a village, a possible future town.In the United States, the word has a definite meaning – – adistrict, subordinate to a county, the inhabitants having powerto regulate their local affairs; in Australia, the word has nosuch definite meaning. It may be large or small, and sometimesconsists of little more than the post-office, the public-house,and the general store or shop.
1802. D. Collins, `Account of New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 7:
«The timber of a hundred and twenty acres was cut down . . .a small township marked out, and a few huts built.»
1861. Mrs. Meredith, `Over the Straits,' vol. ii. p. 40:
«It used to seem to me a strange colonial anomaly to call avery small village a `township,' and a much larger one a`town.' But the former is the term applied to the landsreserved in various places for future towns.»
1873. J. B. Stephens, `Black Gin,' p. 79:
«There's a certain township and also a town, – – (For, to ears colonial, I need not state
That the two do not always homologate).»
1888. Gilbert Parker, `Round the Compass in Australia,'p. 439:
[Mr. Parker is a Canadian who lived four years in Australia]
«A few words of comparison here. A pub of Australia is atavern or hotel in Canada; a township is a village; astock-rider is a cow-boy; a humpy is a shanty; a warrigal orbrombie 1s a broncho or cayuse; a sundowner is a tramp; asquatter is a rancher; and so on through an abundant list.»
1892. A. Sutherland, `Elementary Geography of BritishColonies,' p. 276:
«Villages, which are always called `townships,' spring upsuddenly round a railway-station or beside some country inn.»
1894. `Sydney Morning Herald' (date lost):
«A township – – the suffix denotes a state of being – – seems to bea place which is not in the state of being a town. Does itspride resent the impost of village that it is glad to be calledby a name which is no name, or is the word loosely appropriatedfrom America, where it signifies a division of a county? It isnever found in England.»
1896. A. B. Paterson, `Man from Snowy River,' p. 38:
«There stands the town of Dandaloo – – A township where life's total sum Is sleep, diversified with rum.»