stringy-bark

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

I.


n.

1) any one of various Gums, with a tough fibrous bark used for tying,for cordage, for roofs of huts, etc.

1845. J. O. Balfour, `Sketch of New South Wales,' p. 37:

«The string bark [sic] tree is also useful, and its bark, whichis of a fibrous texture, often more than an inch in thickness,parts easily from the wood, and may be obtained ten or twelvefeet in length, and seven or eight in breadth.»

1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 73:

«The natives appear also to like the fruit of the pandanus,of which large quantities are found in their camps, soakingin water contained in vessels formed of stringy-bark.»

1850. J. B. Clutterbuck, `Port Phillip in 1849,' p. 27:

«In truth, the forests of Australia (consisting principally ofwoods of iron-bark, stringy-bark, and other species of theEucalyptus) seen at a distance, just before sunset, are nobleobjects – – perfect pictures.»

1862. G. T. Lloyd, `Thirty-three Years in Tasmania andVictoria,' p. 29:

«The stringy bark tree is so named from the ropy nature of itsbark, which is frequently used for tying on the rods and thatchof sheds, huts, and barns in the country.»

1862. W. Archer, `Products of Tasmania,' p. 39:

«Gum-topped String-bark, sometimes called white gum( Eucalyptus gigantea, var.). A tree resembling the BlueGum in foliage, with rough bark similar to Stringy Bark towardsthe stem.»

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discoveryand Exploration of Australia,' vol. i. p. 237:

«Stringy-bark trees were also seen – – so called, because therough bark has a brown tenacious fibre, like that of thecocoanut, which can be split off in sheets to make the roofs ofhouses, or unravelled into a fibre that will tie like string.»

1868. Carleton, `Australian Nights,' p. 2:

«The mia-mia that the native dark

Had formed from sheets of stringy bark.»

1873. T. Laslett, `Timber and Timber Trees,' p. 204:

«The Stringy-bark tree is of straight growth, and takes itsname from the strip-like character of its bark. . . . Thewood is of a brown colour, hard, heavy, strong and close in thegrain. It works up well . . . in ship-building, forplanking, beams, keels and keelsons, and in civil architecturefor joists, flooring, etc. Upon the farms it is used forfences and agricultural implements: it is also employed forfurniture and for all ordinary purposes.»

1880. Fison and Howitt, `Kamilaroi and Kurnai,' p. 196:

«Down to the waist they are all wound round with frayedstringy-bark in thick folds.»

1894. `The Age,' Oct. 19, p. 5, col. 8:

«Granite and stringy-bark are always associated with `hungry'country.»

2) Bush slang for bad whisky.

1890. A. J. Vogan, `The Black Police,' p. 217:

« Stringy-bark, a curious combination of fusil oiland turpentine, labelled `whisky.'»

II.

adj.

equivalent to «bush.»

1833. Oct. `New South Wales Magazine,' vol. 1. p. 173:

«. . . the workmanship of which I beg you will not scrutinize,as I am but, to use a colonial expression, `a stringy-barkcarpenter.'»

1853. C. Rudston Read, `What I Heard, Saw, and Did at theAustralian Gold Fields,' p. 53:

«. . . after swimming a small river about 100 yards widehe'd arrive at old Geordy's, a stringy bark settler . . .»

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

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