Austral English Part 280

"The wallaby track? That's the name in Australia for trampin'

west, through the plains of the Never Never Country, lookin'

for the luck o' the world."

1894. Longmans' `Notes on Books' (May 31), p. 206:

"`On the Wallaby: a Book of Travel and Adventure.' `On the Wallaby' is an Australianism for `on the march,' and it is usually applied to persons tramping the bush in search of employment."

1894. Jennings Carmichael, in `Australasian,' Dec. 22, p. 1127, col. 5:

"A `wallaby' Christmas, Jack, old man!-- Well, a worse fate might befall us!

The bush must do for our church to-day, And birds be the bells to call us.

The breeze that comes from the sh.o.r.e beyond, Thro' the old gum-branches swinging, Will do for our solemn organ chords, And the sound of children singing."

1896. H. Lawson, `When the World was Wide,' p. 134:

"Though joys of which the poet rhymes Was not for Bill an' me I think we had some good old times Out on the Wallaby."

Wallaroo, n. native name for a large species of Kangaroo, the mountain kangaroo, Macropus robustus, Gould. The black variety of Queensland and New South Wales is called locally the Wallaroo, the name Euro being given in South and Central Australia to the more rufous- coloured variety of the same species.

In the aboriginal language, the word walla meant `to jump,' and walla-walla `to jump quickly.'

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

"The wallaroo, of a blackish colour, with coa.r.s.e s.h.a.ggy fur, inhabiting the hills."

1846. C. P. Hodgson, `Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 157:

"Some very fierce and ready to attack man, such as the large mountain `wolloroo.'"

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 481:

"Charley shot a Wallooroo just as it was leaping, frightened by our footsteps, out of its shady retreat to a pointed rock."

[On p. 458, Leichhardt spells Wallurus, plural]

1862. H. C. Kendall, `Poems,' p. 50:

"The Wallaroos grope through the tufts of the gra.s.s."

1868 (before). C. Harpur, `Creek of the Four Graves'(edition 1883), p. 49:

"Up the steep, Between the climbing forest-growths they saw, Perched on the bare abutments of the hills, Where haply yet some lingering gleam fell through, The wallaroo look forth."

[Footnote]: "A kind of large kangaroo, peculiar to the higher and more difficult mountains."

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 328:

"A wallaroo, a peculiar kind of kangaroo (Macropus robustus), which was kept tame at a station, showed a marked fondness for animal food, particularly for boiled salt beef. A dove had been its companion, and these two animals were the best of friends for half-a-year, when the wallaroo one day killed its companion and partly ate it."

1895. `The Australasian,' June 22, 1181, col. 1 [Answers to Correspondents]:

"Professor Baldwin Spencer kindly deals with the question as follows:--What is the distinction between a wallaroo and a wallaby?--A wallaroo is a special form of kangaroo (Macropus robustus) living in the inland parts of Queensland and New South Wales. Wallaby is the name given to several kinds of smaller kangaroos, such as the common scrub wallaby (Macropus ualabatus) of Victoria. The wallaroo is stouter and heavier in build, its fur thicker and coa.r.s.er, and the structure of its skull is different from that of an ordinary wallaby."

Wallflower, Native, n. a Tasmanian name for Pultenaea sub.u.mbellata, Hook., N.O. Leguminosae.

In Australia, used as another name for one of the Poison- Bushes (q-v.).

Wandoo, n. Western Australian aboriginal word for the White Gum-tree of Western Australia, Eucalyptus redunca, Schauer, N.O. Myrtaceae.

It has a trunk sometimes attaining seventeen feet in diameter, and yields a hard durable wood highly prized by wheelwrights.

Waratah, n. an Australian flower. There are three species, belonging to the genus Telopea, N.O. Proteaceae. The New South Wales species, T. speciosissima, R. Br., forms a small shrub growing on hill-sides, as does also the Tasmanian species, T. truncata, R. Br.; the Victorian species, T. oreades, F. v. M., called the Gippsland Waratah, grows to a height of fifty feet. It has a bright crimson flower about three inches in diameter, very regular.

Sometimes called the Australian or Native Tulip.

As emblematic of Australia, it figures on certain of the New South Wales stamps and postcards. The generic name, Telopea (q.v.), has been corrupted into Tulip (q.v.). Its earliest scientific generic name was Embothrium, Smith.

1793. E. Smith, `Specimen of Botany of New Holland,' p. 19:

"The most magnificent plant which the prolific soil of New Holland affords is, by common consent both of Europeans and Natives, the Waratah."

1801. Governor King, in `Historical Records of New South Wales' (1896), vol, iv. p. 514 (a Letter to Sir Joseph Banks):

"I have also sent in the Albion a box of waratahs, and the earth is secured with the seed."

1802. D. Collins, `Account of New South Wales,' vol. ii.

p. 66:

"Bennillong a.s.sisted, placing the head of the corpse, near which he stuck a beautiful war-ra-taw."

1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 98:

[Description, but not the name.]

"A plant called the gigantic lily also flourishes on the tops of these mountains, in all its glory. Its stems, which are jointy, are sometimes as large as a man's wrist, and ten feet high, with a pink and scarlet flower at the top, which when in full blossom (as it then was) is nearly the size of a small spring cabbage."

1830. `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 66:

"Interspersed with that magnificent shrub called warratah or tulip-tree, and its beautiful scarlet flowers."

1857. D. Bunce, `Australasiatic Reminiscences,' p. 44:

"The most common of them was, however, the Telopia [sic]

Tasmaniensis, or waratah, or scarlet tulip tree, as it has been occasionally termed by stock-keepers."

1864. J. S. Moore, `Spring Life Lyrics,' p. 115:

"The lily pale and waratah bright Shall encircle your s.h.i.+ning hair."

1883. D. B. W. Sladen, `Poetry of Exiles':

"And waratah, with flame-hued royal crown, Proclaim the beauties round Australia's own."