Austral English Part 9

Ibid. p. 314:

"Terra Australis incognita. ..and yet in likelihood it may be so, for without all question, it being extended from the tropic of Capricorn to the circle Antarctic, and lying as it doth in the temperate zone, cannot choose but yield in time some flouris.h.i.+ng kingdoms to succeeding ages, as America did unto the Spaniards."

Ibid. p. 619:

"But these are hard-hearted, unnatural, monsters of men, shallow politicians, they do not consider that a great part of the world is not yet inhabited as it ought, how many colonies into America, Terra Australis incognita, Africa may be sent?"

Early quotations for "Australian"

1693. `Nouveau Voyage de la Terre Australe, contenant les Coutumes et les Moeurs des Australiens, etc.' Par Jaques Sadeur [Gabriel de Foigny].

[This is a work of fiction, but interesting as being the first book in which the word Australiens is used. The next quotation is from the English translation.]

1693. `New Discovery, Terra Incognita Australis,' p. 163 (`O.E.D.'):

"It is easy to judge of the incomparability of the Australians with the people of Europe."

1766. Callander, `Terra Australis' (Translation of De Brosses), c. ii. p. 280:

"One of the Australians, or natives of the Southern World, whom Gonneville had brought into France."

Quotations for "Australia"

1793. G. Shaw and I. E. Smith, `Zoology and Botany of New Holland,' p. 2:

"The vast Island or rather Continent of Australia, Australasia, or New Holland, which has so lately attracted the particular attention of European navigators and naturalists, seems to abound in scenes of peculiar wildness and sterility; while the wretched natives of many of those dreary districts seem less elevated above the inferior animals than in any other part of the known world; Caffraria itself not excepted; as well as less indued with the power of promoting a comfortable existence by an approach towards useful arts and industry. It is in these savage regions however that Nature seems to have poured forth many of her most highly ornamented products with unusual liberality."

1814. M. Flinders, `Voyage to Terra Australis,' Introduction, p. iii. and footnote:

"I have ... ventured upon the readoption of the original Terra Australis, and of this term I shall hereafter make use, when speaking of New Holland [sc. the West] and New South Wales, in a collective sense; and when using it in the most extensive signification, the adjacent isles, including that of Van Diemen, must be understood to be comprehended."

[Footnote]: "Had I permitted myself any innovation upon the original term, it would have been to convert it into Australia; as being more agreeable to the ear, and an a.s.similation to the names of the other great portions of the earth."

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

vol. i. p. 9:

"New South Wales (or Australia, as we colonials say)."

1839. C. Darwin, `Naturalist's Voyage' (ed. 1890), p. 328:

"Farewell, Australia! You are a rising child, and doubtless some day will reign a great princess in the South; but you are too great and ambitious for affection, yet not great enough for respect. I leave your sh.o.r.es without sorrow or regret."

1852. A Liverpool Merchant [t.i.tle]:

"A Guide to Australia and the Gold Regions."

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' c. viii. (new ed.) p. 152:

"The colonies are determined to be separate. Australia is a term that finds no response in the patriotic feeling of any Australian... . But this will come to an end sooner or later.

The name of Australia will be dearer, if not greater, to Australian ears than the name of Great Britain."

[Mr. Trollope's prophecy has come true, and the name of Australia is now dearer to an Australian than the name of his own separate colony. The word "Colonial" as indicating Australian nationality is going out of fas.h.i.+on. The word "Australian" is much preferred.]

1878. F. P. Labilliere, `Early History of the Colony of Victoria,' vol. i. p. 184:

"In a despatch to Lord Bathurst, of April 4th, 1817, Governor Macquarie acknowledges the receipt of Captain Flinders's charts of `Australia.' This is the first time that the name of Australia appears to have been officially employed. The Governor underlines the word... . In a private letter to Mr. Secretary Goulbourn, M.P., of December 21st, 1817, [he]says ... `the Continent of Australia, which, I hope, will be the name given to this country in future, instead of the very erroneous and misapplied name hitherto given it of New Holland, which, properly speaking, only applies to a part of this immense Continent.'"

1883. G. W. Rusden, `History of Australia,' vol. i. p. 64:

"It is pleasant to reflect that the name Australia was selected by the gallant Flinders; though, with his customary modesty, he suggested rather than adopted it."

1895. H. M. Goode, `The Argus,' Oct. 15, p. 7, col. 4:

"Condemning the absurd practice of using the word `Colonial' in connection with our wines, instead of the broader and more federal one, `Australian.' In England our artists, cricketer, scullers, and globe-trotters are all spoken of and acknowledged as Australians, and our produce, with the exception of wine, is cla.s.sed as follows:--Australian gold and copper, Australian beef and mutton, Australian b.u.t.ter, Australian fruits, &c."

Ibid. p. 14:

"Merops or Bee-Eater. A tribe [of birds] which appears to be peculiarly prevalent in the extensive regions of Australia."

Australian flag, n. Hot climate and country work have brought in a fas.h.i.+on among bushmen of wearing a belt or leather strap round the top of trousers instead of braces.

This often causes a fold in the s.h.i.+rt protruding all round from under the waistcoat, which is playfully known as "the Australian flag." Slang.

Australioid and Australoid, adj. like Australian, sc. aboriginal--a term used by ethnologists. See quotations.

1869. J. Lubbock, `Prehistoric Times,' vol. xii. p. 378:

"The Australoid type contains all the inhabitants of Australia and the native races of the Deccan."

1878. E. B. Tylor, `Encyclopaedia Britannica,' vol. ii. p. 112:

"He [Professor Huxley] distinguishes four princ.i.p.al types of mankind, the Australioid, Negroid, Mongoloid, and Xanthochroic, adding a fifth variety, the Melanochroic. The special points of the Australioid are a chocolate-brown skin, dark brown or black eyes, black hair (usually wavy), narrow (dolichocephalic) skull, brow-ridges strongly developed, projecting jaw, coa.r.s.e lips and broad nose. This type is best represented by the natives of Australia, and next to them by the indigenous tribes of Southern India, the so-called coolies."

Austral Thrush, n. See Port-Jackson Thrush.

Avocet, n. a well-known European bird-name.

The Australian species is the Red-necked A., Recurvirostra nova-hollandiae, Vieill.

Aweto, n. Maori name for a vegetable-caterpillar of New Zealand. See quotation.

1889. E. Wakefield, `New Zealand after Fifty Years,' p. 81:

"... the aweto, or vegetable-caterpillar, called by the naturalists Hipialis virescens. It is a perfect caterpillar in every respect, and a remarkably fine one too, growing to a length in the largest specimens of three and a half inches and the thickness of a finger, but more commonly to about a half or two-thirds of that size... . When full-grown, it undergoes a miraculous change. For some inexplicable reason, the spore of a vegetable fungus Sphaeria Robertsii, fixes itself on its neck, or between the head and the first ring of the caterpillar, takes root and grows vigorously ... exactly like a diminutive bulrush from 6 to 10 inches high without leaves, and consisting solely of a single stem with a dark-brown felt-like head, so familiar in the bulrushes ... always at the foot of the rata."

1896. A. Bence Jones, in `Pearson's Magazine,' Sept., p. 290:

"The dye in question was a solution of burnt or powdered resin, or wood, or the aweto, the latter a caterpillar, which, burrowing in the vegetable soil, gets a spore of a fungus between the folds of its neck, and unable to free itself, the insect's body nourishes the fungus, which vegetates and occasions the death of the caterpillar by exactly filling the interior of the body with its roots, always preserving its perfect form. When properly charred this material yielded a fine dark dye, much prized for purposes of moko." [See Moko.]

Axe-breaker, n. name of a tree, Notelaea longifolia, Vent., N.O. Jasmineae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 579: