"The dogs gather round a `boomer' they've got."
1872. Mrs. E. Millett, `An Australian Parsonage,' p. 195:
"A tall old <i>Booma</i>, as the natives call the male kangaroo, can bring his head on a level with the face of a man on horseback. . . . A kangaroo's feet are, in fact, his weapons of defence with which, when he is brought to bay, he tears his antagonists the dogs most dreadfully, and instances are not wanting of even men having been killed by a large old male. No doubt this peculiar method of disposing of his enemies has earned him the name of <i>Booma</i>, which in the native language signifies to strike."
1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 16:
"As he plunged into the yellow waters, the dogs were once more by his side, and again the `boomer' wheeled, and backed against one of the big trees that stud these hollows."
Applied generally to something very large.
1885. `Australasian Printers' Keepsake,' p. 76:
"When the shades of evening come,
I choose a boomer of a gum."
<hw>Boomerang</hw>, <i>n</i>. a weapon of the Australian aborigines, described in the quotations. The origin of the word is by no means certain. One explanation is that of Mr. Fraser in quotation, 1892. There may perhaps be an etymological connection with the name <i>woomera</i> (q.v.), which is a different weapon, being a throwing stick, that is, an instrument with which to throw spears, whilst the <i>boomerang</i> is itself thrown; but the idea of throwing is common to both. In many parts the word is pronounced by the blacks bummerang. Others connect it with the aboriginal word for "wind," which at Hunter River was <i>burramaronga</i>, also <i>boomori</i>. In New South Wales and South Queensland there is a close correspondence between the terms for wind and boomerang.
1827. Captain P. P. King, `Survey of Intertropical and West Coasts of Australia,' vol. i. p. 355: