"It is the old resident—he who still calls Sydney, with its population of twelve thousand inhabitants, <i>the camp</i>—that can appreciate these things: he who still recollects the few earth-huts and solitary tents scattered through the forest brush surrounding Sydney Cove (known properly then indeed by the name of `The Camp')."
1852. Mrs. Meredith, `My Home in Tasmania,' vol. i. p. 193:
"Living during the winter in Hobarton, usually called `the camp,' in those days."
<hw>Camp</hw>, <i>v</i>. (1) Generally in composition with "out," to sleep in the open air, usually without any covering. Camping out is exceedingly common in Australia owing to the warmth of the climate and the rarity of rain.
1867. Lady Barker, `Station Life in New Zealand,' p. 125:
"I like to hear of benighted or belated travellers when they have had to `camp out,' as it is technically called."
1875. R. and F. Hill, `What we saw in Australia,' p. 208:
"So the Bishop determined to `camp-out' at once where a good fire could be made."
1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. ii. p. 43:
"There is room here for fifty, rolled up on the floor; and should that fail them, there is no end of other places; or the bush, as a fall back, where, indeed, some of them prefer camping as it is."
1891. `The Australasian,' Nov. 14, p. 963, col. 1: `A Lady in the Kermadecs':
"For three months I `camped out' there alone, shepherding a flock of Angoras."
(2) By extension, to sleep in any unusual place, or at an unusual time.
1893. `Review of Reviews' (Australasian ed. ), March, p. 51:
"The campaign came to an abrupt and somewhat inglorious close,
Sir George Dibbs having to `camp' in a railway carriage, and
Sir Henry Parkes being flood-bound at Quirindi."
1896. Modern:
"Visitor—`Where's your Mother?' `Oh, she's camping.'" [The lady was enjoying an afternoon nap indoors.]
(3) To stop for a rest in the middle of the day.
1891. Mrs. Cross (Ada Cambridge), `The Three Miss Kings,' p. 180:
"We'll have lunch first before we investigate the caves—if it's agreeable to you. I will take the horses out, and we'll find a nice place to camp before they come."
(4) To floor or prove superior to. <i>Slang</i>.
1886. C. H. Kendall, `Poems,' p. 207:
"At punching oxen you may guess
There's nothing out can camp him.
He has, in fact, the slouch and dress,
Which bullock-driver stamp him."
<hw>Camphor-wood</hw>, <i>n</i>. an Australian timber; the wood of <i>Callitris (Frenea) robusta</i>, Cunn., <i>N.O. Coniferae</i>. Called also <i>Light, Black, White, Dark</i>, and <i>Common Pine</i>, as the wood varies much in its colouring. See <i>Pine</i>.
<hw>Canajong</hw>, <i>n</i>. Tasmanian aboriginal name for the plants called <i>Pig-faces</i> (q.v.).
1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 44:
"Pig-faces. It was the <i>canajong</i> of the Tasmanian aboriginal. The fleshy fruit is eaten raw by the aborigines: the leaves are eaten baked."
<hw>Canary</hw>, <i>n</i>. (1) A bird-name used in New Zealand for <i>Clitonyx ochrocephala</i>, called also the <i>Yellow-head</i>. Dwellers in the back-blocks of Australia apply the name to the <i>Orange-fronted Ephthianura (E. aurifrons</i>, Gould), and sometimes to the <i>White-throated Gerygone (Gerygone albigularis</i>).
1888. W. L. Buller, `Birds of New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 56:
"<i>Clitonyx Ochrocephala</i>. Yellow-head. `Canary' of the colonists."
(2) Slang for a convict. See quotations. As early as 1673, `canary-bird' was thieves' English for a gaol-bird.
1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 117:
"Convicts of but recent migration are facetiously known by the name of <i>canaries</i>, by reason of the yellow plumage in which they are fledged at the period of landing."
1870. T. H. Braim, `New Homes,' c. ii. p. 72:
"The prisoners were dressed in yellow-hence called `canary birds.'"
1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Colonial Reformer,' c. vi. p. 49:
"Can't you get your canaries off the track here for about a quarter of an hour, and let my mob of cattle pass ?"
<hw>Candle-nut</hw>, <i>n</i>. The name is given in Queensland to the fruit of <i>Aleurites moluccana</i>, Willd., <i>N.O. Euphorbiaceae</i>. The nuts are two or more inches diameter. The name is often given to the tree itself, which grows wild in Queensland and is cultivated in gardens there under the name of <i>A. triloba</i>, Forst. It is not endemic in Australia, but the vernacular name of <i>Candle-nut</i> is confined to Australia and the Polynesian Islands.
1883. F. M. Bailey, `Synopsis of Queensland Flora,' p. 472:
"Candle-nut. The kernels when dried and stuck on a reed are used by the Polynesian Islanders as a substitute for candles, and as an article of food in New Georgia. These nuts resemble walnuts somewhat in size and taste. When pressed they yield a large proportion of pure palatable oil, used as a drying-oil for paint, and known as country walnut-oil and artists' oil."
<hw>Cane-grass</hw>, <i>n</i>. i.q. <i>Bamboo-grass</i> (q.v.).
<hw>Cape-Barren Goose</hw>, <i>n</i>. See <i>Goose</i>.
1852. Mrs. Meredith, `My Home in Tasmania,' vol. i. p. 114, [Footnote]:
"The `Cape Barren Goose' frequents the island from which it takes its name, and others in the Straits. It is about the same size as a common goose, the plumage a handsome mottled brown and gray, somewhat owl-like in character."
[Cape Barren Island is in Bass Strait, between Flinders Island and Tasmania. Banks Strait flows between Cape Barren Island and Tasmania. The easternmost point on the island is called Cape Barren.]
<hw>Cape-Barren Tea</hw>, <i>n</i>. a shrub or tree, <i>Correa alba</i>, Andr., <i>N.O. Rutaceae</i>.
1834. Ross, `Van Diemen's Land Annual,' p. 134:
"<i>Leptospermum lanigerum</i>, hoary tea-tree; <i>Acacia decurrens</i>, black wattle; <i>Correa alba</i>, Cape Barren tea. The leaves of these have been used as substitutes for tea in the colony."
<hw>Cape Lilac</hw>, <i>n</i>. See <i>Lilac</i>.
<hw>Cape Weed</hw>, <i>n</i>. In Europe, <i>Roccella tinctoria</i>, a lichen from the Cape de Verde Islands, from which a dye is produced. In New Zealand, name given to the European cats-ear, <i>Hypaechoris radicata</i>. In Australia it is as in quotation below. See `Globe Encyclopaedia,' 1877 (s.v.).
1878. W. R. Guilfoyle, `First Book of Australian Botany,' p. 60:
"Cape Weed. <i>Cryptostemma Calendulaceum</i>. (Natural Order, <i>Compositae</i>.) This weed, which has proved such a pest in many parts of Victoria, was introduced from the Cape of Good Hope, as a fodder plant. It is an annual, flowering in the spring,