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 - Edward Ellis Morris

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 175:

"But, Yarra, thou art lovelier now,
With clouds of bloom on every bough;
A gladsome sight it is to see,
In blossom thy mimosa tree.
Like golden-moonlight doth it seem,
The moonlight of a heavenly dream;
A sunset lustre, chaste and cold,
A pearly splendour blent with gold."

"To the River Yarra."

1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 255:

"The other exports of Australia Felix consist chiefly of tallow, cured beef and mutton, wheat, mimosa-bark, and gumwood."

1849. J. P. Townsend, `Rambles in New South Wales,' p. 34:

"The mimosa—although it sadly chokes the country—when in flower, fills the air with fragrance. Its bark is much used for tanning purposes; and the gum that exudes from the stem is of some value as an export, and is used by the blacks as food."

1870. F. S. Wilson, `Australian Songs,' p. 29:

"I have sat, and watched the landscape, latticed by the golden
curls,
Showering, like mimosa-blooms, in scented streams about my
breast."

<hw>Minah</hw>, n. (also <hw>Myna</hw>, <hw>Mina</hw>, and <hw>Minah-bird</hw>, and the characteristic Australian change of <hw>Miner</hw>). From Hindustani maina, a starling. The word is originally applied in India to various birds of the Starling kind, especially to Graculus religiosa, a talking starling or grackle. One of these Indian grackles, Acridotheres tristis, was acclimatised in Melbourne, and is now common to the house-tops of most Australian towns. He is not Australian, but is the bird generally referred to as the Minah, or Minah- bird. There are Minahs native to Australia, of which the species are—