riginating in
abrasions.

It is attributed to monotony of diet and to the cloudless
climate, with its alternations of extreme cold at night and
burning heat by day. It is said to be maintained and
aggravated by the irritation of small flies.

1870. E. B. Kennedy, `Four Years in Queensland,' p. 46:

"Land scurvy is better known in Queensland by local names,
which do not sound very pleasant, such as `Barcoo rot,'
`Kennedy rot,' according to the district it appears in. There
is nothing dangerous about it; it is simply the festering of
any cut or scratch on one's legs, arms or hands. . . They take
months to heal. . . Want of vegetables is assigned as the
cause."

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 58:

"In Western Queensland people are also subject to bad sores on
the hand, called Barcoo-rot."

<hw>Barcoo Vomit</hw>, <i>n</i>. a sickness occurring in
inhabitants of various parts of the high land of the interior
of Australia. It is characterized by painless attacks of
vomiting, occurring immediately after food is taken, followed
by hunger, and recurring as soon as hunger is satisfied.

The name <i>Barcoo</i> is derived from the district traversed
by the river Barcoo, or Cooper, in which this complaint and the
<i>Barcoo Rot</i> are common. See Dr. E. C. Stirling's `Notes
from Central Australia,' in `Intercolonial Quarterly Journal of
Medicine and Surgery,' vol. i. p. 218.

<hw>Bargan</hw>, <i>n</i>. a name of the Come-back
<i>Boomerang</i> (q.v.). (Spelt also <i>barragan</i>.)

1892. J. Fraser, `Aborigines of New South Wales,' p. 70:

"The `come-back' variety (of boomerang) is not a fighting
weapon. A dialect name for it is bargan, which word may be
explained in our language to mean `bent like a sickle or
crescent moon.'"

<hw>Barking Owl</hw>, <i>n</i>. a bird not identified, and not
in Gould (who accompanied Leichhardt).

1847. L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition, p. 47:

"The glucking-bird and the barking-owl were heard throughout
the moonlight night."

<hw>Barrack</hw>, <i>v</i>. to jeer at opponents, to interrupt
noisily, to make a disturbance; with the preposition "for," to
support as a partisan, generally with clamour. An Australian
football term dating from about 1880. The verb has been ruled
unparliamentary by the Speaker in the Victorian Legislative
Assembly. It is, however, in very common colloquial use. It
is from the aboriginal word <i>borak</i> (q.v.), and the sense