Austral English Part 56

Cordage-tree, n. name given in Tasmania to a Kurrajong (q.v.). The name Sida pulchella has been superseded by Plagianthus sidoides, Hook.

1835. Ross, `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 108:

"Sida pulchella. Handsome Sida. Currijong or cordage tree of Hobart Town... . The bark used to be taken for tying up post and rail fences, the rafters of huts, in the earlier periods of the colony, before nails could be so easily procured."

Corella, n. any parrot of the genus Nymphicus; the word is dim. of late Lat. cora = korh, a girl, doll, etc. The Australian Corella is N. novae-hollandiae, and the name is also given to Licmetus nasicus, Temm, the Long-billed Cockatoo (q.v.). It is often used indiscriminately by bird-fanciers for any pretty little parrot, parrakeet, or cockatoo.

Cork-tree, n. See Bat's-wing Coral.

Corkwood, n. a New Zealand tree, Entelea arborescens, R. Br., N.O. Tiliaceae. Maori name, Whau.

1889. T. Kirk, `Forest Flora of New Zealand,' p. 45:

"The whau ... is termed corkwood by the settlers on account of its light specific gravity."

Cormorant, n. common English bird-name.

In Australia the name is applied to the following birds:--

Black Cormorant-- Graculus novae-hollandiae, Steph.

Little C.-- G. melanoleucus, Vieill.

Little-black C.-- G. stictocephalus, Bp. .

Pied C.-- G. varius, Gm.

White-breasted Cormorant-- G. leucogaster, Gould.

White-throated C.-- G. brevirostris, Gould.

Cornstalk, n. a young man or a girl born and bred in New South Wales, especially if tall and big.

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

vol. ii. p. 116:

"The colonial-born, bearing also the name of cornstalks (Indian corn), from the way in which they shoot up."

1834. Geo. Benett, `Wanderings in New South Wales,' vol. i.

p. 341:

"The Australian ladies may compete for personal beauty and elegance with any European, although satirized as `Cornstalks,'

from the slenderness of their forms."

1849. J. P. Townsend, `Rambles in New South Wales,' p. 68:

"Our host was surrounded by a little army of `cornstalks.'...

The designation `cornstalk' is given because the young people run up like the stems of the Indian corn."

1869. W. R. Honey, `Madeline Clifton,' Act III. sc. v. p. 30:

"Look you, there stands young cornstalk."

1878. `The Australian,' vol. i. p. 526:

"If these are the heroes that my cornstalk friends worship so ardently, they must indeed be hard up for heroes."

1893. Haddon Chambers, `Thumbnail Sketches of Australian Life,'

p. 217:

"While in the capital I fell in with several jolly cornstalks, with whom I spent a pleasant time in boating, fishing, and sometimes camping out down the harbour."

Correa, n. the scientific name of a genus of Australian plants of the N.O. Rutaceae, so named after Correa de Serra, a Portuguese nobleman who wrote on rutaceous plants at the beginning of the century. They bear scarlet or green and sometimes yellowish flowers, and are often called Native Fuchsias (q.v.), especially C. speciosa, Andrews, which bears crimson flowers.

1827. R. Sweet, `Flora Australasica,' p. 2:

"The genus was first named by Sir J. E. Smith in compliment to the late M. Correa de Serra, a celebrated Portuguese botanist."

1859. H. Kingsley, `Geoffrey Hamlyn,' p. 384:

"The scarlet correa lurked among the broken quartz."

1877. F. v. Mueller, `Botanic Teachings,' p. 70:

"With all wish to maintain vernacular names, which are not actually misleading, I cannot call a correa by the common colonial name `native fuchsia,' as not the slightest structural resemblance and but little habitual similarity exists between these plants; they indeed belong to widely different orders."

Ibid.:

"All Correas are geographically restricted to the south-eastern portion of the Australian continent and Tasmania, the genus containing but few species."

1880. Mrs. Meredith, `Tasmanian Friends and Foes,' p. 23:

"I see some pretty red correa and lilac." [Footnote]: "Correa speciosa, native fuchsia of Colonies."

Corrobbery, n. This spelling is nearest to the accepted pronunciation, the accent falling on the second syllable. Various spellings, however, occur, viz.--Corobbery, Corrobery, Corroberry, Corroborree, Corrobbory, Corroborry, Corrobboree, Coroboree, Corroboree, Korroboree, Corroborri, Corrobaree, and Caribberie.

To these Mr. Fraser adds Karabari (see quotation, 1892), but his spelling has never been accepted in English. The word comes from the Botany Bay dialect.

[The aboriginal verb (see Ridley's `Kamilaroi and other Australian Languages,' p. 107) is korobra, to dance; in the same locality boroya or beria means to sing; probably koro is from a common Australian word for emu.--J. Mathew.]

(1) An aboriginal name for a dance, sacred, festive, or warlike.

1793. Governor Hunter, `Port Jackson, p. 195:

"They very frequently, at the conclusion of the dance, would apply to us ... for marks of our approbation ... which we never failed to give by often repeating the word boojery, good; or boojery caribberie, a good dance."

1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 280:

"Dancing with their corrobery motion."

Ibid. p. 311: