cabbage-tree mob

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

and Cabbagites


obsolete Australian slang for modern Larrikins (q.v)., becausewearing cabbage-tree hats.

1852. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes `(edition 1855), p. 17:

«There are to be found round the doors of the Sydney Theatre asort of `loafers' known as the Cabbage-tree mob, – – aclass who, in the spirit of the ancient tyrant, one mightexcusably wish had but one nose in order to make it a bloodyone. . . . Unaware of the propensities of the cabbagites hewas by them furiously assailed.»

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