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

"It was more horrible to see the drowning, or just drowned, huddled-up `mob' (as sheep en masse are technically called) which had made the dusky patch we noticed from the hill."

1875. `Spectator' (Melbourne), May 22, p. 34, col. 2:

"A mob of sheep has been sold at Belfast at 1s. 10d. per head."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `A Colonial Reformer,' p. 83

"The army of sheep—about thirty thousand in fifteen flocks— at length reached the valley before dark, and the overseer, pointing to a flock of two thousand, more or less, said, `There's your mob.'"

Of <i>Horses</i>—

1865. Lady Barker, `Station Life in New Zealand,' p. 27:

"All the animals to make friends with, mobs of horses to look at."

1879. W. J. Barry, `Up and Down,' p. 197:

"I purchased a mob of horses for the Dunstan market."