a station-hand put on to anywork, a Jack of all work, an `odd man.' The form `roustabout'is sometimes used, but the latter is rather an American word(Western States), in the sense of a labourer on a river boat, adeck-hand who assists in loading and unloading.
1887. J. Farrell, `How he died,' p. 19:
«It may be the rouseabout swiper who rode for the doctor that night,
Is in Heaven with the hosts of the Blest, robed and sceptred, and splendid with light.»
18W. `The Argus,' Sept. 20, p. 13, col. 6:
«The `rouseabouts' are another class of men engaged in shearingtime, whose work is to draft the sheep, fill the pens for theshearers, and do the branding. . . . The shearers hold themselvesas the aristocrats of the shed; and never associate with therouseabouts.»
1892. Gilbert Parker, `Round the Compass in Australia,' p. 58:
«While we sat there, a rouseabout came to the door. `MountainJim's back,' he said. There was no `sir' in the remark ofthis lowest of stationhands to his master.»
1894. `Sydney Morning Herald' (date lost):
«A rougher person – – perhaps a happier – – is the rouseabout, whomakes himself useful in the shearing shed. He is clearly a manof action. He is sometimes with less elegance, and one wouldsay less correctly, spoken of as a roustabout.»
1896. H. Lawson, `When the World was Wide,' p. 98 [Title ofpoem, `Middleton's Rouseabout']:
«Flourishing beard and sandy,
Tall and robust and stout;
This is the picture of Andy,
Middleton's Rouseabout.»