“No worries!” Said with a particular lilting intonation it means ‘you’re welcome’. So does “That’s awright then.”
paddock = field, even without a horse in sight; the third meaning in the Shorter Oxford, designated Austr and NZ, so long as it has fencing around it
ute = small truck (sort of analogous to the pickup truck, but with lower or no sides); also utility vehicle; I’ve heard it to applied to cars that can drive hard territory.
dam = an artificial pond to provide water for stock; analogous to dugout on the prairies
bogun = hard to get a handle on this one: a term of condescension, maybe covering the territory from from loudmouth through redneck to white trash …
hoon = usage here generally refers to those who drive too fast and aggressively, especially but not only young men, but in origin the term meant “a procurer of prostitutes”
the mallee = the scrub, the dry bush--characteristic of the state of Victoria. Used in a poem title by Robert Gray. Whereas “mallee root” sometime in the last century was rhyming slang for prostitute, and the Mallee bull is a term of compliment, as in fit as a … presumably because bulls that manage in mallee country are tough and strong (and bullheaded?)
yabbies = small freshwater crayfish, used for bait, but also eaten. Caught by children. Daniel at Lake St Clair mentioned catching yabbies several times.
flathead = a local fish, caught in the estuary; very good eating, though they are worried about the supply this year. Many mentions of catching large quantities of flathead to eat and to freeze in Gwen Harwood’s letters.
mia mia = an Aboriginal bough or bark hut. In the news here at the moment is the discovery of an until-now-unknown mia mia on land that is slated to be logged very soon
fined up = what the weather does in Tassie when the rain stops falling ; no sunshine required
shack = cottage or summer house, not necessarily in need of paint
squiz = an inquisitive or curious look
fossicking = poking about among things on the lookout for something valuable, ferreting about; what Irene and I did at the secondhand bookshops. In origin it meant to search out small quantities of gold usually from abandoned diggings.
bathers, cossi = bathing suit
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