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

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 111:

"The stockman came suddenly on a mob of nearly thirty horses, feeding up a pleasant valley."

Of <i>Kangaroos</i>—

1846. G. H. Haydon, `Five Years in Australia Felix,' p. 59:

"The `old men' are always the largest and strongest in the flock, or in colonial language `mob.'"

1864. `Once a Week,' Dec. 31, p. 45, `The Bulla Bulla Bunyip':

"About a mile outside the town a four-rail fence skirted the rough track we followed. It enclosed a lucerne paddock. Over the grey rails, as we approached, came bounding a mob of kangaroos, headed by a gigantic perfectly white `old man,' which glimmered ghostly in the moonlight."

Of <i>Ducks</i>—

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia, p. 99:

"They [the ducks] all came in twos and threes, and small mobs."