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

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. ii. c. iv. p. 132:

"Black wattle . . . indication of good soil . . . produce gum."

1850. J. B. Clutterbuck, `Port Phillip in 1849.' p. 32:

"Few, indeed, of the native Australian flowers emit any perfume except the golden and silver wattle (the <i>Mimosae</i> tribe): these charm the senses, and fully realize the description we read of in the `Arabian Nights' Entertainments' of those exotics, the balmy perfume of which is exhaled far and near."

1860. G. Bennett, `Gatherings of a Naturalist,' p. 337:

"These trees were termed `Wattles,' from being used, in the early days of the colony, for forming a network or wattling of the supple twigs for the reception of the plaster in the partitions of the houses."

1862. W. Archer, `Products of Tasmania,' p. 40:

"Silver Wattle (<i>Acacia dealbata</i>, Lindl.), so called from the whiteness of the trunk and the silvery green of the foliage."

1862. G. T. Lloyd, `Twenty-three Years in Tasmania and Victoria,' p. 33:

"The mimosa, or wattle, . . . ushers in the Spring with its countless acres of charming and luxuriant yellow and highly scented blossom . . . The tanning properties of its bark are nearly equal in value to those of the English oak."