<hw>Mersey Jolly-tail</hw>, <i>n</i>. See <i>Jolly-tail</i>.
<hw>Message-stick</hw>, <i>n</i>. The aboriginals sometimes carve little blocks of wood with various marks to convey messages. These are called by the whites, <i>message-sticks</i>.
<hw>Messmate</hw>, <i>n</i>. name given to one of the Gum-trees, <i>Eucalyptus amygdalina</i>, Labill., and often to other species of Eucalypts, especially <i>E. obliqua</i>, L'Herit. For origin of this curious name, see quotation, 1889.
1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 429:
"It is also known by the name of `Messmate,' because it is allied to, or associated with, <i>Stringy-bark</i>. This is probably the tallest tree on the globe, individuals having been measured up to 400 ft., 410 ft., and in one case 420 ft., with the length of the stem up to the first branch 295 ft. The height of a tree at Mt. Baw Baw (Victoria) is quoted at 471 ft."
1890. `The Argus,' June 7, p. 13, col1. 4:
"Away to the north-east a wooded range of mountains rolls along the skyline, ragged rents showing here and there where the dead messmates and white gums rise like gaunt skeletons from the dusky brown-green mass into which distance tones the bracken and the underwood."
<hw>Mia-mia</hw>, <i>n</i>. an aboriginal hut. The word is aboriginal, and has been spelt variously. <i>Mia-mia</i> is the most approved spelling, <i>mi-mi</i> the most approved pronunciation. See <i>Humpy</i>.
1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 103:
"There she stood in a perfect state of nudity, a little way from the road, by her miam, smiling, or rather grimacing."