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

1870. S. Lemaitre, `Songs of Goldfields,' p. 14:

"He ran from the flat with an awful shout
Without waiting to fossick the coffin lid out."

1890. `The Argus,' Aug. 2, p. 4, col. 3:

"Half the time was spent in fossicking for sticks."

1891. `The Argus,' Dec. 19, p. 4, col. 2:

"I was . . . a boy fossicking for birds' nests in the gullies."

1893. `The Australasian,' Jan. 14:

"The dog was fossicking about."

<hw>Fossicker</hw>, <i>n.</i> one who fossicks, sc. works among the tailings of old gold-mines for what may be left.

1853. C. Rudston Read, `What I heard, saw, and did at the Australian Gold Fields,' p. 150: