Austral English Part 7

Crow's A.-- Flindersia australis, R. Br., N.O. Meliaceae.

Elderberry A. (of Victoria)-- Panax sambucifolius, Sieb., N.O. Araliaceae.

Illawarra A.-- Elaeocarpus kirtonia, F. v. M., N.O. Tiliaceae.

Moreton Bay A.-- Eucalyptus tessellaris, Hook., N.O. Myrtaceae.

Mountain A. (see Mountain Ash).

New Zealand A. (see t.i.toki).

Pigeonberry A.-- Elaeocarpus obovatus, G. Don., N.O. Tiliaceae.

Red A.-- Alphitonia excelsa, Reiss, N.O. Rhamnaceae.

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 75:

"The Moreton Bay Ash (a species of Eucalyptus). ..was here also very plentiful."

a.s.signed, past part. of verb to a.s.sign, to allot. Used as adj. of a convict allotted to a settler as a servant. Colloquially often reduced to "signed."

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.'"

1837. J. D. Lang, `New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 31

"The a.s.signed servant of a respectable Scotch family residing near Sydney."

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 75:

"Of the first five persons we saw to Van Diemen's Land, four were convicts, and perhaps the fifth. These were the a.s.signed servants of the pilot."

1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 324:

"Under the old practice, the convicts, as soon as they arrived from Britain, were a.s.signed among the various applicants. The servant thus a.s.signed was bound to perform diligently, from sunrise till sunset, all usual and reasonable labour."

a.s.signee, n. a convict a.s.signed as a servant. The word is also used in its ordinary English sense.

1843. `Penny Cyclopaedia,' vol. xxv. p. 139, col. 2:

"It is comparatively difficult to obtain another a.s.signee,--easy to obtain a hired servant."

1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 324:

"Any instance of gross treatment disqualified him for the future as an a.s.signee of convict labour."

a.s.signment, n. service as above.

1836. C. Darwin, `Journal of Researches' (1890), c. xix. p. 324:

"I believe the years of a.s.signment are pa.s.sed away with discontent and unhappiness."

1852. John West, `History of Tasmania,' vol. ii. p. 126:

"That form of service, known as a.s.signment, was established by Governor King in 1804."

1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 117:

"The a.s.signment system was then in operation, and such as obtained free grants of land were allowed a certain proportion of convicts to bring it into cultivation."

Asthma Herb, Queensland, n. Euphorbia pilulifera, Linn. As the name implies, a remedy for asthma.

The herb is collected when in flower and carefully dried.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 183:

"This plant, having obtained some reputation in Australasia in certain pulmonary complaints, has acquired the appellation to the Colonies of `Queensland Asthma Herb'. Nevertheless, it is by no means endemic in Australasia, for it is a common tropical weed."

Aua, n. Maori name for a New Zealand fish, Agonostoma forsteri, Bleek. Another Maori name is Makawhiti; also called Sea-Mullet and sometimes Herring; (q.v.). It is abundant also in Tasmanian estuaries, and is one of the fishes which when dried is called Picton Herring (q.v.). See also Maray and Mullet. Agonostoma is a genus of the family Mugilidae or Grey-Mullets.

Aurora australis, n. the Southern equivalent for Aurora borealis.

1790. J. White, `Voyage to New South Wales,' p. 214:

"Sept. 5, 1788. About half after six in the evening, we saw an Aurora Australis, a phenomenon uncommon in the southern hemisphere."

Austral, adj. "Belonging to the South, Southern. Lat. Australis, from auster, south-wind." (`O.E.D.') The word is rarely used in Australasia in its primary sense, but now as equivalent to Australian or Australasian.

1823. Wentworth's Cambridge poem on `Australasia':

"And grant that yet an Austral Milton's song, Pactolus-like, flow deep and rich along, An Austral Shakespeare rise, whose living page To Nature true may charm in every age; And that an Austral Pindar daring soar, Where not the Theban Eagle reach'd before."

1825. Barron Field, `First Fruits of Australian Poetry,' Motto in Geographical Memoir of New South Wales, p. 485:

"I first adventure. Follow me who list; And be the second Austral harmonist."

Adapted from Bishop Hall.

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 184:

"For this, midst Austral wilds I waken Our British harp, feel whence I come, Queen of the sea, too long forsaken, Queen of the soul, my spirit's home."--Alien Song.

1855. W. Howitt, `Two Years in Victoria,' vol. i. p. 43:

"Every servant in this Austral Utopia thinks himself a gentleman."

1868. C. Harpur, `Poems' (ed. 1883), p. 215:

"How oft, in Austral woods, the parting day Has gone through western golden gates away."