n.
an aboriginal word. (1) Name givento various species of Acacia, but especially A. aneura,F. v. M., N.0. Leguminosae. See also Red Mulga.
1864. J. McDouall Stuart, `Explorations in Australia,'p. 154:
«We arrived at the foot nearly naked, and got into open sandyrises and valleys, with mulga and plenty of grass, amongstwhich there is some spinifex growing.»
1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discoveryand Exploration of Australia,' vol. ii. p. 126, Note:
«Mulga is an Acacia. It grows in thick bushes, with thin twigsand small leaves. Probably it is the most extensivelydistributed tree in all Australia. It extends right acrossthe continent.»
1888. Baron F. von Mueller, `Select Extra-tropical Plants'[7th ed.], p. 1:
«Acacia aneura, F. v. M. Arid desert interior of extra-tropicAustralia. A tree never more than 25 feet high. The principal`Mulga' tree. . . . Cattle and sheep browse on the twigs ofthis and some allied species, even in the presence of plentifulgrass, and are much sustained by such acacias in seasons ofprotracted drought.»
1892. Gilbert Parker, `Round the Compass in Australia,'p. 43:
«Not a drop of rain! And for many and many a day the jackaroowill still chop down the limbs of the mulga-tree, that of itstonic leaves the sheep may eat and live.»
1894. `The Argus,' Sept. 1, p. 4, col. 2:
«The dull green of the mulga-scrub at their base.»
1896. H. Lawson, `When the World was Wide,' p. 85:
«Flax and tussock and fern,
Gum and mulga and sand,
Reef and palm – – but my fancies turn
Ever away from land.»
2) A weapon, made of mulgawood.
(a) A shield.
1878. `Catalogue of Ethnotypical Art in the National Gallery'(Melbourne), p. 19:
« Mulga. Victoria. Thirty-six inches in length. Thisspecimen is 37 inches in length and 5 inches in breadth at thebroadest part. The form of a section through the middle isnearly triangular. The aperture for the hand (cut in the solidwood) is less than 4 inches in length. Ornamentation:Herring-bone, the incised lines being filled in with whiteclay. Some figures of an irregular form are probably thedistinguishing marks of the owner's tribe. This shield wasobtained from Larne-Gherin in the Western District.»
1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 349:
«Mulga is the name of a long narrow shield of wood,made by the aboriginals out of acacia-wood.»
(b) In one place Sir Thomas Mitchell speaks of it as a club.
1839. T. L. Mitchell, `Three Expeditions,' vol. ii. p. 267:
«The malga [sic] . . . with which these natives wereprovided, somewhat resembled a pick-axe with one half brokenoff.»