dead-wood fence

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

n.


The Australian fence, socalled, is very different from the fence of the same name inEngland. It is high and big, built of fallen timber, logsand branches. Though still used in Australia for fencing runs,it is now usually superseded by wire fences.

1852. Mrs. Meredith, `My Home in Tasmania,' vol. i. p. 157:

«A `dead-wood fence,' that is, a mass of timber four or fivefeet thick, and five or six high, the lower part being formedof the enormous trunks of trees, cut into logs six or eightfeet long, laid side by side, and the upper portion consistingof the smaller branches skilfully laid over, or stuck down andtwisted.»

1872. G. Baden-Powell, `New Homes for the Old Country,' p. 207:

«A very common fence is built by felling trees round the spaceto be enclosed, and then with their stems as a foundation,working up with the branches, a fence of a desirable height.»

Related Words