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

"Casuarinaceae,or Beefwoods. Curious branching, leafless trees or shrubs, with timber of a high order, which is both hard and heavy, and of the colour of raw beef, whence the vulgar name."

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants.' (See `Index of vernacular names.')

<hw>Belar</hw>, <i>n</i>. (various spellings, <i>Belah, billa, beela, beal</i>), an aboriginal name for the tree <i>Casuarina glauca</i>. The colonists call the tree Bull-oak, probably from this native name.

1862. H. C. Kendall, `Poems,' p. 18:

"A voice in the beela grows wild in its wail."

1868. J. A. B., `Meta,' p. 19:

"With heartfelt glee we hail the camp,
And blazing fire of beal."

[Footnote]: "Aboriginal name of the gum-tree wood."

1874. W. H. L. Ranken, `Dominion of Australia,' c. vi. p. 110:

"These scrubs . . . sometimes crown the watersheds as `belar.'"