wattle-and-dab

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

a rough mode of architecture, verycommon in Australia at an early date. The phrase and itsmeaning are Old English. It was originally Wattle-and-daub. The style, but not the word, isdescribed in the quotation from Governor Phillip, 1789.


1789. Governor Phillip, `Voyage to Botany Bay,' p. 124:

«The huts of the convicts were still more slight, beingcomposed only of upright posts, wattled with slight twigs,and plaistered up with clay.»

1836. Ross, `Hobart Town Almanack,' p. 66:

« Wattle and daub. . . . You then bring home from thebush as many sods of the black or green wattle ( acaciadecurrens or affinis) as you think will suffice.These are platted or intertwined with the upright posts in themanner of hurdles, and afterwards daubed with mortar made ofsand or loam, and clay mixed up with a due proportion of thestrong wiry grass of the bush chopped into convenient lengthsand well beaten up with it, as a substitute for hair.»

1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 201:

«The hut of the labourer was usually formed of plaited twigsor young branches plastered over with mud, and known by thesummary definition of `wattle and dab.'»

1852. Mrs. Meredith, `My Home in Tasmania,' vol. i. p. 179:

«Wattles, so named originally, I conceive, from several of thegenus being much used for `wattling' fences or huts. A `wattleand dab' but is formed, in a somewhat Robinson Crusoe style, ofstout stakes driven well into the ground, and thicklyinterlaced with the tough, lithe wattle-branches, so as to makea strong basket-work, which is then dabbed and plastered overon both sides with tenacious clay mortar, and finallythatched.»

1879. W. J. Barry, `Up and Down,' p. 21:

«It was built of what is known as `wattle and dab,' or polesand mud, and roofed with the bark of the gum-tree.»

1883. E. M. Curr, `Recollections of Squatting,' p. 5:

«Others were of weather boards, wattle and dab, or slabs.»

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