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

1892. Gilbert Parker, `Round the Compass in Australia,' p. 298:

"Thus, it is maintained by the planters, the kanaka, necessary as he is to the conditions of North Queensland, opens up avenues of skilled labour for the European, and makes population and commerce possible where otherwise there would be complete stagnation."

2892. `The Times,' Dec. 28:

"The principal open-air labour of the sugar plantations is furnished by kanakas, who are the native inhabitants of certain groups of South Sea Islands not at present under the protection of any European flag."

1893. R. L. Stevenson, `Island Night's Entertainments,' p. 41:

"What we want is a man-of-war—a German, if we could—they know how to manage kanakas."

1893. Rudyard Kipling, `Banjo Song':

"We've shouted on seven-ounce nuggets,
We've starved on a kanaka's pay."

1893. C. H. Pearson, `National Life and Character,' p.32:

"In Australasia . . . the Maori, the Kanaka, and the Papuan are dying out. We cannot close our eyes to the fact that certain weak races—even when, like the kanaka, they possess some very high qualities—seem to wither away at mere contact with the European. . . . The kanakas (among whom we may include the Maories)."