Austral English Part 222

(3) Eremophila mitch.e.l.li, Benth. N.O. Myoporinae; called also Sandalwood.

1838. T. L. Mitch.e.l.l, `Three Expeditions,' vol. i. p. 203:

"One or two trees of a warmer green, of what they call `rosewood,' I believe gave a fine effect, relieving the sober greyish green of the pendent acacia."

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition' p. 4:

"The Rosewood Acacia of Moreton Bay."

Rough, or Roughy, or Ruffy, or Ruffie, n. a Victorian fish, Arripis georgia.n.u.s, Cuv. and Val., family Percidae.

Arripis is the genus of the Australian fish called Salmon, or Salmon-trout, A. salar, Gunth.

See Salmon.

1875. `Spectator' (Melbourne), June 19, 1881:

"Common fish, such as trout, ruffies mullet ... and others."

1890. `Victorian Statutes--Fisheries, Second Schedule'

[Close Season]:

"Rough, or Roughy."

Rough Fig, n. See under Fig-tree.

Rough-leaved Fig, n. See under Fig-tree.

Round, v. trans., contraction of the verb to round-up, to bring a scattered herd together; used in all grazing districts, and common in the Western United States.

1894. `The Argus,' June 23, p. 11, col. 4:

"A friend of mine who has spent many a night rounding the mob on lonely Queensland cattle camps where hostile blacks were as thick as dingoes has a peculiar aversion to one plain covered with dead gums, because the curlews always made him feel miserable when crossing it at night."

Round Yam, n. i.q. Burdekin Vine.

See under Vine.

Rouseabout, n. a station-hand put on to any work, a Jack of all work, an `odd man.' The form `roustabout'

is sometimes used, but the latter is rather an American word (Western States), in the sense of a labourer on a river boat, a deck-hand who a.s.sists in loading and unloading.

1887. J. Farrell, `How he died,' p. 19:

"It may be the rouseabout swiper who rode for the doctor that night, Is in Heaven with the hosts of the Blest, robed and sceptred, and splendid with light."

18W. `The Argus,' Sept. 20, p. 13, col. 6:

"The `rouseabouts' are another cla.s.s of men engaged in shearing time, whose work is to draft the sheep, fill the pens for the shearers, and do the branding... . The shearers hold themselves as the aristocrats of the shed; and never a.s.sociate with the rouseabouts."

1892. Gilbert Parker, `Round the Compa.s.s in Australia,' p. 58:

"While we sat there, a rouseabout came to the door. `Mountain Jim's back,' he said. There was no `sir' in the remark of this lowest of stationhands to his master."

1894. `Sydney Morning Herald' (date lost):

"A rougher person--perhaps a happier--is the rouseabout, who makes himself useful in the shearing shed. He is clearly a man of action. He is sometimes with less elegance, and one would say less correctly, spoken of as a roustabout."

1896. H. Lawson, `When the World was Wide,' p. 98 [t.i.tle of poem, `Middleton's Rouseabout']:

"Flourishing beard and sandy, Tall and robust and stout; This is the picture of Andy, Middleton's Rouseabout."

Rowdy, adj. troublesome. Common slang, but unusual as applied to a bullock or a horse.

1872. C. H. Eden, `My Wife and I in Queensland,' p. 69:

"Branding or securing a troublesome or, colonially, a `rowdy'

bullock."

1896. A. B. Paterson, `Man from Snowy River, p. 125:

"And I can ride a rowdy colt, or swing the axe all day."

Rua, n. Maori word (used in North Island) for a pit, cave or hole. A place for storing roots, such as potatoes, etc. Formerly some of these rua had carved entrances.

Ruffy or Ruffie, n. a fish.

See Rough or Roughy.

Run, n. (1) Tract of land over which sheep or cattle may graze. It is curious that what in England is called a sheep-walk, in Australia is a sheep-run. In the Western United States it is a sheep-ranch. Originally the squatter, or sheep-farmer, did not own the land. It was unfenced, and he simply had the right of grazing or "running" his sheep or cattle on it. Subsequently, in many cases, he purchased the freehold, and the word is now applied to a large station property, fenced or unfenced. (See quotation, 1883.)

1826. Goldie, in Bischoff's `Van Diemen's Land' (1832), p. 157:

"It is generally speaking a good sheep-run."

1828. Report of Van Diemen's band Company, in Bischoff's `Van Diemen's Land' (1832), p. 117:

"A narrow slip of good sheep-run down the west coast."

1844. `Port Phillip Patriot,' July 8, p. 4, col. 3:

"The thousand runs stated as the number in Port Phillip under the new regulations will cost L12,800,000."

1846. C. P. Hodgson, `Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 367:

"`Runs,' land claimed by the squatter as sheep-walks, open, as nature left them, without any improvement from the squatter."

1862. H. C. Kendall, `Poems,' p. 78:

"The runs of the Narran wide-dotted with sheep, And loud with the lowing of cattle."

1864. W. Westgarth, `Colony of Victoria,' p. 273:

"Here then is a squatting domain of the old unhedged stamp.