Austral English / A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia

by Edward Ellis Morris

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' c. xx. p. 312:

"Trees to be `rung.' The ringing of trees consists of cutting the bark through all round, so that the tree cease to suck up the strength of the earth for its nutrition, and shall die."

1883. E. M. Curr, `Recollections of Squatting in Victoria' (1841-1851), p. 81:

"Altogether, fences and tree-ringing have not improved the scene."

1889. Cassell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol. iv. p. 58:

"The trees are `rung,' that there may be more pasture for the sheep and cattle."

(2) To make cattle move in a circle. [Though specifically used of cattle in Australia, the word has a similar use in England as in Tennyson's `Geraint and Enid'

. . . "My followers ring him round:
He sits unarmed."—Line 336.]

1874. W. H. Ranken, `Dominion of Australia,' c. vi. p. 111:

"They are generally `ringed,' that is, their galop is directed into a circular course by the men surrounding them."