belar

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris

n.


(various spellings, Belah, billa, beela, beal), an aboriginal name for the tree Casuarinaglauca. The colonists call the tree Bull-oak, probablyfrom this native name.

1862. H. C. Kendall, `Poems,' p. 18:

«A voice in the beela grows wild in its wail.»

1868. J. A. B., `Meta,' p. 19:

«With heartfelt glee we hail the camp,

And blazing fire of beal.»

[Footnote]: «Aboriginal name of the gum-tree wood.»

1874. W. H. L. Ranken, `Dominion of Australia,' c. vi. p. 110:

«These scrubs . . . sometimes crown the watersheds as `belar.'»