ago (oh, how the time goes by!)--and
two names that were written together in the sand when the tide was
coming in. And the boat home in the moonlight, past the Heads, where
we felt the roll of the ocean, and the moonlit harbour--and the harbour
lights of Sydney--the grandest of them all.

Transcriber's Notes:

Henry Lawson 17th June 1867 - 2nd September 1922.

These stories were first published as a collection in 1902.
Republished as "Send Round the Hat" and "The Romance of
the Swag" in 1907.

Notes on Australianisms. Based on my own speech over the years, with
some checking in the dictionaries, e.g. "Macquarie Book of Slang"
(2000), Oxford English Dictionary. Not all of these are peculiar to
Australian slang, but are important in Lawson's stories, and carry
overtones.

anabranch: A bend in a river that has been cut through by the stream.
The main current now runs straight, the anabranch diverges and then
rejoins. See billabong.
Barcoo-rot. "Persistent ulceration of the skin, chiefly on the hands,
and often originating in abrasions". (Morris, Australian
English). Barcoo is a river in Queensland.
billabong. Based on an aboriginal word. Sometimes used for an
anabranch, but more often used for one that, in dry season or droughts
especially, is cut off at either or both ends from the main stream.
It is often just a muddy pool, and may indeed dry up completely.
blackfellow: condescending for Australian Aboriginal
blackleg: someone who is employed to cross a union picket line to
break a workers' strike. As Molly Ivins said, she was brought up
on the three great commandments: do not lie; do not steal; never
cross a picket line. Also scab.
blanky or ----: Fill in your own favourite word. Usually however used
for "bloody"--see crimson/gory.
blooming: actually used in speech instead of "bloody" (see crimson).
bluey: swag. Explanation in Lawson's "The romance of the Swag" here.
bob: one shilling
bullocky: Bullock driver. A man who drove teams of bullocks yoked to
wagons carrying e.g. wool bales or provisions. Proverbially rough and
foul mouthed.
bummer: A cadger or bludger. Someone who begs for food. Interesting
Americanism already. Also, tramp. (Different meaning today)
bush: originally referred to the low tangled scrubs of the semi-desert
regions (cf. `mulga' and