Apple Isle
Tasmania, from its historical apple-growing and marketing identity.
Read the note on usage
The Slang MusterAustralian words and expressions
Places and regional language
Local names, regional differences and expressions rooted in Australian places.
87 entries · Search and filter this theme →
back of Bourke
A place considered extremely remote or far from major settlement.
ballhuggers
A Perth term for men's close-fitting swimming briefs.
Read the note on usagebanana bender
A Queenslander.
Read the note on usageBanana City
A jocular or historical nickname for Brisbane.
Read the note on usagebanana curtain
The notional border separating Queensland from Australia's southern states.
Read the note on usageBanana Land
Queensland, in a historical or jocular nickname.
Read the note on usagebathers
A swimming costume or swimwear.
Belgium sausage
A Tasmanian regional name for the cooked luncheon meat known elsewhere as devon, fritz or polony.
Current regionally, especially Tasmania; formerly also Queenslandbeyond the black stump
Beyond settled country; extremely remote.
black stump
An imaginary boundary of settled/civilised country, especially in beyond the black stump.
blockies
Repeated social driving circuits around a town-centre route, especially at night.
bog lap
A repeated circuit of a street block or town-centre route in a car, especially for entertainment.
Read the note on usagebombora
A large breaking wave over a submerged offshore reef or rock; also the reef or rock that causes it.
Read the note on usageBrisvegas
A jocular nickname for Brisbane, originally comparing the relatively quiet city ironically with Las Vegas.
Read the note on usagebush capital
Canberra.
Read the note on usagebutcher
A small glass or serving of beer, traditionally about 170–200 millilitres.
Byron sausage
A historical north-coast New South Wales name and product label for a type of luncheon sausage.
Cabbage Garden
Victoria, in a historical nickname.
Read the note on usagecane toad
A Queenslander, especially in interstate sporting rivalry.
Read the note on usagecheerios
Small red-cased frankfurts or cocktail sausages.
Read the note on usagechonks
Lollies or sweets, in remembered Gippsland usage.
Dated or remembered regionallyCity of Churches
Adelaide.
Read the note on usagecroweater
A person from South Australia.
Read the note on usageCrowland
South Australia.
Read the note on usagedardy
Excellent, impressive or attractive.
Read the note on usageDarwin rig
A tropical form of men's formal or business dress worn without a jacket.
dead heart
The arid centre or interior of Australia.
Read the note on usagedevon
A seasoned, cooked luncheon meat sold in a roll and sliced for sandwiches.
dick togs
Tight-fitting men's swimming briefs, especially in Queensland slang.
Current but informalEmerald City
A nickname for Sydney.
Read the note on usageEmpire sausage
A historical Queensland and northern New South Wales name for a cooked processed sausage in the wider luncheon-sausage family.
Historical; regionally documentedFremantle doctor
The cooling afternoon sea breeze that regularly reaches Perth and south-west Western Australia from the Indian Ocean.
Freo
Fremantle.
fritz
A South Australian seasoned luncheon sausage, typically sold in a roll and sliced.
German sausage
A historical Australian name for the cooked luncheon meat later renamed in several regions during the First World War.
Historical as a broad regional label; some local survival possibleGoldy
The Gold Coast.
Read the note on usagegumsucker
A Victorian; historically, an Australian colonist in related usages.
Read the note on usagehandle
A regional name for a medium glass or serving of beer, commonly around 285 millilitres.
heaps good
Very good or excellent.
how's the serenity?
An admiring or ironic comment on peace and quiet.
Read the note on usageland of the long weekend
Australia, especially in social commentary about leisure, prosperity or working habits.
Read the note on usagelike a possum up a gum tree
Quick, clever or at home in a situation; historically an Australian possum/gum-tree comparison.
Read the note on usageLucky Country
Australia, especially in a phrase whose original critical irony is often lost.
Read the note on usageluncheon sausage
A cooked processed sausage sold sliced for sandwiches and cold meals; an Australian label within the devon–fritz–polony name family.
Historical and continuing as a descriptive food labelMa State
New South Wales, in an old regional nickname.
Read the note on usageMexican
A person from south of a state border, in Australian regional rivalry.
Read the note on usagemiddy
A medium glass or serving of beer, commonly around 285 millilitres.
never-never
Remote inland Australia or an imagined far-off place.
Read the note on usagenointer
A naughty, mischievous, spoiled or difficult child.
Read the note on usageNorth Island
A Tasmanian jocular name for mainland Australia.
Read the note on usagenot within a bull's roar
Nowhere near, or roughly within hearing distance in the positive form.
Read the note on usageOz
Australia.
Read the note on usagePaddo
Paddington, especially the Sydney or Brisbane suburb depending on context.
Read the note on usagepiece
A Western Australian regional term for a sandwich.
Read the note on usagepolony
A seasoned, cooked luncheon meat sold in a roll and sliced.
pony
A very small glass or serving of beer, traditionally about 140 millilitres.
port
A schoolbag or suitcase.
Read the note on usagepot
A regional name for a glass or serving of beer, now commonly about 285 millilitres in Victoria and Queensland.
potato cake
A thin slice of potato coated in batter and deep-fried.
potato scallop
A thin slice of potato coated in batter and deep-fried.
sandgroper
A Western Australian.
Read the note on usageSandgroperland
Western Australia, in a jocular or historical nickname.
Read the note on usageschooner
A glass or serving of beer: commonly around 425 millilitres, but traditionally about 285 millilitres in South Australia.
sea change
A lifestyle change involving a move from a city to a seaside place.
servo
A service station/petrol station.
shack
A modest holiday house or weekend dwelling, often near the coast or in the bush.
Silver City
Broken Hill.
Read the note on usagesluggos
Close-fitting men's swimming briefs.
CurrentSmellbourne
A historical mocking nickname for Melbourne, especially in reference to nineteenth-century sanitation problems.
Read the note on usagesnot block
A vanilla slice or custard slice.
Currentstobie pole
A utility pole made from two steel beams joined by concrete, characteristic of South Australia.
Read the note on usagestrasburg
A Victorian name for a cooked spiced sausage or sliced smallgood, also recorded as Strasbourg or Strassburg sausage.
Historical and regionally rememberedStrine
A humorous representation of broad Australian pronunciation.
Read the note on usageswimmers
A swimming costume or swimwear.
Tassie tuxedo
A puffer jacket, especially a black one worn as an all-purpose smart or casual outer layer.
the Alice
Alice Springs.
Read the note on usagethe Gong
Wollongong.
Read the note on usagethe Isa
Mount Isa.
Read the note on usagethe Rat
Ballarat.
Read the note on usagetreddly
A bicycle, especially in jocular or remembered colloquial use.
Current but uncommonturbo chook
The Tasmanian native hen, named for its chicken-like appearance and fast running.
Westralian
A Western Australian or something Western Australian.
Read the note on usagewide brown land
Australia, especially its landscape.
Read the note on usageWindsor sausage
An east-coast regional name for the cooked luncheon meat known elsewhere as devon, fritz or polony.
Historical and current regionallywongi
A talk, chat or conversation, in historical Western Australian usage.
Historical or regionally rememberedWoop Woop
A remote, imaginary or far-away place; the middle of nowhere.