Austral English Part 41

1880. J. Mathew, song, `The Bushman:'

"How weary, how dreary the stillness must be!

But oh! the lone bushman is dreaming of me."

1886. Frank Cowan: `Australia; a Charcoal Sketch':

"The bushman ... Gunyah, his bark hovel; Damper, his unleavened bread baked in the ashes; Billy, his tea-kettle, universal pot and pan and bucket; Sugar-bag, his source of saccharine, a bee-tree; Pheasant, his facetious metaphoric euphism for Liar, quasi Lyre-bird; Fit for Woogooroo, for Daft or Idiotic; Brumby, his peculiar term for wild horse; Scrubber, wild ox; Nuggeting, calf-stealing; Jumbuck, sheep, in general; an Old-man, grizzled wallaroo or kangaroo; Station, Run, a sheep- or cattle-ranch; and Kabonboodgery--an echo of the sound diablery for ever in his ears, from dawn to dusk of Laughing Jacka.s.s and from dusk to dawn of Dingo--his half-bird -and-beast-like vocal subst.i.tute for Very Good... ."

1896. H.Lawson, `While the Billy boils,' p. 71:

"He was a typical bushman, ... and of the old bush school; one of those slight active little fellows, whom we used to see in cabbage-tree hats, Crimean shirts, strapped trousers, and elastic-side boots."

(2) One who has knowledge of the bush, and is skilled in its ways. A "good bushman" is especially used of a man who can find his way where there are no tracks.

1868. J. Bonwick, `John Batman, Founder of Victoria,' pp. 78, 79:

"It is hardly likely that so splendid a bushman as Mr. Batman would venture upon such an expedition had he not been well.

In fact a better bushman at this time could not be met with."

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. ii. p. 3:

"The worst bushman had to undertake the charge of the camp, cook the provisions, and look after the horses, during the absence of the rest on flying excursions."

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 40:

"Very slight landmarks will serve to guide a good bushman, for no two places are really exactly alike."

1891. Rolf Boldrewood, `Sydney-side Saxon,' p. 78:

"One of the best bushmen in that part of the country: the men said he could find his way over it blindfold, or on the darkest night that ever was."

(3) Special sense. See quotation.

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 80:

"Some were what is termed, par excellence, bushmen--that is, men who split rails, get posts, shingles, take contracts for building houses, stockyards, etc.--men, in fact, who work among timber continually, sometimes felling and splitting, sometimes sawing."

Bushmanship, n. knowledge of the ways of the bush.

1882. A. J. Boyd, `Old Colonials,' p. 261:

"A good laugh at the bushmanship displayed."

Bushranger, n. one who ranges or traverses the bush, far and wide; an Australian highwayman; in the early days usually an escaped convict. Shakspeare uses the verb `to range' in this connection.

"Then thieves and robbers range abroad unseen In murders and in outrage, boldly here."

(`Richard II.,' III. ii. 39.)

"Ranger" is used in modern English for one who protects and not for one who robs; as `the Ranger' of a Park.

1806. May 4, `Sydney Gazette' or `New South Wales Advertiser, given in `History of New South Wales,' p. 265:

"Yesterday afternoon, William Page, the bushranger repeatedly advertised, was apprehended by three constables."

1820. W. C. Wentworth, `Description of New South Wales,'

p. 166:

[The settlements in Van Diemen's Land have] "been infested for many years past by a banditti of runaway convicts, who have endangered the person and property of every one... . These wretches, who are known in the colony by the name of bushrangers..."

1820. Lieut. Chas. Jeffreys, `Van Dieman's [sic] Land,' p. 15:

"The supposition ... rests solely on the authority of the Bush Rangers, a species of wandering brigands, who will be elsewhere described."

1838. T. L. `Mitch.e.l.l, `Three Expeditions,' vol. i. p. 9:

"Bushrangers, a sub-genus in the order banditti, which happily can now only exist there in places inaccessible to the mounted police."

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 81:

"This country [Van Diemen's Land] is as much infested as New South Wales with robbers, runaway convicts, or, as they are termed, Bush-rangers."

1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 77:

"The whole region was infested by marauding bands of bush-rangers, terrible after nightfall."

1887. J. F. Hogan, `The Irish in Australia, p. 252:

"Whilst he was engaged in this duty in Victoria, a band of outlaws--'bushrangers' as they are colonially termed-- who had long defied capture, and had carried on a career of murder and robbery, descended from their haunts in the mountain ranges."

Bush-ranging, n. the practice of the Bushranger (q.v.).

1827. `Captain Robinson's Report,' Dec. 23

"It was a subject of complaint among the settlers, that their a.s.signed servants could not be known from soldiers, owing to their dress; which very much a.s.sisted the crime of `bush-ranging.'"

Bush-scrubber, n. a bushman's word for a boor, b.u.mpkin, or slatternly person. See Scrubber.

1896. Modern. Up-country manservant on seeing his new mistress:

"My word! a real lady! she's no bush-scrubber!"

Bush-telegraph, n. Confederates of bushrangers who supply them with secret information of the movements of the police.

1878. `The Australian,' vol. i. p. 507:

"The police are baffled by the false reports of the confederates and the number and activity of the bush telegraphs."

1893. Kenneth Mackay, `Out Back,' p. 74: