* This page is under construction
and will eventually have information listed
in the following order on this page:
A. Australian slang
B. General information
•
A. AUSTRALIAN SLANG
Aussie –
bloke -
bludger -
bludging -
come in spinner -
dinkum -
fair dinkum -
long paddock – see stock route.
mate -
mateship -
quid – £ a pound (English money) prior to Australia’s change to dollars.
shelia – girl in Australia.
spinner: person in a game of two-Up etc.
two-Up: a game of gambling; where two coins are flipped in the air; a call “heads or tails”.
you beauty
•
B. GENERAL INFORMATION
astronomer – someone who studies the stars, planets and solar systems.
Batavia – the old Dutch name for Jakarta, now the capital city of Indonesia.
bight - a wide bay.
botanist – someone who studies plants
buccaneer – pirate
cartographer someone who draws maps.
circumnavigate – to sail completely around a land mass.
Colonisation– the takeover and settlement of a land.
Dreaming aboriginal stories that explain how the land was formed and how the aboriginal people came into existence.
East Indies India and South-East Asia, including Indonesia.
Fauna – animals.
First Fleet – the group of ships that carried the first convicts and settlers from England to Australia. (The first Fleet arrived in 1788. The Second Fleet arrived 1790 and the Third Fleet arrived in 17…….
giant marsupials – giant wombats, giant kangaroos, diprotodonts and marsupial lions that existed in Australia during the ……………………..
ice age – a time when global temperatures were lower, causing the ice caps to grow. sea levels became lower as more of the Earth’s water became frozen ……………….
indigenous – the original inhabitants of a particular place.
Jave La Grande – the name given on an ancient map for a large land mass south of present-day Indonesia.
land rights – the right of Indigenous (Aboriginal) people to possess their original lands, especially sacred sites in Australia.
latitude the north-south direction on the Earth.
Mabo case – a legal battle over land ownership, won by Eddie Mabo and other Torres Strait Islanders, which established that they were the owners of their island.
miles – measured distance (eg: 200 miles = 400 kilometres)
Native Title Act – Act of Parliament allowing Aboriginal people to claim land rights within certain areas, such as national parks within Australia.
naturalist – someone who studies plants and animals.
navigator – someone who carries out sea explorations.
pewter – metal made from a mixture of tin and lead.
pinnace – a small boat, propelled by sail or oars.
Roaring Forties – strong westerly winds of the southern Indian Ocean.
scurvy – during long voyages many sailors died of scurvy, a disease caused by lack of vitamin C. Cook insisted that his crew eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, and he stocked up with fresh supplies whenever possible. while this prevented any deaths from scurvy, more than a third of the crew died from other diseases such as malaria and dysentery during the voyage.
skiff – a small rowboat.
Sorry Day – 13 February 2008: The day the Australian Prime Minister said ‘Sorry’ to the Indigenous Australians (Aboriginal People) for the treatment they had received at the hands of the white invaders of their country.
Spice islands – old name for Indonesia. Spices were precious to Europeans hundreds of years ago. They were used to flavour meat which had been preserved in salt, or had gone bad. The main spices prized by Europeans were pepper (which was sometimes used as money), cloves nutmeg and cinnamon.
squadron a group of ships sent to do a special task.
terra nullius – land ‘belonging to no one’ or land run by people whose social and political system is not recognized.
Treaty of Tordesillas 1494 – Portugal and Spain agreed to divide the world into two parts in what was named the Treaty of Tordesillas. Portugal was allowed to colonize and trade with lands to the east of a line drawn from Greenland to the mouth of the Amazon River, and Spain all the lands to the west. This gave Portugal Africa and Asia, and Spain the Americas and the Pacific – this was another reason the Portuguese kept their explorations in the pacific secret.
transportation – the removal of convicts to a prison or penal colony.
treason – the crime of trying to weaken or take over the government.
tariff – a tax charged on goods that are imported into a state or nation, also called customs duties.
stock route – a route livestock can be transported over long distances with adequate supplies of feed and water sometimes called the long paddock and drovers use instead of a farm to feed and move their animals.
shoal – a shallow part of a river or lake.