Flav.: All broken implements of a ruin'd house.
3 Serv.: Yet do our hearts wear Timon's livery;
That see I by our faces; we are fellows still,
Serving alike in sorrow: leak'd is our bark,
And we, poor mates, stand on the dying deck,
Hearing the surges threat; we must all part
Into this sea of air.
Flav.: Good fellows all,
The latest of my wealth I'll share amongst you.
Wherever we shall meet, for Timon's sake
Let's yet be fellows; let's shake our heads, and say,
As 'twere a knell unto our master's fortunes,
“We have seen better days.” Let each take some.
(Giving them money.)
Nay, put out all your hands. Not one word more:
Thus part we rich in sorrow, parting poor.
Notes on Australianisms. Based on my own speech over the years, with
some checking in the dictionaries. Not all of these are peculiar to
Australian slang, but are important in Lawson's stories, and carry
overtones.
barrackers: people who cheer for a sporting team, etc.
boko: crazy.
bushman/bushwoman: someone who lives an isolated existence, far from
cities, “in the bush”, “outback”. (today: “bushy”. In New
Zealand it is a timber getter. Lawson was sacked from a forestry
job in New Zealand, “because he wasn't a bushman”:-)
bushranger: an Australian ``highwayman'', who lived in the `bush'--
scrub--and attacked and robbed, especially gold carrying coaches
and banks. Romanticised as anti-authoritarian Robin Hood figures--
cf. Ned Kelly--but usually very violent.
US use was very different (more = explorer), though some
lexicographers think the word (along with “bush” in this sense)
was borrowed from the US...
churchyarder: Sounding as if dying--ready for the churchyard = cemetery
cobber: mate, friend. Used to be derived from Hebrew chaver via
Yiddish. General opinion now seems to be that it entered the
language too early for that--and an English etymology is preferred.
fiver: a five pound (sterling) note (or “bill”)
fossick: pick out gold, in a fairly desultory fashion. In old
“mullock” heaps or crvices in rocks.
jackaroo: (Jack + kangaroo; sometimes jackeroo)--someone, in early
days a new immigrant from England, learning to work on a
sheep/cattle station (U.S. “ranch”.)
kiddy: young child. “kid” plus ubiquitous Australia “-y” or “-ie”
nobbler: a drink, esp. of spirits
overlanding: driving (or, “droving”, cattle from pasture to market
or railhead.)
pannikin: a metal mug.
Pipeclay: or Eurunderee, Where Lawson spent much of his early life
(including his three years of school...
Poley: name for s hornless (or dehorned) cow.
skillion(-room): A “lean-to”, a room built up against the back of
some other building, with separate roof.
sliprails: portion of a fence where the rails are lossely fitted
so that they may be removed from one side and animal let through.
smoke-ho: a short break from, esp., heavy physical work, and those who
wish to can smoke.
sov.: sovereign, gold coin worth one pound sterling
splosh: money
Sqinny: nickname for someone with a squint.
Stousher: nickname for someone often in a fight (or “stoush”)
swagman (swaggy): Generally, anyone who is walking in the “outback”
with a swag. (See “The Romance of the Swag”.) Lawson also
restricts it at times to those whom he considers to be tramps,
not looking for work but for “handouts” (i.e., “bums” in US. In view
of the Great Depression, 1890->, perhaps unfairly. In 1892 it was
reckoned 1/3 men were out of work)