Austral English Part 89

In Australia it is assigned to the following birds:--

Allied Fruit-Pigeon-- Ptilinopus assimilis, Gould.

Purple-breasted F.-P.-- P. magnifica, Temm.

Purple-crowned F.-P.-- P. superbus, Temm.

Red-crowned F.-P.-- P. swainsonii, Gould.

Rose-crowned F.-P.-- P. ewingii Gould.

White-headed F.-P.-- Columba leucomela, Temm.

And in New Zealand to Carpophaga novae-zealandiae, Gmel.

(Maori name, Kereru Kuku, or Kukupa.)

Fryingpan-Brand, n. a large brand used by cattle-stealers to cover the owner's brand. See Duffer and Cattle-Duffer.

1857. Frederic De Brebant Cooper, `Wild Adventures in Australia,' p. 104:

"... This person was an `old hand,' and got into some trouble on the other side (i.e. the Bathurst side) by using a `frying-pan brand.' He was stock-keeping in that quarter, and was rather given to `gulley-raking.' One fine day it appears he ran in three bullocks belonging to a neighbouring squatter, and clapt his brand on the top of the other so as to efface it."

Fuchsia, Native, n. The name is applied to several native plants.

(1) In Australia and Tasmania, to various species of Correa (q.v.), especially to Correa speciosa, And., N.O.

Rutaceae.

(2) In Queensland, to Eremophila maculata, F. v. M., N.O. Myoporineae.

(3) In New Zealand, to Fuchsia excorticata, Linn., N.O. Onagrariae. (Maori name, Kotukutuktu, q.v.).

See also Tooky-took and Konini.

1860. Geo. Bennett, `Gatherings of a Naturalist in Australasia,'

pp. 371-2:

"The Correa virens, with its pretty pendulous blossoms (from which it has been named the `Native Fuchsia'), and the Scarlet Grevillea (G. coccinea) are gay amidst the bush flowers."

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

"I see some pretty red correa and lilac."

[Footnote]: "Correa speciosa--native fuchsia of Colonies."

1883. F. M. Bailey, `Synopsis of Queensland Flora,' p. 374:

"E. maculata. A ... shrub called native fuchsia, and by some considered poisonous, by others a good fodder bush."

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 126:

"E. maculata... . Called `Native Fuchsia' in parts of Queensland."

1892. `Otago Witness,' Nov. 24, `Native Trees':

"A species of native fuchsia that is coming greatly into favour is called [Fuchsia] Procumbens. It is a lovely pot plant, with large pink fruit and upright flowers."

Full up of, adj. (slang), sick and tired of.

"Full on," and "full of," are other forms.

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Miner's Right,' c. xxiii. p. 213:

"She was `full up' of the Oxley, which was a rowdy, disagreeable goldfield as ever she was on."

Furze, Native, n. a shrub, Hakea ulcina, R. Br. See Hakea.

Futtah, n. a settlers' corruption of the Maori word Whata (q.v.).

1895. W.S. Roberts, `Southland in 1856,'p. 28:

"These stores were called by the Europeans futters,--but the Maori name was Whata."

1896. `Southland Daily News,' Feb. 3:

"`Futtah is familiar as `household words.' There were always rats in New Zealand--that is, since any traditions of its fauna existed. The original ones were good to eat.

They were black and smooth in the hair as the mole of the Old Country, and were esteemed delicacies. They were always mischievous, but the Norway rat that came with the white man was worse. He began by killing and eating his aboriginal congener, and then made it more difficult than ever to keep anything eatable out of reach of his teeth. Human ingenuity, however, is superior to that of most of the lower animals, and so the `futtah' came to be--a storehouse on four posts, each of them so bevelled as to render it impossible for the cleverest rat to climb them. The same expedient is to-day in use on Stewart Island and the West Coast --in fact, wherever properly constructed buildings are not available for the storage of things eatable or destructible by the rodents in question."

G

Galah, n. a bird.(The accent is now placed on the second syllable.) Aboriginal name for the Cacatua roseicapilla, Vieill., the Rose-breasted Cockatoo. See Cockatoo. With the first syllable compare last syllable of Budgerigar (q.v.)

1890. `The Argus,' Sept. 20, p. 13, col. 5:

"They can afford to screech and be merry, as also the grey, pink-crested galahs, which tint with the colours of the evening sky a spot of grass in the distance."

1890. Lyth, `Golden South,' c. xiv. p. 127:

"The galahs, with their delicate grey and rose-pink plumage, are the prettiest parrots."

1891. Francis Adams, `John Webb's End,' p. 191:

"A shrieking flock of galahs, on their final flight before they settled to roost, passed over and around him, and lifting up his head, he saw how all their grey feathers were flushed with the sunset light, their coloured breasts deepening into darkest ruby, they seemed like loosed spirits."

Gallows, n. Explained in quotation. Common at all stations, where of course the butchering is done on the premises.

1866. Lady Barker, `Station Life in New Zealand,' p. 64:

"The gallows, a high wooden frame from which the carcases of the butchered sheep dangle."

Gang-gang, or Gan-gan, n. the aboriginal word for the bird Callocephalon galeatum, Lath., so called from its note; a kind of cockatoo, grey with a red head, called also Gang-gang Cockatoo. See Cockatoo.