Austral English Part 52

Cobbra, n. aboriginal word for head, skull.

[Kabura or Kobbera, with such variations as Kobra, Kobbera, Kappara, Kopul, from Malay Kapala, head: one of the words on the East Coast manifestly of Malay origin.--J. Mathew. Much used in pigeon converse with blacks. `Goodway cobra tree' = `Tree very tall.'] Collins, `Port Jackson Vocabulary,' 1798 (p. 611), gives `Kabura, ca-ber-ra.' Mount Cobberas in East Gippsland has its name from huge head-like ma.s.ses of rock which rise from the summit.

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 31:

"The black fellow who lives in the bush bestows but small attention on his cobra, as the head is usually called in the pigeon-English which they employ."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Colonial Reformer,' c. xiii. p. 134:

"I should be c.o.c.k-sure that having an empty cobbra, as the blacks say, was on the main track that led to the grog-camp."

c.o.c.k-a-bully, n. a popular name for the New Zealand fish Galaxias fasciatus, Gray, a corruption of its Maori name Kokopu (q.v.).

1896. `The Australasian,' Aug. 28, p. 407, col. 3:

"During my stay in New Zealand my little girl caught a fish rather larger than an English minnow. Her young companions called it a `c.o.c.k-a bully.' It was pretty obvious to scent a corruption of a Maori word, for, mark you, c.o.c.k-a-bully has no meaning. It looks as if it were English and full of meaning.

Reflect an instant and it has none. The Maori name for the fish is `kokopu'"

c.o.c.katiel, -eel, n. an arbitrary diminutive of the word c.o.c.katoo, and used as another name for the c.o.c.katoo-Parrakeet, Calopsitta novae-hollandiae, and generally for any Parrakeet of the genus Calopsitta.

(`O.E.D.')

c.o.c.katoo, n. (1) Bird-name. The word is Malay, Kakatua. (`O.E.D.') The varieties are--

Banksian c.o.c.katoo-- Calyptorhynchus banksii, Lath.

Bare-eyed C.-- Cacatua gymnopis, Sclater.

Black C.-- Calyptorhynchus funereus, Shaw.

Blood-stained C.-- Cacatua sanguinea, Gould.

Dampier's C.-- Licmetis pastinator, Gould.

Gang-gang C.-- Callocephalon galeatum, Lath. [See Gang-gang.]

Glossy C.-- Calyptorhynchus viridis, Vieill.

Long-billed C.-- Licmetis nasicus, Temm. [See Corella.]

Palm C.-- Microglossus aterrimus, Gmel.

Pink C.-- Cacatua leadbeateri, V. & H. (Leadbeater, q.v.).

Red-tailed C.-- Calyptorhynchus stellatus, Wagl.

Rose-breasted C.-- Cacatua roseicapilla, Vieill. [See Galah. Gould calls it Cocatua eos.

White C.-- Cacatua galerita, Lath.

White-tailed C.-- Calyptorhynchus baudinii, Vig.

See also Parrakeet.

1839. T. L. Mitch.e.l.l, `Three Expeditions, vol. ii. p. 62:

"We saw to-day for the first time on the Kalare, the redtop c.o.c.katoo (Plyctolophus Leadbeateri)."

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' c. viii. p. 272:

"The rose-breasted c.o.c.katoo (Cocatua eos, Gould) visited the patches of fresh burnt gra.s.s."

Ibid. p. 275:

"The black c.o.c.katoo (Calyptorhynchus Banksii) has been much more frequently observed of late."

1857. Daniel Bunce, `Australasiatic Reminiscences,' p. 175:

"Dr. Leichhardt caught sight of a number of c.o.c.katoos; and, by tracking the course of their flight, we, in a short time, reached a creek well supplied with water."

1862. G. Barrington, `History of New South Wales,'

c. ix. p. 331:

"White c.o.c.katoos and parroquets were now seen."

1890. `Victorian Statutes, Game Act, Third Schedule':

"Black c.o.c.katoos. Gang-gang c.o.c.katoos. [Close season.] From the 1st day of August to the 10th day of December next following in each year."

1893. `The Argus,' March 25, p.4, col. 6:

"The egg of the blood-stained c.o.c.katoo has not yet been scientifically described, and the specimen in this collection has an interest chiefly in that it was taken [by Mr. A. J.

Campbell] from a tree at Innamincka waterholes, not far from the spot where Burke the explorer died."

(2) A small farmer, called earlier in Tasmania a c.o.c.katooer (q.v.). The name was originally given in contempt (see quotations), but it is now used by farmers themselves. c.o.c.ky is a common abbreviation. Some people distinguish between a c.o.c.katoo and a ground-parrot, the latter being the farmer on a very small scale. Trollope's etymology (see quotation, 1873) will not hold, for it is not true that the c.o.c.katoo scratches the ground. After the gold fever, circa 1860, the selectors swarmed over the country and ate up the substance of the squatters; hence they were called c.o.c.katoos. The word is also used adjectivally.

1863. M. K. Beveridge, `Gatherings among the Gum-trees,'

p. 154:

"Oi'm going to be married To what is termed a c.o.c.katoo-- Which manes a farmer."

1867. Lady Barker, `Station Life in New Zealand,' p. 110:

"These small farmers are called c.o.c.katoos in Australia by the squatters or sheep-farmers, who dislike them for buying up the best bits on their runs; and say that, like a c.o.c.katoo, the small freeholder alights on good ground, extracts all he can from it, and then flies away, to `fresh fields and pastures new.' ... However, whether the name is just or not, it is a recognised one here; and I have heard a man say in answer to a question about his usual `occupation, `I'm a c.o.c.katoo.'"

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

vol. ii. p. 135:

"The word c.o.c.katoo in the farinaceous colony has become so common as almost to cease to carry with it the intended sarcasm... . It signifies that the man does not really till his land, but only scratches it as the bird does."

1882. A. J. Boyd, `Old Colonials,' p. 32: