poddy-(calf): a calf separated from its mother but still needing milk
rouseabout: labourer in a (sheep) shearing shed. Considered to be, as far as any work is, unskilled labour.
sawney: silly, gormless
selector: small farmer who under the “Selection Act (Alienation of Land Act”, Sydney 1862 could settle on a few acres of land and farm it, with hope of buying it. As the land had been leased by “squatters” to run sheep, they were NOT popular. The land was usually pretty poor, and there was little transport to get food to market, many, many failed. (The same mistake was made after WWI when returned soldiers were given land to starve on.)
shanty: besides common meaning of shack it refers to an unofficial (and illegal) grog-shop; in contrast to the legal ‘pub’.
spieler: con artist
sliprails: in lieu of a gate, the rails of a fence may be loosely socketed into posts, so that they may ‘let down’ (i.e. one end pushed in socket, the other end resting on the ground). See ‘A Day on a Selection’
spree: prolonged drinking bout—days, weeks.
stoush: a fight
strike: perhaps the Shearers’ strike in Barcaldine, Queensland, 1891 [gjc]