"As a barbarism, `hillimung-a shield.'"
[A barbarism means with Mr. Threlkeld little more than "not belonging to the Hunter district.">[
1839. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia,' vol. ii. p. 349:
"There is much originality in the shield or hieleman of these people. It is merely a piece of wood, of little thickness, and two feet, eight inches long, tapering to each end, cut to an edge outwards, and having a handle or hole in the middle, behind the thickest part."
1852. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes' (edition 1355), p. 102:
"The hieleman or shield is a piece of wood, about two and a half feet long, tapering to the ends, with a bevelled face not more than four inches wide at the broadest part, behind which the left hand passing through a hole is perfectly guarded."
1865. S. Bennett, `Australian Discovery,' p. 251:
"Hieleman, a shield. Saxon, heilan; English, helm or helmet (a little shield for the head)."
[This is a remarkable contribution to philological lore. In no dictionary is the Saxon "heilan" to be found, and a misprint may charitably be suspected. There is no doubt that the <i>h</i> is an English Cockney addition to the aboriginal word. It would need an ingenious fancy to connect "e-leemong" with "helm.">[
1873. J. B. Stephens, `Black Gin, etc.,' p. 26: