Words & TermsWork, bush and rural life
squatter
Historically, a large pastoral landholder; earlier, one occupying Crown land without title.
In a sentence
By the 1850s the squatter controlled a vast pastoral run.
Where it came from
In early colonial Australia a squatter occupied Crown land without legal title. As pastoral leases and wealth followed, the word shifted toward a powerful large landholder; historical use needs that distinction.
- Initial era
- 1800–1849
- Where used
- Australian use; no narrower regional pattern established
- Use today
- Historical and current, sense-dependent