Australia Literature and Language

Australians speak English because the first Europeans to settle the continent were the British.

The Australian English word for "hello" is simply "hello". Australians speak 'normal' English.

The casual way of greeting between friends is "G'day".

Waltzing Matilda tells the story of a swagman who camps by a billabong (waterhole). While he's there, a jumbuck (ram) comes down to take a drink at the billabong. The swagman swipes the jumbuck, shoving it in his swag, whereupon the troopers (police) appear to arrest him. To evade arrest, he jumps into the billabong, whereupon he drowns. "And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong..."

Feutre and stylo-feutre are French equivalents of the Australian English word "texta." The respective pronunciation of the masculine singular nouns -- which also translate as "felt-tipped pen," "marker," and "marking pen" elsewhere in the English-speaking world -- will be "fuht" and "stee-lo-fuht" in northerly French and "fuh-truh" and "stee-lo-fuh-truh" in southerly French.

A shearers' strike was occurring at the time of the writing of Waltzing Matilda, on Dagworth sheep station north of Winton.

Sheila

The Australian slang term for girls or women is sheila.

The words "love you" are perfectly adequate.

Fair weather. Someone who will be around as long as things are nice and easy but if things get rough, they will bail on you.

A Bunch of Roses

A Bush Christening

A Singer of the Bush

A Triolet

A Walgett Episode

Any Other Time

As Long as your Eyes are Blue

At The Melting of the Snow

Australian Scenery

A Walgett Episode

Been There Before

Benjamin Bandicoot

Black Swans

Boots

Clancy of the Overflow

Father Riley's Horse

Flying Squirrels

High Explosive

How Gilbert Died

In the Droving Days

Jimmy Dooley's Army

Johnson's Antidote

Last Week

Lost

Morgan's Dog

Moving On

Mulga Bill's Bicycle

Old Man Platypus

Old Pardon The Son Of Reprieve

Our Own Flag

Over the Range

Pioneers

Prelude

Queensland Mounted Infantry

Shearing with a Hoe

Song of Murray's Brigade

Song of the Federation

Song of the Pen

Sunrise on the Coast

The Bottle-Oh Man

The Geebung Polo Club

The Flying Gang

The Last Parade

The Lay of the Motor Car

The Man from Ironbark

The Man from Snowy River

The Man who was Away

The Old Australian Ways

The Old Tin Hat

The Reverend Mullineux

The Riders in the Stand

The Road to Old Man's Town

The Uplift

The Weather Prophet

Those Names

To George Lambert

Tom Collins

Unforgotten

Waltzing Matilda

Weary Will

With the Cattle

We're All Australians Now

A Pound was the major unit of Australian currency prior to it being replaced by the Australian Dollar on the 14th of February, 1966.

A Pound was also an ancient unit of weight measurement consisting of 16 ounces prior to Australia adopting a metric system of weights and measures based on the gram.

Pound is also a verb meaning to strike heavily or pulverise.

Although there are many variant spellings of names, "Charlotte" should do it for anybody whose name is spelled "Charlotte".

The term yobbo is Australian slang for an uncultivated person.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal died on September 16, 1993 at the age of 72.

Ashley Lawson is an awesome person who won five Grammy this year.

The 'Old One' is in reference to the timeless watcher, the enigmatic creator and the world as the author knew it. She wonders how the change in people will affect the change in the world she knows. Most importantly, she wonders if she can continue to grow her understanding with the change. Or so it appears..

"Carn" is Australian slang for come on.

In the 1982 Australian movie, The Man from Snowy River, Australian actor Tom Burlinson played the title role of Jim Craig.

The movie is based on the poem by Andrew Barton (Banjo) Paterson, a highly evocative work full of the sound and drama of galloping horses, just made to be read aloud, though like all good writing its feel is gripping simply read silently.

'The Man' isn't named in the poem, but simply described as a lad, a stripling, mountain-bred like his horse, from Snowy River on Mount Kosiusko.

I've heard many claims to know, know of, or be related to, the actual character on whom Banjo Paterson based his poem, but there seems little proof of the lad's existence outside Paterson's glorious imagination. Everyone involved, from horses to poet, is long dead, so those who wish can let their own imagination run free among the flying flint stones.

There are two characters named: Harrison, the 'old man with hair as white as snow', a rider with a fearsome reputation. Clancy of the Overflow, a drover and the other named character, shared Harrison's reputation for horsemanship; the poem says Clancy wouldn't be thrown from any horse as long as the saddle could stay girthed.

The owner of the colt which has somehow got free from Old Regret isn't named, but the young horse is described as extremely valuable.

Harrison forbids the lad to take his horse out to the chase with the crack horsemen, and nobody speaks up for the boy until Clancy persuades Harrison to let him ride.

I won't spoil the ending for you. You can read the whole poem at the link below:

Storm

"Barbie" is an abbreviation of barbeque (BBQ).

Practical application: "Throw another prawn on the barbie."

"Goodbye" should do it most of the time.

If you are feeling a little adventurous, you could try the Australian vernacular, "See ya later", "oo-roo" or "ta ta".

YES!

Banjo Paterson went to sydney grammar school but before that he had home school with the government