A substantial slab building with veranda_Austral English

1845. `Voyage to Port Phillip,' p. 52:

"His slab-built hut, with roof of bark."

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

c. ix. p. 266:

"The house in which this modern Robinson Crusoe dwelt was what

is called a Slab Hut, formed of rough boards and thatched with

grass."

1861. Mrs. Meredith, `Over the Straits,' c. iv. p. 130:

"A bare, rough, barn-like edifice built of slabs."

1869. J. Townend, `Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 155:

"We passed through Studley Park, with here and there a slab

house or tent."

1874. G. Walch, `Head over Heels,' p. 81:

"The moonlight . . . poured on the hut, slabs an' roof."

1885. R. M. Praed, `Australian Life,' p. 8:

"The hut was built of logs and slabs."

[p. 73]: "The usual bush-hut of slabs and bark."

[p.144]:"The neighbours congregated in the rough hut of

unplaned slabs."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `The Miner's Right,' c. vi. p. 61:

"Slab huts of split heavy boards, Australian fashion, placed

vertically."

<hw>Slab</hw>, v. tr. mining term: to keep up the sides

of a shaft with timber slabs.

1871. J. J. Simpson, `Recitations,' p. 24:

"So dig away, drive away, slab and bail."

<hw>Sleepy Lizard</hw>, i.q. Blue-tongued Lizard (q.v.).

<hw>Slip-panel</hw>. Same as Slip-rail (q.v.).

See also Grass.

1875. Wood and Lapham, `Waiting for the Mail,' p. 31:

"Tethering my good old horse to a tussock of snow-grass."

<hw>Snow-line</hw>, n. In pastoralists' language of New

Zealand, "above the snow-line" is land covered by snow in

winter, but free in summer.

<hw>Soak</hw>, or <hw>Soakage</hw>, n. a Western

and Central Australian term. See quotation.

1895. `The Australasian,' Sept. 7, p. 461, col. 1:

"`Inquirer.'--The term soak in Western Australia, as used on

maps and plans, signifies a depression holding moisture after

rain. It is also given to damp or swampy spots round the base

of granite rocks. Wells sunk on soaks yield water for some

time after rain. All soaks are of a temporary character."

<hw>Soak-hole</hw>, n. an enclosed place in a stream

in which sheep are washed.

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 82:

"Parallel poles, resting on forks driven into the bed of the

water-hole, were run out on the surface of the stream, forming

square soak-holes, a long, narrow lane leading to the dry

land."

<hw>Soldier</hw>, or <hw>Soldier-Ant</hw>, n. "one of

that section of a colony of some kinds of ants which does the

fighting, takes slaves, etc." (`Century Dict.') In Australia,

the large red ants are called Soldier-Ants. Compare

Bulldog-Ant.

1854. G. H. Haydon, `The Australian Emigrant,' p. 59:

"It was a red ant, upwards of an inch in length--`that's a

soldier, and he prods hard too.'"

1865. W. Howitt, `Discovery in Australia,' vol. ii. p. 308:

"The pain caused by a wound from this grass-seed is exactly

like that from the bite of a soldier-ant."

<hw>Soldier-bird</hw>, or <hw>Poor Soldier</hw>,

or <hw>Old-Soldier bird</hw>, n. another

name for the Friar-bird (q.v.).

1859. D. Bunce, `Australasiatic Reminiscences,' p. 62:

"The notes peculiar to the Ornithorhynchus paradoxus,

or platypus, wattle-bird, and leather-head, or old

soldier bird, added in no small degree to the novelties. . . .

The wattle-bird has been not inaptly termed the `what's

o'clock,'--the leather-head the `stop where-you-are.'"

[Mr. Bunce's observations are curiously confused. The

`Soldier-bird' is also called `Four o'clock,' but it is

difficult to say what `wattle bird' is called `what's o'clock';

the `notes' of the platypus must be indeed `peculiar.']

1896. Mrs. Langloh Parker, `Australian Legendary Tales,'

p. 108 [Title of Tale]:

"Deegeenboyah the Soldier-bird."

<hw>Sole</hw>, n. The name is given to various

Australian fishes. In Sydney, to Synaptura nigra,

Macl.; in Melbourne, to Rhombosolea bassensis, Castln.;

in New Zealand, to Rhombosolea monopus, Gunth.,

and Peltorhamphus novae-zelandiae, Gunth.; in Tasmania,

to Ammotretis rostratus, Gunth., family

Pleuronectidae. Rhombosolea monopus is called

the Flounder, in Tasmania. See also Lemon-Sole.

<hw>Solomon's</hw> Seal, n. Not the Old World plant,

which is of the genus Polygonatum, but the Tasmanian

name for Drymophila cyanocarpa, R. Br.,

N.O. Liliacea; also called Turquoise Berry.

<hw>Sonny</hw>, n. a common nominative of address to any

little boy. In Australia, the word is not infrequently

pronounced as in the quotation. The form of the word came from

America.

1896. A. B. Paterson, `Man from Snowy River,' p. 10:

"But maybe you're only a Johnnie,

And don't know a horse from a hoe?

Weel, weel, don't get angry, my Sonny,

But, really, a young `un should know."

<hw>Sool</hw>, v. Used colloquially--(1) to excite a

dog or set him on; (2) to worry, as of a dog. Common in the

phrase "Sool him, boy!" Shakspeare uses "tarre him on" in the

first sense.

Shakspeare, `King John,' IV. i. 117:

"And like a dog that is compelled to fight,

Snatch at his master that doth tarre him on."

1896. Mrs. Langloh Parker, `Australian Legendary Tales,'

p. 90:

"She went quickly towards her camp, calling softly, `Birree

gougou,' which meant `Sool 'em, sool 'em,' and was the signal

for the dogs to come out."

<hw>Sorrel, Queensland</hw>. See Queensland Sorrel.

<hw>Sour-Gourd</hw>, n. Same as Baobab (q.v.).

<hw>Sour-Plum</hw>, n. the Emu-apple.

See Apple.

<hw>South Australia</hw>, n. the name of a colony,

established in 1836, with Adelaide as its capital. It is not a

good name, for it is not the most southerly colony, and the

"Northern Territory" forms a part of South Australia. Central

Australia would be a better name, but not wholly satisfactory,

for by Central Australia is now meant the central part of the

colony of South Australia. The name Centralia has been

proposed as a change.

<hw>Southern Cross</hw>, n. The constellation of the

Southern Cross is of course visible in places farther north

than Australia, but it has come to be regarded as the

astronomical emblem of Australasia; e.g. the phrase "beneath

the Southern Cross " is common for "in Australia or New

Zealand."

1863. S. Butler, `First Year in Canterbury Settlement,' p. 13:

"The southern cross is a very great delusion. It isn't a

cross. It is a kite, a kite upside down, an irregular kite

upside down, with only three respectable stars and one very

poor and very much out of place. Near it, however, is a truly

mysterious and interesting object called the coal sack: it is

a black patch in the sky distinctly darker than all the rest of

the heavens. No star shines through it. The proper name for it

is the black Magellan cloud."

1868. Mrs. Riddell, `Lay of Far South,' p. 4:

"Yet do I not regret the loss,

Thou hast thy gleaming Southern Cross."

1887. R. M. Praed, `Longleat of Kooralbyn,' c. iv. p. 35:

"The Southern Cross rose gem-like above the horizon."

<hw>Spade-press</hw>, n. a make-shift wool-press in

which the fleeces are rammed down with a spade.

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Colonial Reformer,' c. xvii. p. 202:

"The spade-press--that friendly adjunct of the pioneer

squatter's humble wool-shed."

<hw>Spaniard</hw>, n. a prickly bushy grass of New

Zealand, Aciphylla colensoi.

1857. `Paul's Letters from Canterbury,' p. 108:

"The country through which I have passed has been most

savage, one mass of Spaniards."

1862. J. Von Haast, `Geology of Westland,' p. 25:

"Groves of large specimens of Discaria toumatoo,

the Wild Irishman of the settlers, formed with the gigantic

Aciphylla Colensoi, the Spaniard or Bayonet-grass,

an often impenetrable thicket."

1863. S. Butler, `First Year of Canterbury Settlement,' p. 67:

"The Spaniard (spear-grass or bayonet-grass) `piked us intil

the bane,' and I assure you we were hard set to make any

headway at all."

1875. Lady Barker, `Station Amusements in New Zealand,' p. 35:

"The least touch of this green bayonet draws blood, and a fall

into a Spaniard is a thing to be remembered all

one's life."

1882. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' p. 287:

"Carefully avoiding contact with the long-armed leaves of

Spaniards (Aciphylla), which here attain the larger

dimensions, carrying flower-spikes up to six feet long."

1890. `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,'

vol. xxiii. p. 197:

"Here were rats which lived under the dead leaves of the

prickly `Spaniard,' and possibly fed on the roots.

The Spaniard leaves forked into stiff upright fingers

about 1 in. wide, ending in an exceedingly stiff pricking point."

1896. `Otago Witness,' May 7, p. 48 "Prickly as the points

of the Spaniard."

<hw>Spear-grass</hw>, n. name given to several grasses

whose spear-like seeds spoil the wool of sheep, but which are

yet excellent forage plants. They are--(1) all the species of

Stipa; (2) Heteropogon contortus, Roem. and

Schult., and others (see quotations); (3) and in New Zealand,

one or two plants of the umbelliferous genus Aciphylla;

also called Spaniard (q.v.).

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 44:

"Very disagreeable, however, was the abundance of burr and of a

spear-grass (Aristida)."

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

and Exploration of Australia,' vol. ii. p. 463 [Note]:

"On the south coast there is a grass seed which has similar

properties. The seeds are sharp and covered with fine barbs,

and once they penetrate the skin they will work their way

onwards. They catch in the wool of sheep, and in a short time

reach the intestines. Very often I have been shown the omentum

of a dead sheep where the grass seeds were projecting like a

pavement of pegs. The settlers call it spear-grass, and it is,

I believe, a species of Anthistiria."

1874. W. H. L. Ranken, `Dominion of Australia,' c. v. p. 86:

"Sheep in paddocks cannot be so well kept clear of

spear-grass."

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 90:

"Heteropogon contortus, Spear Grass. A splendid grass

for a cattle-run, as it produces a great amount of feed, but is

dreaded by the sheep-owner on account of its spear-like seeds."

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 23:

"A nocuous kind of grass, namely the dreaded spear-grass

(Andropogon contortus), which grows on the coast,

and which rendered sheep-raising impossible."

<hw>Spear-Lily</hw>, n. See Lily.

<hw>Spearwood</hw>, the wood of three trees so called, because

the aborigines made their spears from it--Acacia

doratoxylon, A. Cunn., A. homalophylla, A. Cunn.,

both N.O. Leguminosae; and Eucalyptus

doratoxylon, F. v. M., N.O. Myrtaceae.

<hw>Speedwell, Native</hw>, n. The English

Speedwell is a Veronica. There is a Tasmanian

species, Veronica formosa, R. Br.,

N.O. Scrophulariaceae.

<hw>Spell</hw>, n. In England, a turn at work or duty;

in Australasia, always a period of rest from duty. It is quite

possible that etymologically Spell is connected with

Ger. spielen, in which case the Australasian use is the

more correct. See `Skeat's Etymological Dictionary.'

1865. J. O. Tucker, `Australian Story,' c. i. p. 84:

"The only recompense was . . . to light his pipe and have

a `spell.'"

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 84:

"Having a spell--what we should call a short holiday."

<hw>Spell</hw>, v. to rest.

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. ii.

p. 42:

"In order to spell the oars, we landed at a point on the east

side."

1880. G. n. Oakley, in `Victoria in 1880,' p. 114:

"He `spelled' upon the ground; a hollow gum

Bore up his ample back and bade him rest;

And creaked no warning when he sat upon

A war-ant's nest."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Colonial Reformer,' c. xxiv. p. 328:

"There's a hundred and fifty stock-horses there, spelling for

next winter's work."

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

Narrative, p. 48:

"We camped beside a water-pool containing plenty of fish, and

here we spelled for a day to allow some of us to go on and

photograph Chamber's Pillar."

<hw>Sphenura</hw>, n. scientific name for a genus

of Australian birds called the Bristle-Birds (q.v.).

From Grk. sphaen, "a wedge," and 'oura, "a tail."

The name was given by Sir Frederick McCoy.

<hw>Spider</hw>, n. See Katipo.

<hw>Spider-Orchis</hw>, n. name given in Tasmania

to the Orchid Caladenia pulcherrima, F. v. M.

<hw>Spiloglaux</hw>, n. See Sceloglaux.

<hw>Spinach, Australian</hw>, n. name applied to species

of Chenopodium, N.O. Salsolaceae; called also

Fat-hen. The name is also applied to various wild pot

herbs.

<hw>Spinach, New Zealand</hw>, n. Tetragonia

expansa, Murr., N.O. Ficoideae; called also

Iceplant, in Tasmania. It is a trailing

Fig-marigold, and was discovered in New Zealand by

Captain Cook, though it is also found in Japan and South

America. Its top leaves are eaten as spinach, and Cook

introduced it to England, where it is also known as Summer

Spinach.

<hw>Spine-bill</hw>, n. an Australian "Honey-eater,"

but not now so classed. There are two species--

The Slender Spine-bill--

Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris, Gould; inhabiting

Australia and Tasmania, and called Cobbler's Awl

in the latter colony.

White-eyebrowed S.--

A. superciliosus, Gould; of Western Australia.

Though related to the genus Myzomela, the pattern

of their colouration differs widely.

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

"Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris. Slender-billed

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

Land."

Ibid. pl. 62:

"Acanthorhynchus superciliosus, Gould. White-eyebrowed

Spine-bill."

<hw>Spinetail</hw>, n. an Australian bird, Orthonyx

spinicauda; called also Pheasant's Mother (q.v.),

Log-runner (q.v.). The name is used elsewhere for

different birds. See Orthonyx.

<hw>Spinifex</hw>, n. a grass known in India, China, and

the Pacific, but especially common on Australasian shores. The

word means, literally, thorn-making, but it is not

classical Latin. "The aggregated flowers form large clusters,

and their radiating heads, becoming detached at maturity, are

carried by the wind along the sand, propelled by their elastic

spines and dropping their seeds as they roll." (Mueller.)

This peculiarity gains for the Hairy Spinifex

(Spinifex hirsutus, Labill.) the additional name of

Spiny Rolling Grass. See also quotation, 1877. This

chief species (S. hirsutus) is present on the shores of

nearly all Australasia, and has various

synonyms--S. sericeus, Raoul.; S. inermis, Banks

and Sol.; Ixalum inerme, Forst.; S. fragilis,

R.B., etc. It is a "coarse, rambling, much-branched, rigid,

spinous, silky or woolly, perennial grass, with habitats near

the sea on sandhills, or saline soils more inland." (Buchanan.)

The Desert Spinifex of the early explorers, and of many

subsequent writers, is not a true Spinifex, but a

Fescue; it is properly called Porcupine Grass

(q.v.), and is a species of Triodia. The quotations,

1846, 1887, 1890, and 1893, involve this error.

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. ii.

c. vi. p. 209:

"In the valley was a little sandy soil, nourishing the

Spinifex."

1877. Baron von Mueller, `Botanic Teachings,' p. 125:

"The Desert Spinifex of our colonists is a Fescue, but a true

Spinifex occupies our sand-shores; . . . the heads are

so buoyant as to float lightly on the water, and while their

uppermost spiny rays act as sails, they are carried across

narrow inlets, to continue the process of embarking."

1887. J. Bonwick, `Romance of Wool Trade,' p. 239:

"Though grasses are sadly conspicuous by their absence, saline

plants, so nutritious for stock, occur amidst the real deserts

of Spinifex."

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 43:

"On the broad sandy heights . . . the so-called spinifex is

found in great abundance. This grass (Triodia irritans)

is the traveller's torment, and makes the plains, which it

sometimes covers for hundreds of miles, almost impassable. Its

blades, which have points as sharp as needles, often prick the

horses' legs till they bleed."

1893. A. F. Calvert, `English Illustrated Magazine,' Feb.,

p. 325:

"They evidently preferred that kind of watercress to the leaves

of the horrid, prickly Spinifex, so omnipresent in the

north-western district."

1896. R. Tate, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,'

Botany, p. 119:

"A species of Triodia (`porcupine grass,' or incorrectly

`spinifex' of explorers and residents) dominates sandy ground

and the sterile slopes and tops of the sandstone table-lands."

<hw>Spiny-Lizard</hw>, n. i.q. Mountain Devil

(q.v.).

<hw>Split-stuff</hw>, n. timber sawn into lengths and

then split.

1852. Mrs. Meredith, `My Home in Tasmania,' vol. i. p. 159:

"`Sawed stuff' and `split stuff,' by which is meant timber

which is sawn into regular forms and thicknesses, as

flooring boards, joints, battens, &c., and that which is

split into `posts and rails,' slabs, or paling. Some of

the species of eucalyptus, or gum-trees, are peculiarly

adapted for splitting. The peppermint-tree (Eucalyptus

piperita) and the `Stringy Bark' are remarkable for the

perfectly straight grain which they often exhibit, and are

split with surprising evenness and regularity into paling and

boards for `weather-boarding' houses and other purposes, in

lengths of six or eight feet by one foot wide, and half or

one-third of an inch thick. . . . Any curve in a tree renders

it unfit for splitting, but the crooked- grained wood is best

for sawing. . . . All houses in the colony, with few

exceptions, are roofed with split shingles."

<hw>Splitter</hw>, n. a wood-cutter, cutting timber

in the bush, and splitting it into posts and rails, palings

or shingles. See quotation under Split-stuff.

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 105:

"There were two splitters located near us . . . they had a

licence to split timber on the crown lands."

1870. A. L. Gordon, `Bush Ballads--Wolf and Hound,' p. 32:

"At the splitter's tent I had seen the track

Of horse hoofs, fresh on the sward."

<hw>Spoonbill</hw>, n. a bird-name widely used.

The Australian species are--

Royal Spoonbill--

Platalea regia.

Yellow-billed S.--

P. flavipes.

P. regia has a fine crest in the breeding season;

hence the name.

1863. M. K. Beveridge, `Gatherings among Gum-trees,' p. 79:

"The sun is sinking in the western sky,

And ibises and spoonbills thither fly.

<hw>Spotted-tree</hw>. Same as Leopard-tree (q.v.).

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 216:

"Spotted or Leopard Tree. The gum from this tree forms good

adhesive mucilage. It reminds one strongly of East-India

gum-arabic of good quality. During the summer months large

masses, of a clear amber-colour, exude from the stem and

branches. It has a very pleasant taste, is eaten by the

aboriginals, and forms a very common bushman's remedy in

diarrhoea."

<hw>Spotted-Orchis</hw>, n. Tasmanian name for the

Orchid Dipodium punctatum, R. Br.

<hw>Spotting</hw>, n. New Zealand equivalent for the

Australian "picking the eyes out," and "peacocking." Under

Free-selection (q.v.), the squatter spotted his run,

purchasing choice spots.

<hw>Spotty</hw>, n. a New Zealand fish, a Wrass,

Labrichthys bothryocosmus, Richards.; also called

Poddly (q.v.), and Kelp-fish (q.v.).

1878. P. Thomson, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,'

vol. xi. art. lii. p. 384:

"Wrasse, parrot-fish, and spotties are often in the market.

There are two kinds of spotties, a big and a little. The

wrasse and the parrot-fish are mostly caught outside amongst

the kelp, and these, with the spotty, are indiscriminately

called kelp-fish by the fishermen."

<hw>Sprag</hw>, n. In gold-mining. See quotation.

The word is used in England, applied to coal-mining.

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Miner's Right,' c. iii. p. 23:

"A `sprag,' being a stout piece of hard wood, was inserted

between the rope and the iron roller on which the rope ran."

<hw>Squat</hw>, v. to be a squatter (q.v.) in any of the senses

of that word.

1846. Feb. 11, `Speech by Rev. J. D. Lang,' quoted in

`Phillipsland,' p. 410:

In whatever direction one moves out of Melbourne, whether

north, east, or west, all he sees or hears is merely a

repetition of this colonial note--`I squat, thou squattest, he

squats; we squat, ye or you squat, they squat.'. . .

Exeunt omnes. `They are all gone out a-squatting.'"

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

p. 236:

"The regulations . . . put an end to squatting within the

boundaries of location, and reduced it to a system without

the boundaries."

1852. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes' (edition 1855), p. 136:

"The Speaker squats equally and alternately on the woolsack of

the House and at his wool-stations on the Murrumbidgee. One

may squat on a large or small scale, squat directly or

indirectly, squat in person or by proxy."

1854. W. Golder, `Pigeons' Parliament,' p. 68:

"Some spot,

Found here and there, where cotters squat

With self-permission."

1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 119:

"Squatting, in its first phase, was confined to the region

round about Sydney; it was not until the pass through the Blue

Mountains was discovered that the flocks and herds of the

colonists began to expand."

<hw>Squattage</hw>, n. a squatter's station.

The word can hardly be said to have prevailed.

1864. W. Westgarth, `Colony of Victoria,' p. 272:

"The great Riverine district, which is one vast series of

squattages . . . the toil and solitude of a day's journey

between the homesteads of adjacent squattages."

<hw>Squatter</hw>, n. (1) One who squats; that is,

settles on land without a title or licence. This is an

English use.

1835. T. A. Murray (Evidence before Legislative Council of

New South Wales on Police and Gaols):

"There are several parties of squatters in my neighbourhood.

I detected, not long since, three men at one of their stations

in the act of slaughtering one of my own cattle. I have strong

reason to suspect that these people are, in general, illicit

sellers of spirits."

1835. W. H. Dutton (Evidence before same Committee):

"These persons (squatters) are almost invariably the

instigators and promoters of crime, receivers of stolen

property, illegal vendors of spirits, and harbourers of

runaways, bushrangers, and vagrants."

1843. Rev. W. Pridden, `Australia Its History and Present

Condition,' pp. 332-3:

"The squatters, as they are called, are men who occupy

with their cattle, or their habitations, those spots on the

confines of a colony or estate which have not yet become any

person's private property. By the natural increase of their

flocks and herds, many of these squatters have enriched

themselves; and having been allowed to enjoy the advantages of

as much pasture as they wanted in the bush, without paying any

rent for it to the government, they have removed elsewhere when

the spot was sold, and have not unfrequently gained enough to

purchase that or some other property. Thus . . . the squatter

has been converted into a respectable settler. But this is too

bright a picture to form an average specimen. . . .

Unfortunately, many of these squatters have been persons

originally of depraved and lawless habits, and they have made

their residence at the very outskirts of civilization a means

of carrying on all manner of mischief. Or sometimes they

choose spots of waste land near a high road . . . there the

squatters knock up what is called a `hut.' In such places

stolen goods are easily disposed of, spirits and tobacco are

procured in return."

Ibid. p. 334:

"The rich proprietors have a great aversion to the class of

squatters, and not unreasonably, yet they are thus, many of

them, squatters themselves, only on a much larger scale. . ."

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,'

vol. i. c. ix. p. 260:

"This capital of Australia Felix had for a long time been

known to some squatters from Tasmania."

1846. T. H. Braim, `History of New South Wales,'

vol. i. p. 235:

"A set of men who were to be found upon the borders of every

large estate, and who were known by the name of squatters.

These were ticket-of-leave holders, or freedmen who erected a

but on waste land near a great public road, or on the outskirts

of an estate."

1897. Australian Steam Navigation Company, `Guide Book,'

p. 29:

"Nowaday squatters may be interested and possibly shocked on

learning that in March, 1836, a petition was being largely

signed for the prevention of `squatting, through which so much

crime was daily occurring,' inasmuch as `squatting' was but

another term for sly grog selling, receiving stolen property,

and harbouring bushrangers and assigned servants. The term

`squatter,' as applied to the class it now designates--without

which where would Australia now be?--was not in vogue till

1842."

(2) A pastoral tenant of the Crown, often renting from the

Crown vast tracts of land for pasturage at an almost nominal

sum. The term is still frequently, but incorrectly, used for

a man rearing and running stock on freehold land.

Pastoralist is now the more favoured term.

1840. F. P. Labillicre, `Early History of the Colony of

Victoria' (edition 1878), vol. ii. p. 189:

"In a memorandum of December 19th, 1840, `on the disposal of

Lands in the Australian Provinces,' Sir George Gipps informs

the Secretary of State on the subject, and states that,--'A

very large proportion of the land which is to form the new

district of Port Phillip is already in the licensed occupation

of the Squatters of New South Wales, a class of persons whom it

would be wrong to confound with those who bear the same name in

America, and who are generally persons of mean repute and of

small means, who have taken unauthorized possession of patches

of land. Among the Squatters of New South Wales are the

wealthiest of the land, occupying, with the permission of the

Government, thousands and tens of thousands of acres. Young

men of good families and connexions in England, officers of the

army and navy, graduates of Oxford and Cambridge, are also in

no small number amongst them.'"

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

"The petitioner has already consigned the whole country

to the class squatter in perpetuity."

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

"The squatters of Australia Felix will meet on horseback, upon

Batman's Hill, on the 1st of June, for the purpose of forming a

Mutual Protection Society. From the Murray to the sea-beach,

from the Snowy Mountains to the Glenelg, let no squatter be

absent."

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

"`Squatters.' A word not to be found in `Johnson's Dictionary';

of Canadian extraction, literally to sit on the haunches: in

Australia a term applied to the sheep farmers generally; from

their being obliged frequently to adopt that position."

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

"We were received with the greatest kindness by my friends the

`squatters,' a class principally composed of young men of good

education, gentlemanly habits, and high principles."

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

"The Port Phillip squatters, as occupants of the territory of

New South Wales, were afterwards required to take out an annual

depasturing licence in terms of a Colonial Act passed at

Sydney."

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

of the colonial community."

1851. `Australasian,' p. 298:

"In 1840 the migratory flockmaster had become a settled

squatter. A wretched slab but is now his home; for furniture

he has a rough bush-made table, and two or three uncouth

stools."

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

"The term squatter was applied in the first instance to

signify, as in America, such as erected huts on unsold land.

It thus came to be applied to all who did not live on their own

land, to whom the original and more expressive name of settler

continued to be applied. When the owners of stock became

influential from their education and wealth, it was thought due

to them to change this term for one more suitable to their

circumstances, as they now included in their order nearly every

man of mark or wealth in Australia. The Government suggested

the term `tenants of the Crown,' the press hinted at `licensed

graziers,' and both terms were in partial use, but such is the

prejudice in favour of what is already established, that both

were soon disused, and the original term finally adopted."

1862. G. T. Lloyd, `Thirty-three Years in Tasmania and

Victoria,' p. 478:

"The term `squatter' . . . is thus derived:--A flock-master

settling in Australia could drive his stock to, and occupy,

any tract of country, which, from its extent and pastoral

capabilities, might meet his comprehensive views; always

provided, that such lands had not been already appropriated.

. . . Early flock-masters were always confirmed in their

selection of lands, according to the quantity of stock they

possessed. . . . The Victorian Squatter who can number but

five or six thousand sheep is held to be a man of no account.

. . . Those only, who can command the shearing of from ten

to forty thousand fleeces annually, are estimated as worthy

of any note."

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

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

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

"In the language of the times, Messrs. Evans, Lancey, and

subsequently J. P. Fawkner, were squatters. That term is

somewhat singular as applied to the latter, who asserts that he

founded the colony to prevent its getting into the hands of the

squatters. The term was then applied to all who placed

themselves upon public lands without licence."

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,'

vol. i. p. 265:

"It is not too much to say that all the early success of

Australia was due to the squatters of New South Wales,

who followed the steps of Captain McArthur."

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

"I have been a super, a small freeholder, and a middling-sized

squatter, at different times."

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

"The Squatters are the large leaseholders and landed

proprietors of the colony, whose cry has always been that the

country was unfit for agricultural settlement, and only adapted

for the pastoral pursuits in which they were engaged. . . .

It is true the old squatter has been well-nigh exterminated."

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

"The pastoral enterprise of the adventurous squatters.

Originally unrecognized trespassers on Crown lands. . . ."

(3) Applied as a nickname to a kind of Bronze-wing

Pigeon (q.v.).

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

"On the plains you find different kinds of pigeons, the

squatters being most common--plump, dust-coloured little

fellows, crouching down to the ground quite motionless as you

pass. I have frequently killed them with my stock-whip."

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

"Gentle little squatter-pigeons cooed lovingly in answer to

their mates on all sides."

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

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

"The Squatterarchy of the Koorong rose up in a body and named

its hero, martyr."

<hw>Squatterdom</hw>, n. the state of being a squatter,

or collective word for squatters; the squatter-party.

1866 (circiter). `Political parody':

"The speaker then apologised, the Members cried, Hear, Hear;

And e'en the ranks of squatterdom could scarce forbear to

cheer."

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

"Writes to another at a distance upon the subject of

squatterdom."

<hw>Squatting</hw>, adj.

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

"During my recent excursions through the squatting districts,

I had accustomed myself to a comparatively wild life."

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Throughout the Colony generally, English are the most

numerous, then the Scotch, then the Irish, amongst the

Squattocracy."

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

"The howl for the abolition of the squattocracy had not yet

been fostered under the malign influence of shortsighted

politicians."

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

"The bloated squattocracy represents Australian conservatism."

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

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

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

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

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

word.

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

"Squattocratic Impudence." [A heading.]

<hw>Squeaker</hw>, n. a vernacular name applied

to various birds from their cries. See quotations.

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

"Strepera Anaphonensis, Grey Crow-shrike; Squeaker

of the Colonists."

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

Victoria,' vol. i. p. 63:

"The Squeaker (Strepera anaphonensis) is a shy and

solitary bird, living entirely on the flats, and is remarkable

on account of its frequenting only the same locality. He is

hence easily distinguished from the Gymnorhina tibicen,

whose shrill and piping voice is so well known on all the high

lands."

1896. A. J. North, `List of Insectivorous Birds of New South

Wales,' part i. p. 1:

"A local name is often more apt to mislead and confuse than to

assist one in recognizing the particular species on which it is

bestowed. This is chiefly due to the same local name being

applied to two or more species.For instance, Corcorax

melanorhamphus, Xerophila leucopsis, and Myzantha

garrula are all locally known in different parts of the

Colony by the name of `Squeaker.'"

<hw>Squid</hw>, n. a marine animal. The Australian

species is Sepioteuthis australis, Quoy and Gaim.

1883. `Report of the Royal Commission on the Fisheries of

Tasmania,' p. xi:

"None of the Squid family seems to be sought after, although

certain kinds are somewhat abundant in our waters. It is

stated by the New South Wales Fisheries Enquiry Commission,

1880, that `the cephalopods might be made a source of a

considerable profit for exportation to Japan and China.

In both these countries all animal substances of a gelatinous

character are in great request, and none more than those of the

cuttle-fish tribe; the squid (Sepioteuthis australis) is

highly appreciated, and in consequence is highly prized.

The cuttle-fish (sepia) is of rather inferior quality,

and the star-fish of the fishermen (octopus) not used

at all.'"

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

"You can't fill up all these retainers on tinned salmon for

nothing; but whenever I could get it, I would give 'em squid.

Squid's good for natives, but I don't care for it, do you?--

or shark either."

<hw>Squire</hw>, n. name given to the fish called

Schnapper at two years old. See Schnapper.

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

<hw>Stamper</hw>, or <hw>Stamphead</hw>, n. "A cast-iron

weight, or head, fixed on to a shank or lifter, and used for

stamping or reducing quartz to a fine sand." (Brough Smyth,

`Glossary.') The word is used elsewhere as a term in

machinery. In Australia, it signifies the appliance above

described. The form stamphead is the earlier one.

The shorter word stamper is now the more usual.

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

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

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

"The battery was to have eight stampers."

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

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

to sixty."

Ibid. p. 15:

"A battery of twenty-six stamp heads."

<hw>Star of Bethlehem</hw>. The Old World plant is

Ornithogalum umbellatum; the name is given in Australia

to Chamaescilla corymbosa, and in Tasmania to

Burchardia umbellata, R. Br., both of the

Liliaceae.

<hw>Star-fern</hw>, n. name given in Victoria to

Gleichenia flabellata, R. Br.; called also

Fan-fern. See Fern.

<hw>Starling</hw>, n. English bird-name.

The Australian species is the Shining Starling,

Calornis metallica. The common English starling

is also acclimatised.

<hw>Start</hw>, n. The young Australian has a fine

contempt for the English word to begin, which he never

uses where he can find any substitute. He says commence

or start, and he always uses commence followed

by the infinitive instead of by the verbal noun, as "The dog

commenced to bark."

1896. Modern talk in the train:

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

hoot."

<hw>Station</hw>, n. originally the house with the

necessary buildings and home-premises of a sheep-run, and still

used in that sense: but now more generally signifying the run

and all that goes with it. Stations are distinguished

as Sheep-stations and Cattle-stations.

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

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

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

"Their [squatters'] huts or houses, gardens, paddocks, etc.,

form what is termed a station, while the range of country over

which their flocks and herds roam is termed a run."

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

"The lecturer assured his audience that he came here to prevent

this country being a squatting station."

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

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

grave."

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

"Station--the term applied in the colonies to the homesteads of

the sheep-farmers or squatters."

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

"Men who in their youth had been peaceful stockmen and

station-labourers."

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

"I'm travelen' down the Castlereagh and I'm a station-hand,

I'm handy with the ropin' pole, I'm handy with the brand,

And I can ride a rowdy colt, or swing the axe all day,

But there's no demand for a stationhand along the Castlereagh."

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

1853. `The Emigrant's Guide to Australia.' (Article on

Bush-Cookery, from an unpublished MS. by Mrs. Chisholm],

pp. 111-12:

"The great art of bush-cookery consists in giving a variety out

of salt beef and flour . . . let the Sunday share be soaked on

the Saturday, and beat it well . . . take the . . . flour and

work it into a paste; then put the beef into it, boil it,

and you will have a very nice pudding, known in the bush as

`Station jack.'"

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

Beech. See Beech.

<hw>Stay-a-while</hw>, n. a tangled bush; sometimes

called Wait-a-while (q.v.).

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

See quotation.

1820. Lieut. C. Jeffreys, R.N., `Geographical and

Descriptive Delineations of the Island of Van Dieman's Land,'

p. 69:

"Their meal consisted of the hindquarters of a kangaroo cut

into mincemeat, stewed in its own gravy, with a few rashers

of salt pork; this dish is commonly called a steamer."

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

p. 309:

"Our largest animals are the Kangaroos . . . making most

delicious stews and steaks, the favourite dish being what is

called a steamer, composed of steaks and chopped tail,

(with a few slices of salt pork) stewed with a very small

quantity of water for a couple of hours in a close vessel."

<hw>Stewart Islander</hw>, n. name given to the oyster,

Ostrea chiloensis, Sowerby; so called because it is

specially abundant on Stewart Island off the south coast of New

Zealand. The Stewart Island forms are mud oysters, those of

Sydney Cove growing on rock. See Oyster.

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

<hw>Stick-up</hw>, v. tr. (1) The regular word for the

action of bushrangers stopping passers-by on the highway and

robbing them.

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

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. ii.

c. xiii. p. 502:

"It was only the previous night that he had been `stuck up'

with a pistol at his head."

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

"Unless the mail came well armed, a very few men could `stick

it up,' without any trouble or danger."

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

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

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

"Five or six bushrangers took up a position about a mile from

town, and (to use a colonial phrase) `stuck up' every person

that passed."

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

p. 93:

"The escort has been `stuck up,' and the robbers have taken

notes to the value of L700, and two thousand ounces of gold."

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

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

road."

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

"We could make more money in one night by `sticking up' a

coach or a bank than in any other way in a year . . . Any

one who has been stuck up himself knows that there's not much

chance of doing much in the resisting line." [The operation is

then explained fully.]

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

"Accounts of bushrangers `sticking up' stations, travellers,

and banks were very frequent."

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

"The game of sticking up hotels used to be in the old days a

popular one, and from the necessary openness of the premises

the practice was easy to carry out."

(3) Humorously applied to a collector or a beggar. In `Twenty-

five Years of St. Andrews' (vol. ii. p. 87), A. K. H. B.

tells a story of a church dignitary, who was always collecting

money for church building. When a ghost appeared at Glamis

Castle, addressing the ghost, the clergyman began--that "he was

most anxious to raise money for a church he was erecting; that

he had a bad cold and could not well get out of bed; but that

his collecting-book was on the dressing-table, and he would be

`extremely obliged' for a subscription." An Australian would

have said he "stuck up" the ghost for a subscription.

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

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

towns."

(4) Bring a kangaroo to bay.

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

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

forester."

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

"The fiercest fighter I ever saw `stuck up' against a red

gum-tree."

(5) Simply to stop.

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

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

any difficulty."

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

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

over there."

(6) To pose, to puzzle.

1896. Modern:

"I was stuck up for an answer."

"That last riddle stuck him up."

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

"The professor seems to have stuck up any number of candidates

with the demand that they should `construct one simple sentence

out of all the following.'"

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

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

"They had only just been liberated from gaol, and were

the stickers-up, or highwaymen mentioned."

<hw>Sticker-up/2</hw>, n. a term of early bush cookery,

the method, explained in first quotation, being borrowed from

the aborigines.

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

"Which he cooked in the mode called in colonial phrase a

sticker up. A straight twig being cut as a spit, the slices

were strung upon it, and laid across two forked sticks leaning

towards the fire."

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

"Here I was first initiated into the bush art of `sticker-up'

cookery . . . the orthodox material here is of course kangaroo,

a piece of which is divided nicely into cutlets two or three

inches broad and a third of an inch thick. The next requisite

is a straight clean stick, about four feet long, sharpened at

both ends. On the narrow part of this, for the space of a foot

or more, the cutlets are spitted at intervals, and on the end

is placed a piece of delicately rosy fat bacon. The strong end

of the stick-spit is now stuck fast and erect in the ground,

close by the fire, to leeward; care being taken that it does

not burn." ". . . to men that are hungry, stuck-up kangaroo

and bacon are very good eating." . . . "our `sticker-up'

consisted only of ham."

1862. G. T. Lloyd, `Thirty-three Years in Tasmania and

Victoria,' p. 103:

"Pounds of rosy steaks . . . skilfully rigged after the usual

approved fashion (termed in Bush parlance a sticker-up'),

before the brilliant wood fire, soon sent forth odours most

grateful to the hungered way-worn Bushmen."

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

the species are--

The Black Stilt--

Himantopus novae-zelandiae, Gould; Maori name,

Kaki.

Pied S., or Whiteheaded S.--

H. leucocephalus, Gould; Maori name, Tutumata.

White-necked S.--

H. albicollis, Buller.

H. leucocephalus (the White-headed Stilt)

is also present in Australia, and the world-wide species,

H. pectoralis, Du Bus. (the Banded Stilt), is found

through all Australasia.

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

Stingrays, or Stingarees.

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

"It has been recently discovered by the writer of the animated

article in the `Field' on Fishing in New Zealand [London, Nov.

25, 1871], that `stingareeing' can be made to afford sport of

a most exciting kind."

<hw>Stinging-tree</hw>, n. a Queensland name

for the Giant Nettle, or Nettle-tree (q.v.)

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

"The stinging-tree, . . . the most terrible of all vegetable

growths. This horrible guardian of the Queensland jungle

stands from five to fifteen feet in height, and has a general

appearance somewhat similar to that of a small mulberry-tree.

Their peculiarly soft and inviting aspect is caused by an

almost invisible coating of microscopic cillia, and it is to

these that the dangerous characteristics of the plant are due.

The unhappy wanderer in these wilds, who allows any part of his

body to come in contact with those beautiful, inviting tongues

of green, soon finds them veritable tongues of fire, and it

will be weeks, perhaps months, ere the scorching agony

occasioned by their sting is entirely eradicated."

<hw>Sting-moth</hw>, n. an Australian moth,

Doratifera vulnerans. The larva has at each end

of the body four tubercles bearing stinging hairs. (`Standard.')

<hw>Stinkwood</hw>, n. The name is given to various

woods in different parts of the world, from their unpleasant

smell. In Tasmania, it is applied to the timber of Zieria

smithii, Andr., N.O. Rutaceae.

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

"The timber in this district I found to be principally myrtle,

sassafras, and stinkwood."

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

species are--

Curlew Stint--

Tringa subarquata, Gmel.

Little S.--

T. ruficollis.

Sharp-tailed S.--

T. acuminata, Horsf.

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

See quotation.

1885. Hugh Martin, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,'

vol. xviii. art. xxii. p. 112:

"Pogonornis cincta (Hihi, Matahiore, stitch-bird),

North Island."

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

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

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

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

p. 119:

"Stitch-bird (Pogonornis cincta), formerly abundant in

the North Island, but now extinct on the main-land, and found

only in some of the outlying islets. The rarest and one of the

most beautiful of native Passerines."

<hw>Stock</hw>, n. The word has many meanings. In the

one from which the Australian compounds are made, it denotes

horses, cattle, or sheep, the farmer's stock in trade. Of

course, this use is not peculiar to Australia, but it is

unusually common there.

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

p. 320:

"The cattle suffered much, and some of both the public and

private stock perished."

<hw>Stock-agent</hw>, n. more usually in the form Stock

and Station-agent. The circumstances of Australian life make

this a common profession.

<hw>Stock-holder</hw>, n. a grazier; owner of large

herds of cattle, or flocks of sheep.

1820. Lieut. Chas. Jeffreys, `Delineations of Van Dieman's

Land' [sic], p. 25:

"Near this is the residence of D. Rose, Esq., formerly an

officer of the 73rd regiment, and now a large land and

stockholder."

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

"The most negligent stock-holders now carefully house their

wool, and many take the trouble to wash their sheep."

<hw>Stock-horse</hw>, n. horse accustomed to go after

cattle used in mustering and cutting-out (q.v.).

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

"The Australian stock-horse is a wonderful animal. . . . He

has a wonderful constitution, splendid feet, great endurance,

and very good temper."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(1890):

"`What can you do, young man?' `Well, most things . . .

fence, split, milk, drive bullocks, stock-keep, plough."

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

or herdsman.

1821. Governor Macquarie, `Government Notice,' June 30, 1821,

in E. Curr's `Van Diemen's Land' (1824), p. 154:

"To yard the flocks at night . . . for the purpose of keeping

the stock-keepers in check, and sufficient shepherds should be

kept to ensure constant attention to the flock."

1828. Governor Arthur in J. Bischoff's `Van Diemen's Land,'

1832, p. 185:

"Every kind of injury committed against the defenceless natives

by the stock-keepers."

<hw>Stock-man</hw>, n. used in Australia for a man

employed to look after stock.

1821. Governor Macquarie, `Government Notice,' June 30, 1821,

in E. Curr's `Van Diemen's Land' (edition 1824), p. 155:

"It is the common practice with owners of flocks to allow

their shepherds to acquire and keep sheep . . . it affords

to the stock-men a cover frequently for disposing dishonestly

of sheep belonging to their master."

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

"At its junction there is a fine space, named by the stockmen

Native Hut Valley."

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

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

herdsman)."

1846. J L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. ii.

c. xii. p. 402:

"An exchange of looks I caught the overseer and stockman

indulging in."

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

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

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

"Would you still exchange your comfortable home and warm

fireside . . . for a wet blanket, a fireless camp,

and all the other etceteras of the stockman's life?"

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

"One stooped--a stockman from the nearer hills

To loose his wallet strings."

<hw>Stock-rider</hw>, n. a man employed to look after

cattle, properly on an unfenced station.

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

"The Sick Stock-rider."

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

"`Thus far into the bowels of the land

Have we marched on without impediment,'

said a lithe-limbed stock-rider, bearded like a pard, as he lit

his pipe--the bushman's only friend. And this was once a fellow

of St. John's, Cambridge."

<hw>Stock-riding</hw>, n. the occupation

of a Stock-rider (q.v.).

1880. Fison and Howitt, `Kamilaroi and Kurnai,' p. 260

[Footnote]:

"Like other Australian aborigines, the Kurnai have a natural

aptitude for stock-riding."

<hw>Stock-route</hw>, n. When land is first let in

surveyed blocks to a Squatter (q.v.), and is, of course,

unfenced, the lessee is required by law to leave passages

through it from two to four chains wide, at certain intervals,

as a right-of-way for travelling sheep and cattle. These are

called Stock-routes. He may fence these routes if he

chooses--which he very rarely does--but if he fences across

the route he must provide gates or slip-rails (q.v.),

or other free passage.

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

"To-day the Land Board dealt with the application for the

re-appraisement of the Yantara pastoral holding. The manager

said that owing to deterioration of the feed through the

rabbits, from 9 to 10 acres were required to carry a sheep. . .

. Thirteen trial wells had been put down on the holding, all

of which had bottomed on a drift of salt water. Four stock

routes passed through the area, one being the main stock route

from South-western Queensland. . . . Wild dogs had been

troublesome since the February rains. . . . There were

Government bores on the run."

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

"Now Saltbush Bill was a drover tough, as ever the country

knew,

He had fought his way on the Great Stock Routes from the

sea to the Big Barcoo."

<hw>Stock-up</hw>, v. complete the number of animals

on a station, so that it may carry its full complement.

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

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

finished."

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

See quotations.

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

"The stock-whip, with a handle about half a yard long and a

thong of three yards long, of plaited bullock-hide, is a

terrible instrument in the hands of a practised stockman. Its

sound is the note of terror to the cattle; it is like the

report of a blunderbuss, and the stockman at full gallop will

hit any given spot on the beast that he is within reach of, and

cut the piece away through the thickest hide that bull or bison

ever wore."

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

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

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

"The stock-whip, which bears such a prominent part in all

dealings with cattle, is from twelve to fourteen feet in

length, with a short light handle of about fourteen inches

long, to which it is attached by a leather keeper as on a

hunting crop. . . . The whip is made of a carefully

selected strip of green hide, great attention having been paid

to curing it."

<hw>Stocks-man</hw>, n. an unusual form for

Stock-man (q.v.).

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

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

<hw>Stone-lifter</hw>, n. a Melbourne name for the fish

Kathetostoma laeve, Bl., family Trachinidae,

one of the genera of the "Stargazers" (Uranoscopina),

which have eyes on the surface of the head.

<hw>Stonewall</hw>, v. intr. (1) A Parliamentary term:

to make use of the forms of the House so as to delay public

business.

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

speeches.

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

making runs.

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

"Mr. G. Paton Smith wished to ask the honourable member for

Geelong West whether the six members sitting beside him (Mr.

Berry) constituted the `stone wall' that had been spoken of?

Did they constitute the stone wall which was to oppose all

progress--to prevent the finances being dealt with and the

business of the country carried on? It was like bully

Bottom's stone wall. It certainly could not be a very high

wall, nor a very long wall, if it only consisted of six."

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

"Abusing the heroic words of Stonewall Jackson, the Opposition

applied to themselves the epithet made famous by the gallant

Confederate General."

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

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

<hw>Stonewood</hw>, n. Callistemon salignus,

De C., N.O. Myrtaceae; called also the River

Tea-tree.

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

"Stonewood."

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

fattened for the market.

A substantial slab building with verandah."