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

1868. Carleton, `Australian Nights,' p. 2:

"The mia-mia that the native dark
Had formed from sheets of stringy bark."

1873. T. Laslett, `Timber and Timber Trees,' p. 204:

"The Stringy-bark tree is of straight growth, and takes its name from the strip-like character of its bark. . . . The wood is of a brown colour, hard, heavy, strong and close in the grain. It works up well . . . in ship-building, for planking, beams, keels and keelsons, and in civil architecture for joists, flooring, etc. Upon the farms it is used for fences and agricultural implements: it is also employed for furniture and for all ordinary purposes."

1880. Fison and Howitt, `Kamilaroi and Kurnai,' p. 196:

"Down to the waist they are all wound round with frayed stringy-bark in thick folds."

1894. `The Age,' Oct. 19, p. 5, col. 8:

"Granite and stringy-bark are always associated with `hungry' country."

(2) Bush slang for bad whisky.

1890. A. J. Vogan, `The Black Police,' p. 217: