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

<hw>Winter Cherry</hw>, n. See Balloon Vine.

<hw>Winter Country</hw>, in New Zealand (South Island), land so far unaffected by snow that stock is wintered on it.

<hw>Wire-grass</hw>, and <hw>Wiry-grass</hw>. See Grass.

1883. E. M. Curr, `Recollections of Squatting in Victoria' (1841-1851), p. 81:

"Sparsely-scattered tussocks of the primest descriptions; the wire-grass, however, largely predominating over the kangaroo-grass."

<hw>Wirrah</hw>, n. aboriginal name for a fish of New South Wales, Plectropoma ocellatum, Gunth.

1884. E. P. Ramsav. `Fisheries Exhibition Literature,' vol. v. p. 311:

"Another of the Percidae . . . the wirrah of the fishermen, is more plentiful. It is when first caught a handsome fish, of a pale olive-brown or olive-green colour, with numerous bright blue dots on spots of a lighter tint."

<hw>Witchetty</hw>, n. native name for the grub-like larva of one or more species of longicorn beetles. The natives dig it out of the roots of shrubs, decaying timber and earth, in which it lives, and eat it with relish. It is sometimes even roasted and eaten by white children.

1894. R. Lydekker, `Marsupialia,' p. 191: