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

[Mr. Fraser's etymology is regarded as far-fetched.]

(2) The song that accompanied the dance.

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 323:

"I feared he might imagine we were afraid of his incantations, for he sang most lamentable corroborris."

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 68:

". . . listen to the new corroborree. Great numbers arrive; the corroborree is danced night after night with the utmost enthusiasm. . . .These corroborrees travel for many hundreds of miles from the place where they originated. . . .These composers [of song and dance] pretend that the Spirit of Evil originally manufactured their corroborree."

1889. Rev. J. H. Zillman, `Australian Life,' p. 132:

"The story was a grand joke among the blacks for many a day. It became, no doubt, the theme for a `corroberee,' and Tommy was always after a hero amongst his countrymen."

(3) By transference, any large social gathering or public meeting.

1892. `Saturday Review,' Feb.' 13, p. 168, col. 2: