Austral English Part 119

"At this, as well as at every other station I have called at, a woman `hutkeeps,' while the husband is minding the sheep."

1890. `Melbourne Argus,' June 14th, p. 4, col. 2:

"`Did you go hut-keeping then?' `Wrong again. Did I go hut-keeping? Did you ever know a hut-keeper cook for sixty shearers?'"

Hut-keeper, n. Explained in quotations.

1802. D. Collins, `Account of New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 285:

"Old men, unfit for anything but to be hut-keepers who were to remain at home to prevent robbery, while the other inhabitants of the hut were at labour."

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. II. c.

iii. p. 458

"My object was to obtain these heads, which the ... hut-keeper instantly gave."

1853. G. Butler Earp, `What we Did in Australia,' p. 17:

"The lowest industrial occupation in Australia, viz. a hut-keeper in the bush ... a station from which many of the wealthiest flockmasters in Australia have risen."

1883. E. M. Curr, `Recollections of Squatting in Victoria'

(1841-1851), p. 21:

"A bush hut-keeper, who baked our damper, fried our chops."

Hyacinth, Native, n. a Tasmanian flower, Thelymitra longifolia, R. and G. Forst., N.O. Orchideae.

Hyaena, n. See Thylacine, and Tasmanian Tiger.

Hypsiprymnodon, n. the scientific name of the genus of the Australian animal called Musk Kangaroo.

(Grk. hupsiprumnos, with a high stern.) A very small, rat-like, arboreal kangaroo, about ten inches long. The strong musky odour from which it takes its vernacular name is perceptible in both sexes.

1874. R. Lydekker, `Marsupialia,' p. 73:

"The third and last subfamily (Hypsiprymnodontidae) of the Macropodidae is represented solely by the remarkable creature known, from its strong scent, as the Musk-kangaroo."

I

Ibis, n. There are twenty-four species of this bird distributed over all the warmer parts of the globe. Those present in Australasia are--

Glossy (Black, or Bay) Ibis-- Ibis falcinellus, Linn.

Straw-necked I.-- Geronticus spinnicollis, Jameson.

White I.-- Threskiornis strictipennis, Gould.

Of these the last two are confined to Australia, the first is cosmopolitan.

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 155:

"All they had for supper and breakfast were a straw-coloured ibis, a duck and a crow."

Ibid. p. 300:

"Crows were feasting on the remains of a black Ibis."

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. vi.:

"Geronticus spinicollis, straw-necked ibis (pl. 45).

This beautiful ibis has never yet been discovered out of Australia, over the whole of which immense country it is probably distributed."

"Threskiornis strictipennis, white ibis" (pl. 46).

"Ibis falcinellus, Linn., glossy ibis" (pl. 47).

1892. `The Australasian,' April 9, p. 707, col. 4:

"When the hoarse-voiced jackass mocked us, and the white-winged ibis flew Past lagoons and through the rushes, far away into the blue."

Ice-Plant, n. Tasmanian name for Tetragonia implexicoma, Hook., N.O. Ficoideae, B. Fl. Various species of Tetragonia are cultivated as Spinach (q.v.).

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 63:

"Called `ice-plant' in Tasmania. Baron Mueller suggests that this plant be cultivated for spinach. [Found in] all the colonies except Queensland."

Identity, Old, n. phrase denoting a person well known in a place. a term invented in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1862, in a popular topical song, by Mr. R. Thatcher, an improvisator. In the song the "Old Identity," the former resident of Dunedin, was distinguished from the "New Iniquity,"

as the people were termed who came from Australia.

1879. W. J. Barry, `Up and Down,' p. 197:

"The old identities were beginning to be alive to the situation."

1894. `Sydney Morning Herald,' Oct.:

"It is permissible to wonder about the origin of the phrase `an old identity.' Surely no man, however old, can be an identity?

An entity he is, or a nonentity; an individual, a centenarian, or an oldest inhabitant; but identity is a condition of sameness, of being identical with something. One can establish one's identity with that of some one who is being sought or sued, but once established it escapes us."

Inaka, n. a fish. See Inanga.

Inanga or Inaka, n. (the ng as in the word singer, not as in finger), a New Zealand fish, Galaxias attenuatus, or Retropinna richardsoni. It is often called the Whitebait and Minnow, and in Tasmania the larger variety is called Jolly-tail. The change from Inanga to Inaka is a dialectal Maori variation, answering exactly to the change from North Island Kainga to South Island Kaik (q.v.).

1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' vol.

ii. p. 100:

"This fish is called hinanga [sic.], and resembles Blackwall white-bait in size and flavour. Its colour is a pinkish white, spotted with black."