larrikin: anything from a disrespectful young man to a violent member of a gang (“push”). Was considered a major social problem in Sydney of the 1880’s to 1900. The Bulletin, a magazine in which much of Lawson was published, spoke of the “aggressive, soft-hatted “stoush brigade”. Anyone today who is disrespectful of authority or convention is said to show the larrikin element in the Australian character.
larrikiness: jocular feminine form
leather-jacket: kind of pancake (more often a fish, these days)
lucerne: cattle feed-a leguminous plant, alfalfa in US
lumper: labourer; esp. on wharves?
mallee: dwarfed eucalyptus trees growing in very poor soil and under harsh rainfall conditions. Usually many stems emerging from the ground, creating a low thicket.
Maoriland: Lawson’s name for New Zealand
marine, dead: see ‘dead marine’
mooching: wandering idly, not going anywhere in particular
mug: gullible person, a con-man’s ‘mark’ (potential victim)