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

1837. J. D. Lang, `New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 31

"The assigned servant of a respectable Scotch family residing near Sydney."

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 75:

"Of the first five persons we saw to Van Diemen's Land, four were convicts, and perhaps the fifth. These were the assigned servants of the pilot."

1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 324:

"Under the old practice, the convicts, as soon as they arrived from Britain, were assigned among the various applicants. The servant thus assigned was bound to perform diligently, from sunrise till sunset, all usual and reasonable labour."

<hw>Assignee</hw>, <i>n</i>. a convict assigned as a servant. The word is also used in its ordinary English sense.

1843. `Penny Cyclopaedia,' vol. xxv. p. 139, col. 2:

"It is comparatively difficult to obtain another assignee,—easy to obtain a hired servant."

1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 324: