Austral English Part 74

1876. `The Argus,' Jan. 26, p. 6, col. 6:

"Mr. Bent thought that a stop should be put to all selection and dummyism till a land law was introduced."

1887. J. F. Hogan, `The Irish in Australia, p. 98:

"This baneful and illegal system of land-grabbing is known throughout the colonies by the expressive name of `dummyism,'

the persons professing to be genuine selectors, desirous of establishing themselves on the soil, being actually the agents or the `dummies of the adjoining squatters."

Dump, n. a small coin formerly used in Australia and Tasmania. Its history is given in the quotations. In England the word formerly meant a heavy leaden counter; hence the expression, "I don't care a dump."

See Holy Dollar.

1822. `Hobart Town Gazette,' December 14:

"Government Public Notice.--The Quarter Dollars, or `Dumps,'

struck from the centre of the Spanish Dollar, and issued by His Excellency Governor Macquarie, in the year 1813, at One Shilling and Threepence each, will be exchanged for Treasury Bills at Par, or Sterling money."

1823. `Sydney Gazette,' Jan. ['Century']:

"The small colonial coin denominated dumps have all been called in. If the dollar pa.s.ses current for five shillings the dump lays claim to fifteen pence value still in silver money."

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. i.

p. 44

"He only solicits the loan of a `dump,' on pretence of treating his sick gin to a cup of tea."

Ibid. p. 225:

"The genuine name of an Australian coin, in value 1s. 3d."

1852. J. West, `History of Tasmania,' vol. ii. p. 141:

"Tattered promissory notes, of small amount and doubtful parentage, fluttered about the colony; dumps, struck out from dollars, were imitated by a coin prepared without requiring much mechanical ingenuity."

1870. T. H. Braim, `New Homes,' c. iii. p. 131:

"The Spanish dollar was much used. A circular piece was struck out of the centre about the size of a shilling, and it was called a `dump.'"

1879. W. J. Barry, `Up and Down,' p. 5:

"The coin current in those days (1829) consisted of ring- dollars and dumps, the dump being the centre of the dollar punched out to represent a smaller currency."

1893. `The Daily News' (London), May 11, p. 4:

"The metallic currency was then [1819-25] chiefly Spanish dollars, at that time and before and afterwards the most widely disseminated coin in the world, and they had the current value of 5s. But there were too few of them, and therefore the centre of them was cut out and circulated under the name of `dumps' at 1s. 3d. each, the remainder of the coin--called by way of a pun, `holy dollars'--still retaining its currency value of 5s."

Dump, v. to press closely; applied to wool.

Bales are often marked "not to be dumped."

1872. C. H. Eden, `My Wife and I in Queensland,' p. 98:

"The great object of packing so close is to save carriage through the country, for however well you may do it, it is always re-pressed, or `dumped,' as it is called, by hydraulic pressure on its arrival in port, the force being so great as to crush two bales into one."

1875. R. and F. Hill, `What we saw in Australia,' p. 207:

"From the sorting-tables the fleeces are carried to the packing-shed; there, by the help of machinery, they are pressed into sacks, and the sacks are then themselves heavily pressed and bound with iron bands, till they become hard cubes. This process is called `dumping.'"

Dumplings, n. i.q. Apple-berry (q.v.).

Dundathee, or Dundathu Pine, n. the Queensland species (Agathis robusta, Sal.) of the Kauri Pine (q.v.); and see Pine.

Dungaree-Settler, n. Now obsolete. See quotation.

1852. Anon, `Settlers and Convicts; or, Recollections of Sixteen Years' Labour in the Australian Backwoods,' p. 11:

"The poor Australian settler (or, according to colonist phraseology, the Dungaree-settler; so called from their frequently clothing themselves, their wives, and children in that blue Indian manufacture of cotton known as Dungaree) sells his wheat crop."

Dunite, n. an ore in New Zealand, so called from Dun mountain, near Nelson.

1883. J. Hector, `Handbook of New Zealand,' p. 56:

"Chrome ore. This ore, which is a mixture of chromic iron and alumina, is chiefly a.s.sociated with magnesian rock, resembling olivine in composition, named Dunite by Dr. Hochstetter."

Dust, n. slang for flour.

1893. Dec. 12, `A Traveller's Note':

"A bush cook said to me to-day, we gave each sundowner a pannikin of dust."

Dwarf-box, n. Eucalyptus microtheca, F. v. M. See Box. This tree has also many other names.

See Maiden's `Useful Native Plants,' p. 495.

1833. C. Sturt, `Southern Australia,' vol. i. c. i. p. 22:

"Dwarf-box and the acacia pendula prevailed along the plains."

E

Eagle, n. There are nine species of the true Eagle, all confined to the genus Haliaetus, such as the Baldheaded Eagle (H. leucocephalus), the national emblem of the United States. (`Century.') In Australia the name is a.s.signed to--

Little Eagle-- Aquila morphnoides, Gould.

Wedge-tailed E. (Eagle-hawk)-- A. audax, Lath.