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

<hw>Mullet</hw>, <i>n</i>. Various species of this fish are present in Australasia, all belonging to the family <i>Mugilidae</i>, or Grey-Mullets. They are the—

Flat-tail Mullet—
<i>Mugil peronii</i>, Cuv. and Val.

Hard-gut M.—
<i>M. dobula</i>, Gunth.

Sand-M., or Talleygalanu— <i>Myxus elongatus</i>, Gunth. (called also <i>Poddy</i> in Victoria).

Sea-M.— <i>M. grandis</i>, Castln.

In New Zealand, the Mullet is <i>Mugil perusii</i>, called the Silver-Mullet (Maori name, <i>Kanae</i>); and the Sea-Mullet, <i>Agonostoma forsteri</i> (Maori name, <i>Aua</i>, q.v.); abundant also in Tasmanian estuaries.

The Sand-Mullet in Tasmania is <i>Mugil cephalotus</i>,
Cuv. and Val. See also <i>Red-Mullet</i>.

1890. `Victorian Statutes—Fisheries Act, Second Schedule':

[Close Season.] "Sand-mullet or poddies."

<hw>Mullock</hw>, <i>n</i>. In English, the word is obsolete; it was used by Chaucer in the sense of refuse, dirt. In Australia, it is confined to" `rubbish, dirt, stuff taken out of a mine—the refuse after the vein-stuff is taken away' (Brough Smyth's `Glossary')."