Austral English Part 124

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 209:

"Hobbles and Jack Shays hang from the saddle dees."

[Footnote]: "A tin quart-pot, used for boiling water for tea, and contrived so as to hold within it a tin pint-pot."

1890. `The Argus,' June14, p. 4, col. 1:

"Some of his clothes, with his saddle, serve for a pillow; his ration bags are beside his head, and his jackshea (quart-pot) stands by the fire."

Jacky Winter, n. the vernacular name in New South Wales of the Brown Flycatcher, Microeca fascinans, a common little bird about Sydney. The name has been ascribed to the fact that it is a resident species, very common, and that it sings all through the winter, when nearly every other species is silent. See Flycatcher.

Jade, n. See Greenstone.

Jarrah, n. anglicised form of Jerryhl, the native name of a certain species of Eucalyptus, which grows in the south of Western Australia, east and south-east of Perth. In Sir George Grey's Glossary (1840), Djar-rail; Mr. G. F. Moore's (1884), Djarryl. (Eucalyptus marginata, Donn.) The name b.a.s.t.a.r.d-Jarrah is given to E. botryoides, Smith, which bears many other names.

It is the Blue-Gum of New South Wales coast-districts, the b.a.s.t.a.r.d-Mahogany of Gippsland and New South Wales, and also Swamp Mahogany in Victoria and New South Wales, and occasionally Woolly-b.u.t.t.

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,'

vol. ii. p. 102:

"It may be that after all the hopes of the West-Australian Micawbers will be realised in jarrah-wood."

1875. T. Laslett, `Timber and Timber Trees,' p. 189:

"The Jarrah or Mahogany-tree is also found in Western Australia. The wood is red in colour, hard, heavy, close in texture, slightly wavy in the grain, and with occasionally enough figure to give it value for ornamental purposes; it works up quite smoothly and takes a good polish."

188. G. W. Rusden, `History of Australia, vol. i. p. 77:

"The jarrah of Western Australia (Eucalyptus marginata) has a peculiar reputation for its power to defy decay when submerged and exposed to the attacks of the dreaded teredo, and has been largely exported to India."

1888. R. Kipling, `Plain Tales from the Hills,' p. 163

"... the awful butchery ... of the Maribyrnong Plate. The walls were colonial ramparts--logs of jarrah spiked into masonry--with wings as strong as Church b.u.t.tresses."

[Jarrah is not a Victorian, but a West-Australian timber, and imported logs are not used by the V.R.C., but white or red gum.

For making "jumps," no logs are "spiked into masonry," and the Maribyrnong Plate is not a "jump-race."]

1892. Gilbert Parker, `Round the Compa.s.s in Australia,'

p. 415:

"Mr. W. H. Knight, twenty years ago, gave evidence as to the value of the jarrah... . It is found that piles driven down in the Swan River were, after being exposed to the action of wind, water, and weather for forty years, as sound and firm as when put into the water... . It completely resists the attacks of the white ants, where stringy-bark, blue-gum, white-gum, and black-wood are eaten through, or rendered useless, in from six to twelve years."

1896. `The Times' (weekly edition), Dec. 4, p. 822, col. 1:

"The jarrah, Eucalyptus marginata, stands pre-eminent as the leading timber tree of the Western Australian forests. For constructive work necessitating contact with soil and water jarrahwood has no native equal. A jarrah forest is dull, sombre, and uninteresting to the eye. In first-cla.s.s forests the trees attain a height of from 90 ft. to 120 ft., with good stems 3 ft. to 5 ft. in diameter. The tree is practically confined to the south-western division of the colony, where the heaviest rains of the season fall. As a rule, jarrah is found either intermixed with the karri tree or in close proximity to it."

Jasmine, Native, n. an Australian plant, Ricinocarpus pinifolius, Desf., N.O. Euphorbiaceae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 286:

"Native Jasmine. This plant yields abundance of seeds, like small castor oil seeds. They yield an oil."

Jelly-leaf, n. i.q. Queensland Hemp (q.v.).

Jelly-plant, a sea-weed, Eucheuma speciosum, J. Agardh, N.O. Algae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 28:

"Jelly-plant of Western Australia. This is a remarkable sea-weed of a very gelatinous character [used by] the people of Western Australia for making jelly, blanc-mange, etc. Size and cement can also be made from it. It is cast ash.o.r.e from deep water."

Jemmy Donnelly, n. a ridiculous name given to three trees, Euroschinus falcatus, Hook, N.O. Anacardiaceae; Myrsine variabilis, R. Br., N.O. Myrsinaceae; and Eucalyptus resinifera, Sm., N.O. Myrtaceae. They are large timber trees, highly valued in Queensland.

Jerrawicke, n. obsolete name for Colonial beer.

1857. J. Askew, `A Voyage to Australia and New Zealand,'

p. 272:

"There were always a number of natives roaming about. There might be about 150 in all, of the Newcastle tribe. They were more wretched and filthy, and if possible, uglier than those of Adelaide... . All the earnings of the tribe were spent in tobacco and jerrawicke (colonist-made ale)."

1857. Ibid. p. 273:

"A more hideous looking spectacle can hardly be imagined than that presented by these savages around the blazing fire, carousing among jerrawicke and the offal of slaughtered animals.'"

Jew-fish, n. a name applied in New South Wales to two or more different species, Sciaena antarctica, Castln., and Glaucosoma hebraic.u.m, Richards. Sciaena antarctica, Castln., is the King-fish of the Melbourne market. Sciaena is called Dew-fish in Brisbane. It belongs to the family Sciaenidae. The Australian species is distinct from S. aquila, the European "Maigre" or "Meagre," but closely resembles it.

Glaucosoma belongs to the Percidae. The Silver Jew-fish of New South Wales is thought to be the same as the Teraglin (q.v.), Otolithus atelodus, Guenth., also of the family Sciaeidae. Tenison Woods (in `Fish and Fisheries of New South Wales,' 1882, p. 34) says the Jew-fish of New South Wales is sometimes Glaucosoma scapulare, Ramsay; and Glaucosoma hebraic.u.m, Richards., is the Jew-fish of Western Australia (a marine fish). Fishes on the American coasts, different from these, are there called Jew-fishes.

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 40:

"The water-holes abounded with jew-fish and eels."

Jew-Lizard, n. a large Australian lizard, Amiphibolurus barbatus, Cuv.; called also Bearded Lizard.

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 89:

"A small Chlamydophorus (Jew-lizard of the Hunter) was also seen." [The Hunter is a river of New South Wales.]

1890. F. McCoy, `Prodromus of the Natural History of Victoria,' Decade xiii. pl. 121:

"This is commonly called the Jew Lizard by colonists, and is easily distinguished by the beard-like growth of long slender spires round the throat ... when irritated, it inflates the body to a considerably increased size, and hisses like a snake exciting alarm; but rarely biting."

1893. `The Argus,' July 22, p. 4, col. 5:

"The great Jew-lizards that lay and laughed horribly to themselves in the pungent dust on the untrodden floors."

Jil-crow-a-berry, n. the Anglicised p.r.o.nunciation and spelling of the aboriginal name for the indigenous Rat-tail Gra.s.s, Sporobolus indicus, R. Br.

Jimmy, n. obsolete name for an immigrant, a word which was jocularly changed into Jimmy Grant. The word `immigrant' is as familiar in Australia as `emigrant' in England.

1859. H. Kingsley, `Geoffrey Hamlyn,' p. 211: