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 - Edward Ellis Morris

1846. J. Lindley, `Vegetable Kingdom,' p. 128 [Stanford]:

"Whole fields of Colocasia macrorhyza are cultivated in the South Sea Islands under the name tara or kopeh roots."

1872. A. Domett, `Ranolf,' p. 374:

"Many a bed,
That late in such luxurious neatness spread,
Of melons, maize and taro—now a wreck."

1878. Lady Brassey, `Voyage in the Sunbeam,' p. 263:

"A good-looking man was busy broiling beef-steaks, stewing chickens and boiling taro, and we had soon a plentiful repast set before us."

<hw>Tarsipes</hw>, n. the scientific generic name of the Tait (q.v.).

<hw>Tarwhine</hw>, n. an Australian fish, Chrysophrys sarba, Forsk. See Black-Bream. It is somewhat difficult to distinguish the fish from its close relation the Black-Bream, Chrysophrys australis, Gunth. Both are excellent food, and frequently abundant in brackish waters.

<hw>Tar-wood</hw>, n. name given by the Otago bushmen to the tree Darrydium colensoi, Hook.; Maori name, Manoao (q.v.). (Kirk, `Forest Flora,' p. 189.)

<hw>Tasmania</hw>, n. island and colony, formerly called Van Diemen's Land. The new name, from that of the Dutch navigator, Abel Jansen Tasman, was officially adopted in 1853, when the system of transportation ceased. The first quotations show it was in popular use much earlier.