1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 382:
"Scrub, or brush bloodwood, called also `Roger Gough.'"
1896. `The Australasian,' Aug. 28, p. 407, col. 5:
"Who were Messrs. James Donnelly, James Low, and Roger Gough that their names should have been bestowed on trees? Were they growers or buyers of timber? Was the first of the list any relative of the Minnesota lawyer who holds strange views about a great cryptogram in Shakespeare's plays? Was the last of the three any relative of the eminent soldier who won the battles of Sobraon and Ferozeshah? Or, as is more probable, were the names mere corruptions of aboriginal words now lost?"
1887. J. Farrell, `How he died,' p. 26:
"The miners all rolled up to see the fun."
1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Miner's Right,' c. xx. p. 185:
"At the Warraluen and other gold towns, time after time the ominous words `roll up' had sounded forth, generally followed by the gathering of a mighty crowd."
1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Miner's Right,' c. xxxv. p. 308:
"Making as much noise as if you'd hired the bell-man for a roll-up?"
1859. D. Bunce, `Travels with Dr. Leichhardt in Australia,' pp. 167-8:
"Very common to these plains, was a large-growing salsolaceous plant, belonging to the Chenopodeaceae, of Jussieu. These weeds grow in the form of a large ball. . . . No sooner were a few of these balls (or, as we were in the habit of calling them, `rolly-poleys') taken up with the current of air, than the mules began to kick and buck. . . ."
1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. ii. p. 468:
"A salsolaceous plant growing in the form of a ball several feet high. In the dry season it withers, and is easily broken off and rolled about by the winds, whence it is called roley-poly by the settlers."
1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 100:
"Roly-Poly Grass. This species produces immense dry and spreading panicles; it is perennial, and seeds in November and December. It is a somewhat straggling species, growing in detached tufts, on sand-hills and sandy soil, and much relished by stock."
1896. Baldwin Spencer, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,' Narrative, p. 13:
"On the loamy flats, and even gibber plains, the most noticeable plant is Salsola kali, popularly known as the Rolly-polly. It is, when mature, one of the characteristically prickly plants of the Lower Steppes, and forms great spherical masses perhaps a yard or more in diameter."
1790. J. White, `Voyage to New South Wales' [Observations at the end, by Mr. John Hunter, the celebrated surgeon]:
Plate p. 272—A kangaroo. Description of teeth.
Plate p. 278—Wha Tapoua Roo, about the size of a Racoon [probably an opossum].
Plate p. 286—A Poto Roo or Kangaroo-Rat.
Plate p. 288—Hepoona Roo.
1884. Rolf Boldrewood, `Melbourne Memories,' c. xxi. p. 150:
"You could `rope' . . . any Clifton colt or filly, back them in three days, and within a week ride a journey."
(2) By transference: intractable, angry, out of temper.
1891. `The Argus,' Oct. 10, p. 13, col. 4:
"The service has shown itself so `ropeable' heretofore that one experiences now a kind of chastened satisfaction in seeing it roped and dragged captive at Sir Frederick's saddle-bow."
1896. Modern. In school-boy slang: "You must not chaff him, he gets so ropeable."
1880. Rolf Boldrewood, `Squatter's Dream,' c. iv. p. 44:
"I happened to knock down the superintendent with a roping-pole."
1895. A. B. Paterson, `Man from Snowy River,' p. 125:
"I'm travelling 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 station-hand along the Castlereagh."
(1) Platycercus eximius, Vig. and Hors., called by the Colonists of New South Wales, and by Gould, the Rose-hill Parrakeet.
(2) Platycercus icterotis, Wagl., called by the Colonists of Swan River, Western Australia, the Rose-hill, and by Gould the Earl of Derby's Parrakeet.
The modern name for both these birds is Rosella (q.v.), though it is more specifically confined to the first. `Rose-hill' was the name of the Governor's residence at Parramatta, near Sydney, in the early days of the settlement of New South Wales, and the name Rosella is a settler's corruption of Rose-hiller, though the erroneous etymology from the Latin rosella (sc. `a little rose') is that generally given. The word Rosella, however, is not a scientific name, and does not appear as the name of any genus or species; it is vernacular only, and no settler or bushman is likely to have gone to the Latin to form it.
1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. v. pl. 27:
"Platycercus eximius, Vig. & Hors. Rose-hill Parrakeet; Colonists of New South Wales."
Ibid. vol. v. pl. 29:
"Platycercus icterotis, Wagl. The Earl of Derby's Parrakeet; Rose-hill of the Colonists [of Swan River]."
1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 80:
"The common white cockatoo, and the Moreton Bay Rosella parrot, were very numerous."
1884. R. L. A. Davies, `Poems and Literary Remains,' p. 99:
"Saw the bright rosellas fly,With breasts that glowed like sunsetsIn the fiery western sky."
1890. `The Argus,' June 7, p. 13, col. 5:
"The solitudes where the lorikeets and rosellas chatter."
1896. `The Melburnian,' Aug. 28, p. 60:
"As [the race] sweeps past the Stand every year in a close bright mass the colours, of the different clubs, are as dazzling and gay in the sun as a brilliant flight of galahs and rosellas."
(2) In Northern Australia, it is a slang name for a European who works bared to the waist, which some, by a gradual process of discarding clothing, acquire the power of doing. The scorching of the skin by the sun produces a colour which probably suggested a comparison with the bright scarlet of the parrakeet so named.
1703. W. Dampier, `Voyage to New Holland,' vol. iii. p. 138:
"There grow here 2 or 3 sorts of Shrubs, one just likeRosemary; and therefore I call'd this Rosemary Island.It grew in great plenty here, but had no smell."
[This island is in or near Shark's Bay]
(2) Dysoxylon fraserianum, Benth., N.O. Meliaceae; called also Pencil Cedar.
(3) Eremophila mitchelli, Benth. N.O. Myoporinae; called also Sandalwood.
1838. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions,' vol. i. p. 203:
"One or two trees of a warmer green, of what they call `rosewood,' I believe gave a fine effect, relieving the sober greyish green of the pendent acacia."
1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition' p. 4:
"The Rosewood Acacia of Moreton Bay."
1875. `Spectator' (Melbourne), June 19, 1881:
"Common fish, such as trout, ruffies mullet . . . and others."
1890. `Victorian Statutes—Fisheries, Second Schedule' [Close Season]:
"Rough, or Roughy."
1894. `The Argus,' June 23, p. 11, col. 4:
"A friend of mine who has spent many a night rounding the mob on lonely Queensland cattle camps where hostile blacks were as thick as dingoes has a peculiar aversion to one plain covered with dead gums, because the curlews always made him feel miserable when crossing it at night."
1887. J. Farrell, `How he died,' p. 19:
"It may be the rouseabout swiper who rode for the doctor thatnight,Is in Heaven with the hosts of the Blest, robed and sceptred,and splendid with light."
18W. `The Argus,' Sept. 20, p. 13, col. 6:
"The `rouseabouts' are another class of men engaged in shearing time, whose work is to draft the sheep, fill the pens for the shearers, and do the branding. . . . The shearers hold themselves as the aristocrats of the shed; and never associate with the rouseabouts."
1892. Gilbert Parker, `Round the Compass in Australia,' p. 58:
"While we sat there, a rouseabout came to the door. `Mountain Jim's back,' he said. There was no `sir' in the remark of this lowest of stationhands to his master."
1894. `Sydney Morning Herald' (date lost):
"A rougher person—perhaps a happier—is the rouseabout, who makes himself useful in the shearing shed. He is clearly a man of action. He is sometimes with less elegance, and one would say less correctly, spoken of as a roustabout."
1896. H. Lawson, `When the World was Wide,' p. 98 [Title of poem, `Middleton's Rouseabout']:
"Flourishing beard and sandy,Tall and robust and stout;This is the picture of Andy,Middleton's Rouseabout."
1872. C. H. Eden, `My Wife and I in Queensland,' p. 69:
"Branding or securing a troublesome or, colonially, a `rowdy' bullock."
1896. A. B. Paterson, `Man from Snowy River, p. 125:
"And I can ride a rowdy colt, or swing the axe all day."
1826. Goldie, in Bischoff's `Van Diemen's Land' (1832), p. 157:
"It is generally speaking a good sheep-run."
1828. Report of Van Diemen's band Company, in Bischoff's `Van Diemen's Land' (1832), p. 117:
"A narrow slip of good sheep-run down the west coast."
1844. `Port Phillip Patriot,' July 8, p. 4, col. 3:
"The thousand runs stated as the number in Port Phillip under the new regulations will cost L12,800,000."
1846. C. P. Hodgson, `Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 367:
"`Runs,' land claimed by the squatter as sheep-walks, open, as nature left them, without any improvement from the squatter."
1862. H. C. Kendall, `Poems,' p. 78:
"The runs of the Narran wide-dotted with sheep,And loud with the lowing of cattle."
1864. W. Westgarth, `Colony of Victoria,' p. 273:
"Here then is a squatting domain of the old unhedged stamp. The station or the `run,' as these squatting areas are called, borders upon the Darling, along which river it possesses a frontage of thirty-five lineal miles, with a back area of 800 square miles."
1868. J. Bonwick, `John Batman, Founder of Victoria,' p. 34:
"The desire of some to turn Van Diemen's Land into a large squatter's run, by the passing of the Impounding Act, was the immediate cause, he told us, of his taking up the project of a poor man's country elsewhere."
1870. `/Delta/,' `Studies in Rhyme,' p. 26:
"Of squatters' runs we've oft been told,The People's Lands impairing."
1883. G. W. Rusden, `History of Australia,' vol. i. p. 73 [Note]:
"A run is the general term for the tract of country on whichAustralians keep their stock, or allow them to `run.'"
(2) The bower of the Bowerbird (q.v.).
1840. `Proceedings of the Zoological Society,' p. 94:
"They are used by the birds as a playing-house, or `run,' as it is termed, and are used by the males to attract the females."
1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Colonial Reformer,' c. xviii. p. 218:
"`Open that gate, Piambook,' said Ernest gravely, pointing to the one which led into the `run-about' yard."
1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Squatter's Dream,' c. xix. p. 238:
"What do you say if I go run-hunting with you?"
1883. F. S. Renwick, `Betrayed,' p. 45:
"The ruru's voice re-echoes, desolate."
1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 122:
"When not instigated by terror, wild cattle will seldom attack the traveller; even of those which run at him, or `rush,' as it is termed, few will really toss or gore, or even knock him down."
(2) To attack sheep; i.e. to cause them to rush about or away.
1855. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes,' p. 153:
"Sometimes at night this animal [the dingo] will leap into the fold amongst the timid animals [sheep] and so `rush' them—that is, cause them to break out and disperse through the bush."
(3) To break through a barrier (of men or materials). Contraction for to rush past or through; e.g. to rush a cordon of policemen; to rush a fence (i.e. to break-down or climb-over it).
(4) To take possession of, or seize upon, either by force or before the appointed time. Compare Jump.
1896. Modern:
"Those who had no tickets broke through and rushed all the seats."
"The dancers becoming very hungry did not stand on ceremony, but rushed the supper."
(5) To flood with gold-seekers.
1887. H. H. Hayter, `Christmas Adventure,' p. 3:
"The Bald Hill had just been rushed, and thereforeI decided to take up a claim."
1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 86:
"We had a long conversation on the `rush,' as it was termed."
1864. J. Rogers, `New Rush,' pt. i., p. 19:
"Arouse you, my comrades, for rush is the word,Advance to the strife with a pick for a sword."
1890. `The Argus,' June 13, p. 6, col. 2:
"Fell Timber Creek, where a new rush had set in."
(2) A place where gold is found, and to which consequently a crowd of diggers "rush."
1855. William Howitt, `Land, Labour and Gold; or Two Years in Victoria,' vol. i. p. 172:
"It is a common practice for them to mark out one or more claims in each new rush, so as to make sure if it turn out well. But only one claim at a time is legal and tenable. This practice is called shepherding."
1875. `Spectator' (Melbourne), May 22, p. 34, col. 1:
"The Palmer River rush is a perfect swindle."
1875. Wood and Lapham, `Waiting for Mail,' p. 34:
"Off we set to the Dunstan rush, just broken out."
1880. G. Sutherland, `Tales of Goldfields,' p. 92:
"Morinish, was a worked-out rush close to Rockhampton, where the first attempt at gold-digging had been made in Queensland."
(3) A stampede of cattle.
1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. ii. p. 102:
"A confused whirl of dark forms swept before him, and the camp, so full of life a minute ago, is desolate. It was `a rush,' a stampede."
1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 53:
"The colonial saddle is a shapeless, cumbersome fabric, made of rough leather, with a high pommel and cantle, and huge knee-pads, weighing on an average twenty pounds. The greatest care is necessary to prevent such a diabolical machine from giving a horse a sore back."
[Mr. Finch-Hatton's epithet is exaggerated. The saddle is well adapted to its peculiar local purposes. The projecting knee-pads, especially, save the rider from fractured knee-caps when galloping among closely timbered scrub. The ordinary English saddle is similarly varied by exaggeration of different parts to suit special requirements, as e.g. in the military saddle, with its enormous pommel; the diminutive racing saddle, to meet handicappers' "bottom-weights," etc. The mediaeval saddle had its turret-like cantle for the armoured spearman.]
1868. `Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' Essay on Ornithology, by W. Buller, vol. i. p. 5:
"The Saddle-back (Creadion carunculatus) of the North is represented in the South by C. cinereus, a closely allied species."
1882. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' p. 64:
"It is the sharp, quick call of the saddle-back."
1886. A. Reischek, `Transactions of New Zealand Institute,' vol. xix. art. xxiii. p. 102:
"The bird derives its popular name from a peculiarity in the distribution of its two strongly contrasting colours, uniform black, back and shoulders ferruginous, the shoulders of the wings forming a saddle. In structure it resembles the starling (Sturnidae); it has also the wedge bill."
1888. W. L. Buller, `Birds of New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 18:
"Creadion Carunculatus. This bird derives its popular name from a peculiarity in the distribution of its too strongly contrasted colours, black and ferruginous, the latter of which covers the back, forms a sharply-defined margin across the shoulders, and sweeps over the wings in a manner suggestive of saddle-flaps."
1890. E. W. Hornung, `A Bride from the Bush,' p. 277:
"You have only to cover the desert with pale-green saliferous bushes, no higher than a man's knee."
1798. D. Collins, `Account of the English Colony of New South Wales,' p. 136:
[Sept. 1790.] "Near four thousand of a fish, named by us, from its shape only, the Salmon, being taken at two hauls of the seine. Each fish weighed on an average about five pounds."
1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 93:
"The kawai has somewhat of the habits of the salmon, entering during spring and summer into the bays, rivers, and fresh-water creeks in large shoals."
1880. Guenther, `Study of Fishes,' p. 393:
"Arripis salar, South Australia. Three species are known, from the coasts of Southern Australia and New Zealand. They are named by the colonists Salmon or Trout, from their elegant form and lively habits, and from the sport they afford to the angler."
1882. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Fish of New South Wales,' p. 35:
"Arripis salar, Gunth., is in the adult state the salmon of the Australian fishermen, and their salmon trout is the young. . . . The most common of all Victorian fishes . . . does not resemble the true salmon in any important respect . . . It is the A. truttaceus of Cuvier and Valenciennes."
1837. Ross, `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 906:
"Passing tufts of samphire and salsolaceous plants."
1859. H. Kingsley, `Geoffrey Hamlyn,' c. xlii. (`Century'):
"It is getting hopeless now . . . sand and nothing but sand. The salsolaceous plants, so long the only vegetation we have seen, are gone."
1870. T. H. Braim, `New Homes,' c. ii. p. 89:
"This inland salt-bush country suits the settler's purpose well."
1889. Cassell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol. iv. p. 144:
"The ground is covered with the sage-coloured salt-bush all the year round, but in the winter it blooms with flowers."
1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Squatter's Dream,' c. xxi. p. 262:
"How glorious it will be to see them pitching into that lovely salt-bush by the lake."
1892. E. W. Hornung, `Under Two Skies,' p. 11:
"The surrounding miles of salt-bush plains and low monotonous scrub oppressed her when she wandered abroad. There was not one picturesque patch on the whole dreary run."
1896. A. B. Paterson, `Man from Snowy River,' p. 92:
"Over the miles of the salt-bush plain—The shining plain that is said to beThe dried-up bed of an inland sea.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
For those that love it and understand,The salt-bush plain is a wonderland."
1882. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Fish of New South Wales,' p. 60:
"The samson-fish (Senola hippos, Gunth.) is occasionally caught. The great strength of these fishes is remarkable, and which probably is the cause that gave it the name of Samson-fish, as sailors or shipwrights give to the name of a strong post resting on the keelson of a ship, and supporting the upper beam, and bearing all the weight of the deck cargo near the hold, Samson-post."
Of the N.O. Santalaceae—
Exocarpos latifolia, R. Br.; called Scrub-Sandalwood.
Fusanus spicatus, R. Br.; called Fragrant Sandalwood.
Santalum lanceolatum, R. Br.
S. obtusifodum, R. Br.
Santalum persicarium, F. v. M.; called Native Sandalwood.
Of the N.O. Myoporinae—
Eremophila mitchelli, Benth.; called also Rosewood and Bastard-Sandalwood.
E. sturtii, R. Br.; called curiously the Scentless Sandalwood.
Myoporum platycarpum, R. Br.; called also Dogwood (q.v.).
Of the N.O. Apocyneae—
Alyxia buxifolia, R. Br.; called Native Sandalwood in Tasmania.
1867. W. Richardson, `Tasmanian Poems,' pref. p. xi:
"The nimble sand-lark learns his pretty note."
Bartram's Sandpiper—Tringa bartrami.
Common S.—Actitis hypoleucos, Linn.
Great S.—Tringa crassirostris, Temm. and Schleg.
Grey-rumped S.—T. brevisses.
1889. Prof. Parker, `Catalogue of New Zealand Exhibition,' p. 116:
"But two genera of the group [Wading Birds] are found only inNew Zealand, the Sandplover and the curious Wry-billed Plover."
1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 642:
"Sandstay. Coast Tea-Tree. This shrub is the most effectual of all for arresting the progress of driftsand in a warm climate. It is most easily raised by simply scattering in autumn the seeds on the sand, and covering them loosely with boughs, or, better still, by spreading lopped-off branches of the shrub itself, bearing ripe seed, on the sand. (Mueller.)"
Shakspeare has sand-blind (M. of V. II. ii. 31);Launcelot says—
"0 heavens, this is my true-begotten father! who, being more than sand-blind, high-gravel blind, knows me not."
On this, the American commentator, Mr. Rolfe, notes—
"Sand-blind. Dim of sight; as if there were sand in the eye, or perhaps floating before it. It means something more than purblind."
"As if there were sand in the eye,"—an admirable description of the Australian Sandy-blight.
1869. J. F. Blanche, `The Prince's Visit,' p. 20:
"The Prince was suff'ring from the sandy blight."
1870. E. B. Kennedy, `Four Years in Queensland,' p. 46:
"Sandy-blight occurs generally in sandy districts in the North Kennedy; it may be avoided by ordinary care, and washing the eyes after a hot ride through sandy country. It is a species of mild ophthalmia."
1891. Rolf Boldrewood, `A Sydney-side Saxon,' p. 78:
"He had pretty near lost his eyesight with the sandy blight, which made him put his head forward when he spoke, as if he took you for some one else, or was looking for what he couldn't find."
(2) Smilax glycyphylla, Smith, N.0. Liliaceae.
1883. F. M. Bailey, `Synopsis of Queensland Flora,' p. 114:
"Native Sarsaparilla. The roots of this beautiful purple- flowered twiner (Hardenbergia monophylla) are used by bushmen as a substitute for the true sarsaparilla, which is obtained from a widely different plant."
1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 189:
"Commonly, but wrongly, called `Native Sarsaparilla.' The roots are sometimes used by bushmen as a substitute for the true sarsaparilla (Smilax), but its virtues are purely imaginary. It is a common thing in the streets of Sydney, to see persons with large bundles of the leaves on their shoulders, doubtless under the impression that they have the leaves of the true Sarsaparilla, Smilax glycyphylla."
1896. `The Argus,' Sept. 8, p. 7, col. 1:
"He will see, too, the purple of the sarsaparilla on the hill-sides, and the golden bloom of the wattle on the flats, forming a beautiful contrast in tint. Old diggers consider the presence of sarsaparilla and the ironbark tree as indicative of the existence of golden wealth below. Whether these can be accepted as indicators in the vegetable kingdom of gold below is questionable, but it is nevertheless a fact that the sarsaparilla and the ironbark tree are common on most of Victoria's goldfields."
In Australia, the name is given to—
Atherosperma moschatum, Labill., N.0. Monimiaceae; called Native Sassafras, from the odour of its bark, due to an essential oil closely resembling true Sassafras in odour. (Maiden.)
Beilschmiedia obtusifolia, Benth., N.0. Lauraceae; called Queensland Sassafras, a large and handsome tree.
Cryptocarya glaucescens, R. Br., N.0. Lauraceae; the Sassafras of the early days of New South Wales, and now called Black Sassafras.
Daphnandra micrantha, Benth., N.0. Monimiaceae, called also Satinwood, and Light Yellow-wood.
Doryphora sassafras, Endl., N.0. Monimiaceae.
Grey Sassafras is the Moreton-Bay Laurel.See Laurel.
The New Zealand Sassafras is Laurelia novae-zelandiae.
1834. Ross, `Van Diemen's Land Annual,' p. 134:
"The leaves of these have been used as substitutes for tea in the colony, as have also the leaves and bark of Cryptocarya glaucescens, the Australian sassafras."
1852. Mrs. Meredith, `My Home in Tasmania,' vol. ii. p. 166:
"The beautiful Tasmanian sassafras-tree is also a dweller in some parts of our fern-tree valleys. . . . The flowers are white and fragrant, the leaves large and bright green, and the bark has a most aromatic scent, besides being, in a decoction, an excellent tonic medicine. . . . The sawyers and other bushmen familiar with the tree call it indiscriminately `saucifax,' `sarserfrax,' and `satisfaction.'"
1875. T. Laslett, `Timber and Timber Trees,' p. 206:
"A Tasmanian timber. Height, 40 ft.; dia., 14 in. Found on low, marshy ground. Used for sashes and doorframes."
1894. `Melbourne Museum Catalogue—Economic Woods,' No. 36:
"Atherosperma moschatum, Victorian sassafras-tree, N.O. Monimiaceae."
1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 264:
The natives call it Cowry, the colonists Satin-Bird."
1851. `Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land,' vol. i. p. 223 [J. E. Bicheno, June 8, 1850, in epist.]:
"Last week an old fisherman brought me a fine specimen of a Saw-fish, caught in the Derwent. It turned out to be the Pristis cirrhatus,—a rare and curious species, confined to the Australian seas, and first described by Dr. Latham in the year 1793."
1873. J. B. Stephens, `Black Gin,' p. 22:
"By Fitzroy's rugged crags,Its `sawyers' and its snags,He roamed."
1657. R. Ligon, `Barbadoes,' p. 12:
"Fish . . . of various kinds . . . Snappers, grey and red;Cavallos, Carpians, etc."
The young are called Cock-schnapper (q.v.); at a year old they are called Red-Bream; at two years old, Squire; at three, School-Schnapper; when they cease to "school" and swim solitary they are called Natives and Rock-Natives. Being the standard by which the "catch" is measured, the full-grown Schnappers are also called Count-fish (q.v.). In New Zealand, the Tamure (q.v.) is also called Schnapper, and the name Red-Schnapper is given to Anthias richardsoni, Gunth., or Scorpis hectori, Hutton. See quotation, 1882.
1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. i. p. 68:
"King-fish, mullet, mackarel, rockcod, whiting, snapper, bream, flatheads, and various other descriptions of fishes, are all found plentifully about."
1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. i. p. 261:
"The kangaroos are numerous and large, and the finest snappers I have ever heard of are caught off this point, weighing sometimes as much as thirty pounds."
[The point referred to is that now called Schnapper Point, atMornington, in Victoria.]
1882. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Fish of New South Wales,' p. 39:
"The genus Pagrus, or as we term it in the vernacular, `schnapper,' a word of Dutch origin . . . The schnapper or snapper. The schnapper (Pagrus unicolor, Cuv. and Val.) is the most valuable of Australian fishes, not for its superior excellence . . . but for the abundant and regular supply . . . At a still greater age the schnapper seems to cease to school and becomes what is known as the `native' and `rock-native,' a solitary and sometimes enormously large fish."
1896 `The Australasian,' Aug. 28, p. 407, col. 5:
"The fish, snapper, is so called because it snapped. The spelling with `ch' is a curious after-thought, suggestive of alcohol. The name cannot come from schnapps."
1895. W. S. Roberts, `Southland in 1856,' p. 39:
"As we neared the hills speargrass of the smaller kind, known as Scotchmen,' abounded, and although not so strong and sharp-pointed as the `Spaniard,' would not have made a comfortable seat."
1896. `The Australasian,' Aug. 28, p. 407, col. 5:
". . . national appellations are not satisfactory. It seems uncivil to a whole nation—another injustice to Ireland—to call a bramble a wild Irishman, or a pointed grass, with the edges very sharp and the point like a bayonet, a Spaniard. One could not but be amused to find the name Scotchman applied to a smaller kind of Spaniard.'
1883. F. M. Bailey, `Synopsis of Queensland Flora,' p. 174:
"Scribbly or White-Gum. As regards timber this is the most worthless of the Queensland species. A tree, often large, with a white, smooth, deciduous bark, always marked by an insect in a scribbly manner."
1833. C. Sturt, `Southern Australia,' vol. i. c. i. p. 21:
"We encamped about noon in some scrub."
1838. T. L. Mitchell,' Three Expeditions,' vol. i. p. 213:
"A number of gins and children remained on the borders of the scrub, half a mile off."
1844. J A. Moore, `Tasmanian Rhymings' (1860), p. 13:
"Here Nature's gifts, with those of man combined,Hath [sic] from a scrub a Paradise defined."
1848. W. Westgarth, "Australia Felix,' p. 24:
"The colonial term scrub, of frequent and convenient use in the description of Australian scenery, is applicable to dense assemblages of harsh wild shrubbery, tea-tree, and other of the smaller and crowded timber of the country, and somewhat analogous to the term jungle."
1859. H. Kingsley, `Geoffrey Hamlyn,' vol. ii. p. 155 [Footnote]:
"Scrub. I have used, and shall use, this word so often that some explanation is due to the English reader. I can give no better definition of it than by saying that it means `shrubbery.'"
1864. J. McDouall Stuart, `Exploration in Australia,' p. 153:
"At four miles arrived on the top, through a very thick scrub of mulga."
1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' c. v. p. 78:
"Woods which are open and passable—passable at any rate for men on horseback—are called bush. When the undergrowth becomes, thick and matted, so as to be impregnable without an axe, it is scrub."
[Impregnability is not a necessary point of the definition.There is "light" scrub, and "heavy" or "thick" scrub.]
1883. G. W. Rusden, `History of Australia,' vol. i. p. 67 [Note]:
"Scrub was a colonial term for dense undergrowth, like that of the mallee-scrub."
1885. R. M. Praed, `Australian Life,' p. 7:
"Where . . . a belt of scrub lies green, glossy, and impenetrable as Indian bungle."
(p. 8): "The nearest scrub, in the thickets of which the Blacks could always find an impenetrable stronghold."
1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 36:
"A most magnificent forest of trees, called in Australia a `scrub,' to distinguish it from open timbered country."
1890. J. McCarthy and R. M. Praed, `Ladies' Gallery,' p. 252:
"Why, I've been alone in the scrub—in the desert, I mean; you will understand that better."
1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 374:
"One more prominent feature in Australian vegetation are the large expanses of the so-called `scrub' of the colonists. This is a dense covering of low bushes varying in composition in different districts, and named according to the predominating element."
1893. A. R. Wallace, `Australasia,' vol. i. p. 46:
"Just as Tartary is characterised by its steppes, America by its prairies, and Africa by its deserts, so Australia has one feature peculiar to itself, and that is its `scrubs.'. . . One of the most common terms used by explorers is `Mallee' scrub, so called from its being composed of dwarf species of Eucalyptus called the `Mallee' by the Natives. . . . Still more dreaded by the explorer is the `Mulga' scrub, consisting chiefly of dwarf acacias."
1894. E. Favenc, `Tales of the Austral Tropics,' p. 3:
"Even more desolate than the usual dreary-looking scrub of the interior of Australia."
[p. 6]: "The sea of scrub."
1896. A. B. Paterson, `Manfrom Snowy River,' p. 25:
"Born and bred on the mountain-side,He could race through scrub like a kangaroo."
1885. R. M. Praed, `Australian Life,' p. 113:
"We gathered the wild raspberries, and mingling them with gee-bongs, and scrub-berries, set forth a dessert."
1869. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' `Supplement,' pl. 26:
"The Scrub-bird creeps mouse-like over the bark, or sits on a dripping stem and mocks all surrounding notes."
1860. A. L. Gordon, `The Sick Stockrider' [in `Bush-Ballads,' 1876], p. 8:
"'Twas merry 'mid the blackwoods, when we spied the stationroofs,To wheel the wild scrub-cattle at the yard,With a running fire of stock-whips and a fiery run of hoofs,Oh! the hardest day was never then too hard."
1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Colonial Reformer,' c. xvi. p. 193:
"He is one of those infernal scrub-danglers from the Lachlan, come across to get a feed."
1881. A. C. Giant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 278:
"A favourite plan among the bold scrub-riders."
1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. iii. pl. 10:
"Drymodes Brunneopygia, Gould, Scrub-Robin. I discovered this singular bird in the great Murray Scrub in South [sc. Southern] Australia, where it was tolerably abundant. I have never seen it from any other part of the country, and it is doubtless confined to such portions of Australia as are clothed with a similar character of vegetation."
1895. W. O. Legge, `Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science' (Brisbane), p. 447:
"As regards portions of Gould's English nomenclatures, such as his general term `Robin' for the genera Petroica, Paecilodryas, Eopsaltria, it was found that by retaining the term `Robin' for the best known member of the group (Petroica), and applying a qualifying noun to the allied genera, such titles as Tree-robin, Scrub-robin, and Shrike-robin were easily evolved."
1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 219:
"Almost all the Scrub-trees of the Condamine and Kent's Lagoon were still to be seen at the Burdekin."
Brown Scrub-Wren—Sericornis humilis, Gould.
Buff breasted S.-W.—S. laevigaster, Gould.
Collared S.-W.—S. gutturalis, Gould.
Large-billed Scrub-Wren—Sericornis magnirostris, Gould.
Little S.-W.—S. minimus, Gould.
Spotted S.-W.—S. maculatus, Gould.
Spotted-throated S.-W.—S. osculans, Gould.
White-browed S.-W.—S. frontalis, Vig. & Hors.
Yellow-throated S.-W.—S. citreogularis, Gould.
1859. H. Kingsley, `Geoffrey Hamlyn,' c. xxix:
"The captain was getting in the scrubbers, cattle which had been left to run wild through in the mountains."
1874. W. H. L. Ranken, `Dominion of Australia,' c. vi. p. 110:
"There are few field-sports anywhere . . . equal to `hunting scrubbers.'"
1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 93:
"Out flew the ancient scrubber, instinctively making towards his own wild domain."
1887. W. S. S. Tyrwhitt, `The New Chum in the Queensland Bush,' p. 151: