Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-09-21
AUSTRALIAN SLANG.
HOW ALANGuAGE MAY BE ENH'CneO
BY CIRCUMSTANCE.

Convenience OF HeWCoh
E,,a-v yeor and every month more anu
r,ore EnoIishmen go out TO Austr"iin "
49,, 70 tate advantage of the flowing 'ioe
of fortnne while of those VINO stay az
bo,oo an ever increasing number interest,"
th.,,,saIves necuniarily in Australian ven
80. and become insensibly acquainted III
oo,,eoe,,once with an entirely novel group
Of ;5oas and modes of expression. AT lirs'
49, ,,o1y words and phrases are very CON
t,,s;,,o 70 the English mind. Many OF then
;ndoa1 are literally taken from foreign
a.'s.,'aros-namely, those of the various
s.straI;an aboriginal tribes or "back lei,
80 ;, nc they are called. Others arc old
English slang, forgotten now IN TINS ooo
FRY and others new English slang iinpo
cd direct from America. Ihere 10 'oiIo
oxcuse. therefore, for the temporary wi
fusion of the newly arrived stranger, o1
.snew chum, when he first hears Ihls ouo
i,rpon mingled with the queen Eneiish'
There are certain words Whlch even
EnyIishmcn generally understand woros
which constantly recur but which, as IL
,s unsafe to take anything for granted
shall be explained and defined at the OUT
cot Such q word is "bush. This means
nncleared ground, and especially the enor.
nous areas covered with open forests OF
eucalyptus, or "gum," as IL Is Locally
termed. A "bushman" is not a Dlack
follow in the sense in which the Dutch
used the word at the Cape, but means a
man accustomed to traverse the bush ana
able TO look after himself therein. 10 DC
"bushed" is to be lost in the bush, late
usually reserved for those who are not
busbmen and very commonly ending IN
death. 1t may be said that bush Is n gen.
eral word, including what the government
stotistician of New South Wales terms
"open, brush and scrub forests Inc
"brrsh" forests are found chiefly along the
coasts and consist largely of fern trees,
palms, cabbage trees, Moreton Bay figs,
etc. The "scrub' forests are mostly stunt
ed pines. acacia and gum. Having dis
posed of these three important words we
may pass on to say that a "squatter" is
large landowner, and his holding is called
"station."
The "souatocracy" corresponds to our
souirearchy. A station far removed from
centers of civilization is called a black
block" a small farmer is ''cockatoo" or
''stringy barger;" ayoung man working
to farm is called ''jackeroo;" a "select-
orr is q man who, under certain condi-
tions is allowed to occupy a small portion
of the squatter's holding and farm it I'M
til he is bought out by the squatter. Such
solicitors used formerly to be able to fix on
the most valuable parts of the holding.
They were then said to have "pickcd the
eyes out of it., and hence, from connec-
ton of this idea with peacock's tail, to
have "peacocked' it. This is still done
in some parts Of Australia. Naturally
holders of stations often have their cattle
stolen, especially by these solicitors.
Stealing stock from station is called
Quitting" To prevent this it is custom
airy to brand stock At certain times,
however, there are likely to be great num-
bers of unbranded young stock running
wild. These are called "clearskins," and,
more rarely, "cleanskins. A "crawler"
is n sheep left behind on the road. To
"bail'' cattle, as is well known, is to Sc
cure them by means of a bail; hence to
'bail up" is to drive into corner, and,
more generally, to render helpless. The
cry of "bail up" signifies "hold your arms
above your head and keep them there till
further orders or I'll shoot you" Tho
idea of the position is that the person bail
cd up shall be rendered helpless and not
be able to reach his revolver.
So much then for stations and stock.
We may now pass on to the station hands.
Not many, as rule, are permanently en-
gagged on one place. A man of all work,
especially at shearing time is called a
"rouse about" The ordinary Australian
laborer who travels from station to sta
ton, carrying his kit or "swag" on his
back, is called 'swagman,' or "swag-
GER" While on the tramp through the
bush with this object in view, he is said to
be ION the wallaby' (wallaby being a
small form of kangaroo common in the
bush), or to be carrying blucy," and,
general speaking, to ''hump ones swag''
is to make q start, to set out, or continue
on q tramp or journey, etc. The man
who appears ut stations at sunset, ostcnsi-
bly, in search of work, but really DESTROYS
only of nights lodging and some provi-
sions, goes by the name of a 'sundowner.' -
Such man, like all those who are not fit
to be accommodated in the squatter S
house as guests, is sent to sleep in an out
house built for the purpose and commonly
called the "barracks." Hence Char
racks has como to mean rough, or q
rowdy of any sort. This word is more
common in New Zealand than in Austria
liza, though the slang of both countries is
practically the same.
The swagman and the sundowncr in
variably carry a "pannikin" and a" billy"
The former is an open pot, and the latter
is usually tin pot with lid holding a
quart Perhaps it would be more correct
to say that it is usually without a lid, for
the lid is soon lost. In this the swagman
makes his everlasting drink-tea. Beef
and spirits are not very easy to be got in
many parts of the bush. But tea can be
easily carried, and every one drinks it in
Australia to excess Billy tea is rather
good. You boil water in the billy ovel
your little fire in the bush, then throw in
handful of tea and about half q handful
of sugar, leave to boil for few seconds
take it off and drink as soon as it is COO
enough. Needless to say, there is no mill
in it. The swagman's chief food is damp
er''-that is, bread made by himself with
out yeast and baked on q hot stone in the
bush. To make dampcr well is high art
and there is not space here to explain how
to do it. When there is not time to make
damper he makes "beggars on the Goals