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

"Where the kangaroo gave hops,
The old man fleetest of the fleet."

1893. `The Times,' [Reprint] `Letters from Queensland,' p. 66:

"The animals, like the timber, too, are strange. Kangaroo and wallaby are as fond of grass as the sheep, and after a pelican's yawn there are few things funnier to witness than the career of an `old man' kangaroo, with his harem after him, when the approach of a buggy disturbs the family at their afternoon meal. Away they go, the little ones cantering briskly, he in a shaggy gallop, with his long tail stuck out for a balance, and a perpetual see-saw maintained between it and his short front paws, while the hind legs act as a mighty spring under the whole construction. The side and the back view remind you of a big St. Bernard dog, the front view of a rat. You begin an internal debate as to which he most resembles, and in the middle of it you find that he is sitting up on his haunches, which gives him a secure height of from five to six feet, and is gravely considering you with the air of the old man he is named from."

Old-Man, adj. large, or bigger than usual. Compare the next two words.

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 233:

"I stared at a man one day for saying that a certain allotment of land was `an old-man allotment': he meant a large allotment, the old-man kangaroo being the largest kangaroo."

1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 7:

"Who that has ridden across the Old-Man Plain . . ."

<hw>Old-Man Fern</hw>, a Bush-name in Tasmania for the Tree-fern (q.v.).

<Mhw>Old-Man Salt-Bush</hw>, Atriplex nummularium, Lindl. See Salt-Bush.