cobbra

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

n.


aboriginal word for head, skull.[ Kabura or Kobbera, with such variations asKobra, Kobbera, Kappara, Kopul, from Malay Kapala, head: one ofthe words on the East Coast manifestly of Malayorigin. – – J. Mathew. Much used in pigeon converse withblacks. `Goodway cobra tree' = `Tree very tall.'] Collins,`Port Jackson Vocabulary,' 1798 (p. 611), gives `Kabura,ca-ber-ra.' Mount Cobberas in East Gippsland has its name fromhuge head-like masses of rock which rise from the summit.

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 31:

«The black fellow who lives in the bush bestows but smallattention on his cobra, as the head is usually called in thepigeon-English which they employ.»

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Colonial Reformer,' c. xiii. p. 134:

«I should be cock-sure that having an empty cobbra, as theblacks say, was on the main track that led to the grog-camp.»