Definitions For Shiralee

Noun

SHIRALEE (plural SHIRALEEs) (uncommon) burden, burden; load. (in particular, Australia, colloquial, dated) A type of swag that when rolled up resembles a leg of mutton, carried over the shoulder, usually with another load on the chest to balance it.1957 September 27, w:d'arcy niland, d'arcy niland, Aboriginalities section of w:the bulletin, the bulletin, quoted in “Shiralee,” entry in 1970, Bill Wannan Australian Folklore, 1979, Lansdowne Press, {{ISBN, 0-7018-1309-1}}, page 475. 2001, Filton Hebbard, Memories of Kalgoorlie: Tales from the Australian Outback, , : The bag of food like a shiralee across his shoulders, the water container stuffed into the looseness of his shirt, the compass, not required for awhile yet, in his side pocket, and the rifle balanced in his hand. 2006, Pip Wilson, Faces in the Street: Louisa and Henry Lawson and the Castlereagh Street Push, , : “Nothin′. A prickly gecko, mate. He dropped off your shiralee.”

Synonyms

swag matilda

Etymology

From an unidentified w:australian aboriginal languages, australian aboriginal language. The term was used in the title of {{w, D'Arcy Niland}}′s 1955 novel {{w, The Shiralee}} (and two film adaptations, one in 1957 and another in 1987), though its meaning is no longer well known.