brigalow

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

n. and adj.


Spellings various.Native name, Buriargalah. In the Namoi dialect in NewSouth Wales, Bri or Buri is the name for Acacia pendula, Cunn.; Buriagal, relating to the buri; Buriagalah == place of the buri tree. Anyone of several species of Acacia, especially A. harpophylla, F. v. M., H.O. Leguminosae. J. H.Maiden (`Useful Native Plants,' p. 356, 1889) gives its usesthus:

«Wood brown, hard, heavy, and elastic; used by the natives forspears, boomerangs, and clubs. The wood splits freely, and isused for fancy turnery. Saplings used as stakes in vineyardshave lasted twenty years or more. It is used for buildingpurposes, and has a strong odour of violets.'

1846. L. Leichhardt, quoted by J. D. Lang, `Cooksland,'p. 312:

«Almost impassable bricklow scrub, so called from the bricklow(a species of acacia).»

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 4:

«The Bricklow Acacia, which seems to be identical with theRosewood Acacia of Moreton Bay; the latter, however, is a finetree, 50 to 60 feet high, whereas the former is either a smalltree or a shrub. I could not satisfactorily ascertain theorigin of the word Bricklow, but as it is well understood andgenerally adopted by all the squatters between the Severn Riverand the Boyne, I shall make use of the name. Its long,slightly falcate leaves, being of a silvery green colour, givea peculiar character to the forest, where the treeabounds.» – – [Footnote]: « Brigaloe Gould.»

1862. H. C. Kendall, `Poems,' p. 79:

«Good-bye to the Barwan and brigalow scrubs.»

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 190:

«Now they pass through a small patch of Brigalow scrub. Someone has split a piece from a trunk of a small tree. What ascent the dark-grained wood has!»

1889. Cassell's `Picturesque Australasia;' vol. iv. p. 69:

«There exudes from the Brigalow a white gum, in outwardappearance like gum-arabic, and even clearer, but as a`sticker' valueless, and as a `chew-gum' disappointing.»

1892. Gilbert Parker, `Round the Compass in Australia,' p. 23:

«The glare of a hard and pitiless sky overhead, the infinitevista of saltbush, brigalow, stay-a-while, and mulga, thecreeks only stretches of stone, and no shelter from theshadeless gums.»