blackboy
Appearance
See also: black boy
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From black + boy. For sense (plant of genus Xanthorrhoea): from a supposed resemblance of the plant to an Aboriginal boy holding an upright spear.
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Noun
[edit]blackboy (plural blackboys)
- (Australia, obsolete, possibly offensive) An Aboriginal boy or servant.
- 1898, Guy Boothby, Billy Binks—Hero, republished in Ken Gelder, Rachael Weaver, The Anthology of Colonial Australian Adventure Fiction, page 118,
- A moment later he beckoned the blackboy to his side, and when he arrived pointed to the ground. The boy gesticulated in answer, and then both pulled their horses to a standstill and waited for me to come up.
- 1906, South Australian Geology Department, Henry Yorke Lyell Brown, Robert Etheridge, Reports (geological and general) resulting from the explorations made by the government geologist and staff during 1905, page 36:
- September 30th, 1905.—Examined some hills in the locality. A Chinaman and some blackboys are camped here with some cattle belonging to the Mount Diamond butcher.
- 1930, Mary Montgomerie Bennett, The Australian Aboriginal as a Human Being[1], page 49:
- His tracks joined a cattle pad, and the blackboys followed them at speed, two riding on each side of the path.
- 1898, Guy Boothby, Billy Binks—Hero, republished in Ken Gelder, Rachael Weaver, The Anthology of Colonial Australian Adventure Fiction, page 118,
- (Australia, informal) Any plant in the genus Xanthorrhoea, native to Australia.
- 1966 November 8, Parliament of Western Australia, Parliamentary Debates, page 2181,
- The gum from the blackboy trees was used for the making of varnish and stain, […]
- 1977, Royal Society of Western Australia, Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, Volumes 60-61, page 5,
- As with any fire, blackboys and sedges were the first to grow, little else appearing before the first rains, which were followed by a flush of herbaceous shoots.