peacocking

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

vb. n.


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' . . .»