Australian Tales of the BushGeorge Robertson, 1897 - 138 pages |
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Common terms and phrases
Aborigines asked Australian Bandoline Barclay Barnstarke beneath Blackadder brandy breeches buggy Bullocktown bush colony Coppinger Coppinger's creek cried dear death door drink eyes face father fellow felt Flash Harry genius Gentleman George Glimmera Grumbler's Gully Gunnybags hand Hardy head heard Holiday Peak honest honour horse Israel Israel Davis Jack John Hardy journal Keturah knew lady land laughed lips literary lived Longbow looked Mademoiselle Pauline Marcus Clarke Marrable marry Marston melancholy Melbourne Melliship moleskin morning mother mountain mysterious Neil Gow never night nobbler once pair Perkins Poor Joe Pretty Dick Quartzborough replied returned ride Rose round Royal Cobb seemed smile Sporboy Stanislaus station strange swamp teetotal tell Theatre Royal Thomas Marrable thought township tree Trowbridge Trowbridge's turned Wallaby whisky wife woman young
Popular passages
Page 2 - In Australia alone is to be found the Grotesque, the Weird, the strange scribblings of Nature learning how to write. Some see no beauty in our trees without shade, our flowers without perfume, our birds who cannot fly, and our beasts who have not yet learned to walk on all fours. But the dweller in the wilderness acknowledges the subtle charm of this fantastic land of monstrosities.
Page 1 - From the melancholy gum strips of white bark hang and rustle. The very animal life of these frowning hills is either grotesque or ghostly. Great grey kangaroos hop noiselessly over the coarse grass. Flights of white cockatoos stream out, shrieking like evil souls. The sun suddenly sinks, and the mopokes burst out into horrible peals of semihuman laughter.
Page 2 - There is a poem in every form of tree or flower, but the poetry which lives in the trees and flowers of Australia, differs from those of other countries. Europe is the home of knightly song, of bright deeds and clear morning thought. Asia sinks beneath the weighty...
Page 1 - The Australian mountain forests are funereal, secret, stern. Their solitude is desolation. They seem to stifle, in their black gorges, a story of sullen despair. No tender sentiment is nourished in their shade. In other lands the dying year is mourned, the falling leaves drop lightly on his bier. In the Australian forests no leaves fall. The savage winds shout among the rock clefts. From the melancholy gum strips of white bark hang and rustle. The very animal life of these frowning hills is either...
Page 1 - From a corner of the silent forest rises a dismal chant, and around a fire dance natives painted like skeletons. All is fear-inspiring and gloomy. No bright fancies are linked with the memories of the mountains. Hopeless explorers have named them out of their sufferings — Mount Misery, Mount Dreadful, Mount Despair. As when among sylvan scenes in places Made green with the running of rivers, And gracious with temperate air...
Page 134 - Australasian will be a tall, coarse, strong-jawed, greedy, pushing, talented man, excelling in swimming and horsemanship. His religion will be a form of Presbyterianism; his national policy a democracy tempered by the rate of exchange. His wife will be a thin, narrow woman, very fond of dress and idleness, caring little for her children, but without sufficient brain-power to sin with zest.