india-rubber automatons."

<hw>Choeropus</hw>, n. the scientific name for the genus

of Australian marsupial animals with only one known species,

called the Pigfooted-Bandicoot (q.v.), and see

Bandicoot. (Grk. choiros, a pig,

and pous, foot.) The animal is about the size

of a rabbit, and is confined to the inland parts of Australia.

<hw>Christmas</hw>, n. and adj. As Christmas

falls in Australasia at Midsummer, it has different

characteristics from those in England, and the word has

therefore a different connotation.

1852. Mrs. Meredith, `My Home in Tasmania,' p. 184:

"Sheep-shearing in November, hot midsummer weather at

Christmas, the bed of a river the driest walk, and corn

harvest in February, were things strangely at variance

with my Old-World notions."

1896. H. Lawson, `When the World was Wide,' p. 164:

"One Christmas time when months of drought

Had parched the western creeks,

The bush-fires started in the north

And travelled south for weeks."

<hw>Christmas-bush</hw>, n. an Australian tree,

Ceratopetalum gummiferum, Smith,

N.O. Saxifrageae. Called also Christmas-tree

(q.v.), and Officer-bush.

1888. Mrs. McCann, `Poetical Works,' p. 226:

"Gorgeous tints adorn the Christmas bush with a crimson blush."

<hw>Christmas-tree</hw>, n. In Australia, it is the same

as Christmas-bush (q.v.). In New Zealand, it is

Metrosideros tomentosa, Banks, N.O. Myrtaceae;

Maori name, Pohutukawa (q.v.).

1867. F. Hochstetter, `New Zealand,' p. 240:

"Some few scattered Pohutukaua trees (Metrosideros

tomentosa), the last remains of the beautiful vegetation

. . . About Christmas these trees are full of charming purple

blossoms; the settler decorates his church and dwelling with

its lovely branches, and calls the tree `Christmas-tree'! "

1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 186:

"The Christmas-tree is in a sense the counterpart of the holly

of the home countries. As the scarlet berry gives its ruddy

colour to Christmas decorations in `the old country,' so here

the creamy blossoms of the Christmas-tree are the only shrub

flowers that survive the blaze of midsummer."

1889. E. H. and S. Featon, `New Zealand Flora,' p. 163:

"The Pohutukawa blossoms in December, when its profusion of

elegant crimson-tasselled flowers imparts a beauty to the

rugged coast-line and sheltered bays which may fairly be called

enchanting. To the settlers it is known as the

`Christmas-tree,' and sprays of its foliage and flowers are

used to decorate churches and dwellings during the festive

Christmastide. To the Maoris this tree must possess a weird

significance, since it is related in their traditions that at

the extreme end of New Zealand there grows a Pohutukawa from

which a root descends to the beach below. The spirits of the

dead are supposed to descend by this to an opening, which is

said to be the entrance to `Te Reinga.'"

<hw>Chucky-chucky</hw>, n. aboriginal Australian name

for a berry; in Australia and New Zealand, the fruit of species

of Gaultheria. See Wax Cluster.

1885. R. M. Praed, `Australian Life,' p. 146:

"To gather chucky-chuckies--as the blacks name that most

delicious of native berries."

1891. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' `New Zealand Country

Journal,' vol. xv. p. 198:

"When out of breath, hot and thirsty, how one longed for a

handful of chuckie-chucks. In their season how good we used to

think these fruits of the gaultheria, or rather its

thickened calyx. A few handfuls were excellent in quenching

one's thirst, and so plentifully did the plant abound that

quantities could soon be gathered. In these rude and simple

days, when housekeepers in the hills tried to convert carrots

and beet-root into apricot and damson preserves, these notable

women sometimes encouraged children to collect sufficient

chuckie-chucks to make preserve. The result was a jam of a

sweet mawkish flavour that gave some idea of a whiff caught in

passing a hair-dresser's shop."

<hw>Chum</hw>, n. See New Chum.

<hw>Chy-ack</hw>, v. simply a variation of the English

slang verb, to cheek.

1874. Garnet Walch, `Adamanta,' Act ii. sc. ii. p. 27:

"I've learnt to chi-ike peelers."

[Here the Australian pronunciation is also caught. Barere and

Leland give "chi-iked (tailors), chaffed unmercifully," but

without explanation.]

1878. `The Australian,' vol. i. p. 742 :

"The circle of frivolous youths who were yelping at and

chy-acking him."

1894. E. W. Hornung, `Boss of Taroomba,' p. 5:

"It's our way up here, you know, to chi-ak each other and our

visitors too."

<hw>Cicada</hw>, n. an insect. See Locust.

1895. G. Metcalfe, `Australian Zoology,' p. 62:

"The Cicada is often erroneously called a locust. . . . It is

remarkable for the loud song, or chirruping whirr, of the males

in the heat of summer; numbers of them on the hottest days

produce an almost deafening sound."

<hw>Cider-Tree</hw>, or </hw>Cider-Gum, n. name given

in Tasmania to Eucalyptus gunnii, Hook.,

N.O. Myrtaceae. See Gum.

1830. Ross, `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 119:

"Specimens of that species of eucalyptus called the cider-tree,

from its exuding a quantity of saccharine liquid resembling

molasses. . . . When allowed to remain some time and to

ferment, it settles into a coarse sort of wine or cider, rather

intoxicating if drank to any excess."

<hw>City</hw>, n. In Great Britain and Ireland the word

City denotes "a considerable town that has been,

(a) an episcopal seat,

(b) a royal burgh, or

by a royal patent. In the United States and Canada, a

municipality of the first class, governed by a mayor and

aldermen, and created by charter." (`Standard.')

In Victoria, by section ix. of the Local Government Act, 1890,

54 Victoria, No. 1112, the Governor-in-Council may make orders,

#12:

"To declare any borough, including the city of Melbourne and

the town of Geelong, having in the year preceding such

declaration a gross revenue of not less than twenty thousand

pounds, a city."

<hw>Claim</hw>, n. in mining, a piece of land

appropriated for mining purposes: then the mine itself.

The word is also used in the United States. See also

Reward-claim and Prospecting-claim.

1858. T. McCombie, `History of Victoria,' c. xiv. p. 213:

"A family named Cavanagh . . . entered a half-worked claim."

1863. H. Fawcett, `Political Economy,' pt. iii. c. vi.

p. 359 (`O.E.D.'):

"The claim upon which he purchases permission to dig."

1887. H. H. Hayter, `Christmas Adventure,' p. 3:

"I decided . . . a claim to take up."

<hw>Clay-pan</hw>, n. name given, especially in the dry

interior of Australia, to a slight depression of the ground

varying in size from a few yards to a mile in length, where the

deposit of fine silt prevents the water from sinking into the

ground as rapidly as it does elsewhere.

1875. John Forrest, `Explorations in Australia,' p. 260:

"We travelled down the road for about thirty-three miles over

stony plains; many clay-pans with water but no feed."

1896. Baldwin Spencer, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,'

Narrative, vol. i. p. 17:

"One of the most striking features of the central area and

especially amongst the loamy plains and sandhills, is the

number of clay-pans. These are shallow depressions, with no

outlet, varying in length from a few yards to half a mile,

where the surface is covered with a thin clayey material, which

seems to prevent the water from sinking as rapidly as it does

in other parts."

<hw>Clean-skins</hw>, or <hw>Clear-skins</hw>,

n. unbranded cattle or horses.

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 206:

"These clean-skins, as they are often called, to distinguish

them from the branded cattle."

1884. Rolf Boldrewood, `Melbourne Memories,' c. xv. p. 109:

"Strangers and pilgrims, calves and clear-skins, are separated

at the same time."

1889. Rev. J. H. Zillmann, `Australian Life,' p. 82:

"`Clear-skins,' as unbranded cattle were commonly called, were

taken charge of at once."

1893. `The Argus,' April 29, p.4, col. 4:

"As they fed slowly homeward bellowing for their calves, and

lowing for their mates, the wondering clean-skins would come up

in a compact body, tearing, ripping, kicking, and moaning,

working round and round them in awkward, loblolly canter."

<hw>Clearing lease</hw>, n. Explained in quotation.

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. i. c. x.

p. 321:

"[They] held a small piece of land on what is called a clearing

lease--that is to say, they were allowed to retain possession

of it for so many years for the labour of clearing the land."

<hw>Clematis</hw>, n. the scientific and vernacular name

of a genus of plants belonging to the

N.O. Ranunculaceae. The common species in Australia is

C. aristata, R. Br.

1834. Ross, `Van Diemen's Land Annual,' p. 124:

"The beautiful species of clematis called

aristata, which may be seen in the months of November

and December, spreading forth its milk-white blossoms over the

shrubs . . . in other places rising up to the top of the highest

gum-trees."

<hw>Clianthus</hw>, n. scientific name for an

Australasian genus of plants, N.O. Leguminosae,

containing only two species--in Australia, Sturt's Desert

Pea (q.v.), C. dampieri; and in New Zealand, the

Kaka-bill (q.v.), C. puniceus. Both species are

also called Glory-Pea, from Grk. kleos, glory,

and anthos, a flower.

1892. `Otago Witness,' Nov.24, `Native Trees':

"Hooker says the genus Clianthus consists of the

Australian and New Zealand species only, the latter is

therefore clearly indigenous. `One of the most beautiful

plants known' (Hooker). Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Solandel

found it during Cook's first voyage."

<hw>Climbing-fish</hw>, n. i.q. Hopping-fish

(q.v.).

<hw>Climbing-Pepper</hw>, n. See Pepper.

<hw>Clitonyx</hw>, n. the scientific name of a genus of

New Zealand birds, including the Yellow-head (q.v.) and

the White-head (q.v.); from Greek klinein, root

klit, to lean, slant, and 'onux, claw. The genus

was so named by Reichenbach in 1851, to distinguish the New

Zealand birds from the Australian birds of the genus

Orthonyx (q.v.), which formerly included them both.

<hw>Clock-bird</hw>, n. another name for the Laughing

Jachass. See Jackass.

<hw>Clock, Settlers'</hw>, n. i.q. Clock-bird,

(q.v.)

<hw>Cloudy-Bay Cod</hw>, n. a New Zealand name for the

Ling (q.v.). See also Cod.

<hw>Clover-Fern</hw>, n. another name for the plant

called Nardoo (q.v.).

<hw>Clover, Menindie</hw>, n. an Australian fodder

plant, Trigonella suavissima, Lind.,

N.O. Leguminoseae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 143:

`From its abundance in the neighbourhood of Menindie, it is

often called Menindie-clover.' It is the `Australian shamrock'

of Mitchell. This perennial, fragrant, clover-like plant is a

good pasture herb."

<hw>Clover-Tree</hw>, n. a Tasmanian tree, called also

Native Laburnun. See under Laburnum.

<hw>Coach</hw>, n. a bullock used as a decoy to catch

wild cattle. This seems to be from the use of coach as the

University term for a private tutor.

1874. W. H. L. Ranken, `Dominion of Australia,' c. vi. p. 110:

"To get them [sc. wild cattle] a party of stockmen take a small

herd of quiet cattle, `coaches.'"

<hw>Coach</hw>, v. to decoy wild cattle or horses with

tame ones.

1874. W. H. L. Ranken, `Dominion of Australia,' c. vi. p. 121:

"Here he [the wild horse] may be got by `coaching' like wild

cattle."

<hw>Coach-whip Bird</hw>, n. Psophodes crepitans,

V. and H. (see Gould's `Birds of Australia,' vol. iii. pl. 15);

Black-throated C.B., P. nigrogularis, Gould. Called also

Whipbird and Coachman.

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,'

vol. xv. p. 330:

"This bird is more often heard than seen. It inhabits bushes.

The loud cracking whip-like noise it makes (from whence the

colonists give it the name of coachwhip), may be heard from a

great distance."

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

p. 158:

"If you should hear a coachwhip crack behind, you may

instinctively start aside to let the mail pass; but

quickly find it is only our native coachman with his spread-out

fantail and perked-up crest, whistling and cracking out his

whip-like notes as he hops sprucely from branch to branch."

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

p. 137:

"Another equally singular voice among our feathered friends was

that of the `coachman,' than which no title could be more

appropriate, his chief note being a long clear whistle, with a

smart crack of the whip to finish with."

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 177:

"The bell-bird, by the river heard;

The whip-bird, which surprised I hear,

In me have powerful memories stirred

Of other scenes and strains more dear;

Of sweeter songs than these afford,

The thrush and blackbird warbling clear."

--Old Impressions.

1846. G. H. Haydon, `Five Years in Australia Felix,' p. 71:

"The coach-whip is a small bird about the size of a sparrow,

found near rivers. It derives its name from its note, a slow,

clear whistle, concluded by a sharp jerking noise like the

crack of a whip."

1855. W. Howitt, `Two Years in Victoria,' vol. ii. p. 76:

"The whip-bird, whose sharp wiry notes, even, are far more

agreeable than the barking of dogs and the swearing of

diggers."

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 24:

"That is the coach-whip bird. There again.

Whew-ew-ew-ew-whit. How sharply the last note sounds."

1887. R. M. Praed, `Longleat of Kooralbyn,' c. vi. p. 54:

"The sharp st--wt of the whip-bird . . . echoed through the

gorge."

1888. James Thomas, `May o' the South,' `Australian Poets

1788-1888' (ed. Sladen), p. 552:

"Merrily the wagtail now

Chatters on the ti-tree bough,

While the crested coachman bird

`Midst the underwood is heard."

<hw>Coast</hw>, v. to loaf about from station to

station.

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Squatter's Dream,' xxv. 295:

"I ain't like you, Towney, able to coast about without a job

of work from shearin' to shearin'."

<hw>Coaster</hw>, n. a loafer, a Sundowner

(q.v.).

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Squatter's Dream,' viii. 75:

"A voluble, good-for-nothing, loafing impostor, a regular

`coaster.'"

<hw>Cobb</hw>, n. sometimes used as equivalent to a

coach. "I am going by Cobb." The word is still used, though

no Mr. Cobb has been connected with Australian coaches for many

years. See quotation.

1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 184:

"Mr. Cobb was an American, and has returned long ago to his

native country. He started a line of conveyances from

Melbourne to Castlemaine some time after the gold discoveries.

Mr. Cobb had spirit to buy good horses, to get first-class

American coaches, to employ good Yankee whips, and in a couple

of years or so he had been so extensively patronised that he

sold out, and retired with a moderate fortune." [But the

Coaching Company retained . . . the style of Cobb & Co.]

1879 (about). `Queensland Bush Song':

"Hurrah for the Roma Railway!

Hurrah for Cobb and Co.!

Hurrah, hurrah for a good fat horse

To carry me Westward Ho!"

<hw>Cobbler</hw>, n. (1) The last sheep, an Australian

shearing term. (2) Another name for the fish called the

Fortescue (q.v.)

1893. `The Herald' (Melbourne), Dec. 23, p. 6, col. 1:

"Every one might not know what a `cobbler' is. It is the last

sheep in a catching pen, and consequently a bad one to shear,

as the easy ones are picked first. The cobbler must be taken

out before `Sheep-ho' will fill up again. In the harvest field

English rustics used to say, when picking up the last sheaf,

`This is what the cobbler threw at his wife.' `What?' `The

last,' with that lusty laugh, which, though it might betray `a

vacant mind,' comes from a very healthy organism."

<hw>Cobblers-Awl</hw>, n. bird-name. The word is a

provincial English name for the Avocet. In Tasmania,

the name is applied to a Spine-Bill (q.v.) from the

shape of its beak.

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. iv. pl. 61:

"Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris, Lath., Slender-billed

Spine-bill. Cobbler's Awl, Colonists of Van Diemen's

Land. Spine-bill, Colonists of New South Wales."

<hw>Cobbler's Pegs</hw>, name given to a tall erect annual

weed, Erigeron linifolius, Willd.,

N.O. Compositae and to Bidens pilosus, Linn.,

N.O. Compositae.

<hw>Cobbra</hw>, n. aboriginal word for head, skull.

[Kabura or Kobbera, with such variations as

Kobra, Kobbera, Kappara, Kopul, from Malay Kapala, head: one of

the words on the East Coast manifestly of Malay

origin.--J. Mathew. Much used in pigeon converse with

blacks. `Goodway cobra tree' = `Tree very tall.'] Collins,

`Port Jackson Vocabulary,' 1798 (p. 611), gives `Kabura,

ca-ber-ra.' Mount Cobberas in East Gippsland has its name from

huge head-like masses of rock which rise from the summit.

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 31:

"The black fellow who lives in the bush bestows but small

attention on his cobra, as the head is usually called in the

pigeon-English which they employ."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Colonial Reformer,' c. xiii. p. 134:

"I should be cock-sure that having an empty cobbra, as the

blacks say, was on the main track that led to the grog-camp."

<hw>Cock-a-bully</hw>, n. a popular name for the New

Zealand fish Galaxias fasciatus, Gray, a corruption of

its Maori name Kokopu (q.v.).

1896. `The Australasian,' Aug. 28, p. 407, col. 3:

"During my stay in New Zealand my little girl caught a fish

rather larger than an English minnow. Her young companions

called it a `cock-a bully.' It was pretty obvious to scent

a corruption of a Maori word, for, mark you, cock-a-bully has

no meaning. It looks as if it were English and full of meaning.

Reflect an instant and it has none. The Maori name for the

fish is `kokopu'"

<hw>Cockatiel</hw>, <hw>-eel</hw>, n. an arbitrary

diminutive of the word Cockatoo, and used as another name for

the Cockatoo-Parrakeet, Calopsitta novae-hollandiae,

and generally for any Parrakeet of the genus Calopsitta.

(`O.E.D.')

<hw>Cockatoo</hw>, n. (1) Bird-name. The word is Malay,

Kakatua. (`O.E.D.') The varieties are--

Banksian Cockatoo--

Calyptorhynchus banksii, Lath.

Bare-eyed C.--

Cacatua gymnopis, Sclater.

Black C.--

Calyptorhynchus funereus, Shaw.

Blood-stained C.--

Cacatua sanguinea, Gould.

Dampier's C.--

Licmetis pastinator, Gould.

Gang-gang C.-- Callocephalon galeatum, Lath. [See

Gang-gang.]

Glossy C.--

Calyptorhynchus viridis, Vieill.

Long-billed C.--

Licmetis nasicus, Temm. [See Corella.]

Palm C.--

Microglossus aterrimus, Gmel.

Pink C.--

Cacatua leadbeateri, V. & H. (Leadbeater, q.v.).

Red-tailed C.--

Calyptorhynchus stellatus, Wagl.

Rose-breasted C.-- Cacatua roseicapilla, Vieill. [See

Galah. Gould calls it Cocatua eos.

White C.--

Cacatua galerita, Lath.

White-tailed C.--

Calyptorhynchus baudinii, Vig.