"The name bumarang has always hitherto been written boomerang; but, considered etymologically, that is wrong, for the root of it is buma—strike, fight, kill; and -ara, -arai, -arang, are all of them common formative terminations."
1893. `The Argus,' July 1, p. 8, col. 7:
"`I tell you, sir,' said Mr. Healy at an Irish political meeting, `that there are at the present moment crystallizing in this city precedents which will some day come home to roost like a boomerang.'"
<hw>Boongary</hw>, <i>n</i>. the tree-kangaroo of North Queensland, a marsupial tree-climber, about the size of a large wallaby, <i>Dendrolagus lumholtzii</i>, Collett. A native name. <i>Bangaray</i> = Red Kangaroo, in Governor Hunter's vocabulary of the Port Jackson dialect (1793).
1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 226:
"The tree-kangaroo is without comparison a better-proportioned animal than the common kangaroo. The fore-feet, which are nearly as perfectly developed as the hind-feet, have large crooked claws, while the hind-feet are somewhat like those of a kangaroo, though not so powerful. The sole of the foot is somewhat broader and more elastic on account of a thick layer of fat under the skin. In soft ground its footprints are very similar to those of a child. The ears are small and erect, and the tail is as long as the body of the animal. The skin is tough, and the fur is very strong and beautiful. . . . Upon the whole the boongary is the most beautiful mammal I have seen in Australia. It is a marsupial, and goes out only in the night. During the day it sleeps in the trees, and feeds on the leaves."
<hw>Bora</hw>, <i>n</i>. a rite amongst the aborigines of eastern Australia; the ceremony of admitting a young black to the rights of manhood. Aboriginal word.
The word <i>bur</i>, given by Ridley, means not only girdle but `circle.' In the man-making ceremonies a large circle is made on the ground, where the ceremonies take place.
1875. W. Ridley, `Kamilaroi,' p. 24:
"Girdle—bor or bur. Hence Bora, the ceremony of initiation into manhood, where the candidate is invested with the belt of manhood."