Austral English Part 187

1844. `Port Phillip Patriot,' July 11, p. 1, col. 3:

"There are four out-stations with huts, hurdles ...

and every convenience."

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

c. 8, p. 231:

"The usual fare at that time at the out-stations--fried pork and kangaroo."

1870. Paul Wentworth, `Amos Thorne,' c. iii. p. 26:

"He ... at last on an out-station in the Australian bush worked for his bread."

Overland, v. to take stock across the country.

1874. W. H. L. Ranken, `Dominion of Australia,' c. xiii.

p. 232:

"Herds used to be taken from New South Wales to South Australia across what were once considered the deserts of Riverina. That used to be called `overlanding.'"

1890. Lyth, `Golden South,' c. ix. p. 74:

"Several gentlemen were away from the two nearest stations, `overlanding,' i.e. taking sheep, cattle, and flour to Melbourne."

Overlander, n. (1) In the days before railways, and when much of the intervening country was not taken up, to travel between Sydney and Melbourne, or Melbourne and Adelaide, was difficult if not dangerous. Those who made either journey were called Overlanders. In this sense the word is now only used historically, but it retains the meaning in the general case of a man taking cattle a long distance, as from one colony to another.

(2) A slang name for a Sundowner (q.v.).

1843. Rev. W. Pridden, `Australia: Its History and Present Condition,' p. 335:

"Among the beings which, although not natives of the bush, appear to be peculiar to the wilds of Australia, the class of men called Overlanders must not be omitted. Their occupation is to convey stock from market to market, and from one colony to another."

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discovery in Australia,' vol. ii. c.

vi. p. 237:

"The Eastern extent of the country of South Australia was determined by the overlanders, as they call the gentlemen who bring stock from New South Wales."

1880. Garnet Walch, `Victoria in 1880,' p. 11:

"Overlanders from Sydney and Melbourne to Adelaide were making great sums of money."

1884. Rolf Boldrewood, `Melbourne Memories,' c. ix. p. 69:

"He gave us the advice of an experienced overlander."

1880. A. J. Vogan, `Black Police,' p. 262:

"An `overlander,'--for, as you havn't any of the breed in New Zealand, I'll explain what that is,--is Queensland-English for a long-distance drover; and a rough, hard life it generally is.

... Cattle have to be taken long distances to market sometimes from these `up-country' runs."

1890. `Melbourne Argus,' June 7, p. 4, col. 1:

"Then came overlanders of another sort--practical men who went out to develop and not to explore."

Owl, n. an English bird-name. The species in Australia are--

Boobook Owl-- Ninox boobook, Lath.

Chestnut-faced O.-- Strix castanops, Gould.

Grass O.-- S. candida, Tickell.

Lesser Masked O.-- S. delicatula, Lath.

Masked O.-- S. novae-hollandiae, Steph.

Powerful O.-- Ninox strenua, Gould.

Sooty O.-- Strix tenebricosa, Gould.

Spotted O.-- Ninox maculata, Vig. and Hors.

Winking O.-- N. connivens, Lath.

In New Zealand, the species are--Laughing Jackass, or L. Owl, Sceloglaux albifacies, Kaup (Maori name, Whekau, q.v.), and the Morepork, formerly Athene novae-zelandiae, Gray, now Spiloglaux novae-zelandiae, Kaup. (See Morepork.)

See also Barking Owl.

Owl-Parrot, n. a bird of New Zealand. See Kakapo.

Oyster, n. The Australian varieties are--Mud-Oyster, Ostrea angasi, Sow. (sometimes considered only a variety of O. edulis, Linn., the European species): New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia. O. rutupina, Jeffreys, "the native" of Colchester, England, is a variety and occurs in Tasmania.

Drift-O., O. subtrigona, Sow., called so because its beds are thought to be shifted by storms and tides: New South Wales and Queensland. Rock-O., O. glomerata, Gould, probably the same species as the preceding, but under different conditions: all Eastern Australia. And other species more or less rare. See also Stewart Islander. Australian oysters, especially the Sydney Rock-Oyster, are very plentiful, and of excellent body and flavour, considered by many to be equal if not superior to the Colchester native. They cost 1s. a dozen; unopened in bags, they are 6d. a dozen--a contrast to English prices.

Oyster-Bay Pine, n. See Pine.

1857. `Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land,' vol. i. p. 155:

"16 August, 1848 ... A sample of the white resin of the Oyster Bay Pine (Callitris Australis, Brown) lay on the table. The Secretary stated that this tree has only been met with along a comparatively limited and narrow strip of land bordering the sea on the eastern coast of Tasmania, and upon Flinders and Cape Barren Islands in Bass's Straits; that about Swanport and the shores of Oyster Bay it forms a tree, always handsome and picturesque, and sometimes 120 feet in height, affording useful but not large timber, fit for all the ordinary purposes of the house carpenter and joiner in a country district."

1880. Mrs. Meredith, `Tasmanian Friends and Foes,' p. 222:

"Those most picturesque trees, the Oyster Bay pines, which, vividly green in foliage, tapering to a height of eighty or one hundred feet, and by turns symmetrical or eccentric in form, harmonise and combine with rugged mountain scenery as no other of our trees here seem to do."

Oyster-catcher, n. common English bird-name.

The Australasian species are--Pied, Haematopus longirostris, Vieill.; Black, H. unicolor, Wagler; and two other species--H. picatus, Vigors, and H. australasianus, Gould, with no vernacular name.

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

c. vii. p. 174: