Austral English Part 13

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 592:

"Bangalow... . The small stems sometimes go under the name of `Moreton Bay Canes.' It is a very ornamental, feathery-leaved palm."

Bang-tail muster. See quotation.

1887. W. S. S. Tyrwhitt, `The New Churn in the Queensland Bush,'

p. 61:

"Every third or fourth year on a cattle station, they have what is called a `bang tail muster'; that is to say, all the cattle are brought into the yards, and have the long hairs at the end of the tail cut off square, with knives or sheep-shears...

The object of it is. . .to find out the actual number of cattle on the run, to compare with the number entered on the station books."

Banker, n. a river full up to the top of the banks. Compare Shakspeare: "Like a proud river, peering o'er his bounds." (`King John,' III. i. 23.)

1888. Ca.s.sell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol, iii. p. 175

"The Murrumbidgee was running a `banker'--water right up to the banks."

1890. Lyth, `Golden South,' c. vii. p. 52:

"The driver stated that he had heard the river was `a banker.'"

1896. H. Lawson, `When the World was Wide,' p. 45:

"The creeks were bankers, and the flood Was forty miles round Bourke."

Ibid. p. 100:

"Till the river runs a banker, All stained with yellow mud."

Banksia, n. "A genus of Australian shrubs with umbellate flowers,--now cultivated as ornamental shrubs in Europe." (`O.E.D.') Called after Mr. Banks, naturalist of the Endeavour, afterwards Sir Joseph Banks. The so-called Australian Honeysuckle (q.v.). See also Bottle-brush.

1790. J. White, `Voyage to New South Wales,' p. 221:

"The different species of banksia. The finest new genus. .h.i.therto found in New Holland has been destined by Linnaeus, with great propriety, to transmit to posterity the name of Sir Joseph Banks, who first discovered it in his celebrated voyage round the world."

1798. D. Collins, `Account of English Colony in New South Wales,' p. 557:

"A few berries, the yam and fern root, the flowers of the different banksia, and at times some honey, make up the whole vegetable catalogue."

1829. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of the Linnaean Society,' vol. xv. p. 312:

"Scrubs where the different species of banksia are found, the flowers of which I (Mr. Caley) have reason to think afford it sustenance during winter."

1833. C. Sturt, `South Australia,' vol. ii. c. ii. p. 30:

"Some sandhills ... crowned by banksias."

1845. J. Q. Balfour, `Sketch of New South Wales,' p. 39:

"Many different species of banksia grow in great plenty in the neighbourhood of Sydney, and from the density of their foliage are very ornamental."

1846. L. Leichhardt, quoted by J. D. Lang, `Cooksland,' p. 331:

"The table-land is covered by forests of stringy-bark, of melaleuca-gum, and banksia."

1851. `Quarterly Review,' Dec., p. 40:

"In this they will find an extremely rich collection of bottle-brush-flowered, zigzag-leaved, grey-tinted, odd-looking things, to most eyes rather strange than beautiful, notwithstanding that one of them is named Banksia speciosa. They are the `Botany Bays' of old-fashioned gardeners, but are more in the shrub and tree line than that of flowering pots. Banksia Solandei will remind them to turn to their `Cook's Voyages' when they get home, to read how poor Dr. Solander got up a mountain and was heartily glad to get down again."

1877. F. v. Mueller, `Botanic Teachings,' p. 46:

"The banksias are of historic interest, inasmuch as the genus was dedicated already by the younger Linne in 1781 to Sir Joseph Banks, from whom the Swedish naturalist received branchlets of those species, which in Captain Cook's first voyage more than 100 years ago (1770) were gathered by Banks at Botany-Bay and a few other places of the east coast of Australia."

1887. J. Bonwick, `Romance of the Wool Trade,' p. 228:

"A banksia plain, with its collection of bottle-brush-like-flowers, may have its charms for a botanist, but its well-known sandy ground forbids the hope of good gra.s.ses."

Baobab, n. a tree, native of Africa, Adansonia digitata. The name is Ethiopian. It has been introduced into many tropical countries. The Australian species of the genus is A. gregorii, F. v. M., called also Cream of Tartar or Sour Gourd-tree, Gouty-stem (q.v.), and Bottle-tree (q.v.).

Barber, or Tasmanian Barber, n. a name for the fish Anthias rasor, Richards., family Percidae; also called Red-Perch. See Perch. It occurs in Tasmania, New Zealand, and Port Jackson. It is called Barber from the shape of the praeoperculum, one of the bones of the head. See quotation.

1841. John Richardson, `Description of Australian Fish,' p. 73:

"Serra.n.u.s Rasor.-- Tasmanian Barber... . The serrature of the preoperculum is the most obvious and general character by which the very numerous Serrani are connected with each other ... The Van Diemen's Land fish, which is described below, is one of the `Barbers,' a fact which the specific appellation rasor is intended to indicate; the more cla.s.sical word having been previously appropriated to another species... Mr. Lempriere states that it is known locally as the `red perch or shad.'"

[Richardson also says that Cuvier founded a subdivision of the Serrani on the characters of the scales of the jaws, under the name of `les Barbiers,' which had been previously grouped by Block under the t.i.tle Anthias.]

Barcoo-gra.s.s, n. an Australian gra.s.s, Anthistiria membranacea, Lindl. One of the best pasture gra.s.ses in Queensland, but growing in other colonies also.

Barcoo Rot, n. a disease affecting inhabitants of various parts of the interior of Australia, but chiefly bushmen. It consists of persistent ulceration of the skin, chiefly on the back of the hands, and often originating in abrasions.

It is attributed to monotony of diet and to the cloudless climate, with its alternations of extreme cold at night and burning heat by day. It is said to be maintained and aggravated by the irritation of small flies.

1870. E. B. Kennedy, `Four Years in Queensland,' p. 46:

"Land scurvy is better known in Queensland by local names, which do not sound very pleasant, such as `Barcoo rot,'

`Kennedy rot,' according to the district it appears in. There is nothing dangerous about it; it is simply the festering of any cut or scratch on one's legs, arms or hands... They take months to heal... Want of vegetables is a.s.signed as the cause."

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 58:

"In Western Queensland people are also subject to bad sores on the hand, called Barcoo-rot."

Barcoo Vomit, n. a sickness occurring in inhabitants of various parts of the high land of the interior of Australia. It is characterized by painless attacks of vomiting, occurring immediately after food is taken, followed by hunger, and recurring as soon as hunger is satisfied.

The name Barcoo is derived from the district traversed by the river Barcoo, or Cooper, in which this complaint and the Barcoo Rot are common. See Dr. E. C. Stirling's `Notes from Central Australia,' in `Intercolonial Quarterly Journal of Medicine and Surgery,' vol. i. p. 218.

Bargan, n. a name of the Come-back Boomerang (q.v.). (Spelt also barragan.)