Australian slang. To peacock apiece of country means to pick out the eyes of the land by selecting or buying up the choicepieces and water-frontages, so that the adjoining territory ispractically useless to any one else.
1894. W. Epps, `Land Systems of Australasia,' p. 28:
«When the immediate advent of selectors to a run becameprobable, the lessees endeavoured to circumvent them bydummying all the positions which offered the best means ofblocking the selectors from getting to water. This system,commonly known as `peacocking' . . .»