Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus.) the route followed by an itinerant moving from station to station in search of work; thus wallaby tracker, one who follows this route.

1856		Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas.) 13 Feb. 3/3: Mr. Watson asked Smith [...] whether on a certain occasion he had not heard Mr. Watson tell him to go to Wallaby Track. (A laugh.) It was explained that this was a bush phrase, a slang term.
1865		E.J. Overbury ‘Wallaby Track’ in Stewart & Keesing Old Bush Songs (1957) 233: There are others who stick during sheaving, Then shoulder their swags on their back; For the rest of the year they’ll be steering On their well-beloved Wallaby Track.
1871		M. Clarke in Money Knocking About in N.Z. vi: When he meets with some unpretending fellow [...] who has ‘humped his swag’ into strange lands, and traversed the ‘wallaby-track’ under the direst conditions.
1873		Sl. Dict. 335: Wallabee-track Colonial slang for the tramp. When a man in Australia is ‘on the road’ looking for employment, he is said to be on the wallabee-track.
1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 20 Nov. 8/3: A young man [...] set out on what the ancients called the ‘Wallaby’. He had the usual swag of blankets, pots, etc., slung round his chest, and in his left hand he carried a large, galvanised iron tub and a live turkey.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 11: Wallaby Track - On the tramp looking for work.
1893		G. Parker Pierre and his People 242: The wallaby track? That’s the name in Australia for trampin’ west, through the plains of the Never Never Country, lookin’ for the luck o’ the world.
1898		West Australian (Perth) 5 Feb. 9/5: Each year was made up in this way, and in course of time Bob came to be a well-known character on the roads, for his superior education and sound bush instincts put him somewhat above the ordinary run of human wallaby trackers.
1899		Sth Aus. Register 25 Jan. 7/3: I came off the ‘wallaby’ into your beautiful city.
1901		Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Oct. 14/4: Then the congregation took a hand, and flouted the tyrant deacons; but the parson – wise man! – means to ‘take to the wallaby-track,’ all the same.
1957		J. Greenway ‘Australian Cattle Lingo’ in AS XXXIII:3 169: wallaby track, n. phr. An outback road.
1986		R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 55: Wallaby Track: A path to the interior of the continent taken by failures. Successful people do not walk the Wallaby Track, they fly over it.

to leave on one’s travels, to walk.

1916		‘Anzac’ On the Anzac Trail 8: Considering the state of the going [...] I reckon we’d have given points to most fellows when it came to hitting the wallaby.
1932		M. Marshall Travels of Tramp-Royal 43: My peter again packed, I hit the wallaby. [Ibid.] 320: hit the wallaby, take the road.

1. on a spree.

1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 6: On the Wallaby - On a drinking bout in town.
1889		Dead Bird (Sydney) 10 Aug. 1/4: A Star representative went on the wallaby the oher day at Bathurst. He made a regular ‘bull’ of it and got lost twice on the way home.

2. on the move, tramping.

1867		Queenslander (Brisbane) 15 June n.p.: There are huindreds of men ‘on the wallaby’ during several months of the year.
1869		M. Clarke Peripatetic Philosopher (Reprint) 41: I remember an old bush ditty, which I have heard sung when I was on the wallaby.
1878		S. James Vagabond Papers (5th Ser.) 63: I have never been ‘on the wallaby,’ or slept in a common lodging-house.
1880		N.Z. Observer (Auckland) 2 Oct. 17/3: I should imagine that one of our local celebrities has been ‘on the wallabi’ recently, as the following story comes from abroad.
1887		‘Aus. Colloquialisms’ in All Year Round 30 July 66/1: The ‘sundowner’ [...] perambulates the country, going on the ‘Wallaby,’ as it is strangely termed.
1891		H. Lawson ‘Corny Bill’ in Roderick (1967–9) I 114: I think we had some good old times / out on the wallaby.
1894		G. Boothby On the Wallaby Intro: ‘On the Wallaby’ is a slang Australianism for ‘On the march’. It is generally applied to persons tramping the bush in search of employment.
1901		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ In Bad Company 293: Roughly dressed was he – had evidently been ‘on the wallaby’ recently.
1905		‘The Swagman’ in ‘Banjo’ Paterson Old Bush Songs 95: I’m a swagman on the wallaby, / Oh! don’t you pity me.
1918		R.H. Knyvett ‘Over There’ with the Australians 26: Soon the news of these bands ‘on the wallaby’ at the call of country caught the imagination of the whole nation.
1924		G.H. Lawson Dict. of Aus. Words And Terms 🌐 WALLABY, ON THE – Carrying the swag.
1932		I.L. Idriess Flynn of the Inland 17: ‘What are you then?’ ‘A parson on the wallaby.’ ‘Good heavens!’.
1939		Western Mail (Perth) 12 Oct. 10/4: Usually he was said to be ‘on the wallaby,’ because the wallaby, unlike the kangaroo, has many beaten tracks through the scrubs.
1957		J. Greenway ‘Australian Cattle Lingo’ in AS XXXIII:3 167: on the wallaby (track), to be, to whale up the lachlan, to hump a drum (bluey), v. phr. To wander with a swag, to hobo.
1965		L. Haylen Big Red 3: And Freedom’s humping bluey / And Freedom’s on the wallaby.

3. travelling to search for work.

1890		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer I 133: ‘What is the meaning of “out on the wallaby”/ asked Ernest. ‘Well, it’s bush slang, sir, for men just as you or I might be now, looking for work or something to eat.’.
1930		W.K. Hancock Australian 292: One is ‘on the track’, ‘on the wallaby.’.
1986		R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 55: If someone is said to be, ‘off on the Wallaby’ it is assumed that he is roaming the countryside looking for work.

4. impoverished.

1941

Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl.

to travel on foot as an itinerant.

1890

Bulletin (Sydney) 30 Aug. 21/3: Did you ever take ‘the wallaby’ along some dreary track / With that hideous malformation, called a swag, upon your back? / Did you ever seek a billet on the squatters’ stamping-ground / Where wide bare plains are ’neath you and the burning sun all round?

(Aus.) exhausted, ruined, ‘fucked’.

1981		in Cushman & McKernan (eds) Sport: Money Morality, and the Media 38: But their idioms, like four bits and Wallaby Bob’s brother, are not entitled to be considered Australian English until they gain a wider usage.
1992		in Buzo & Grant (eds) Longest Game And a team, also, in which the wicketkeeper (bred in New South Wales) is wont to say, after a long stint in the field, that he is Wallaby Bob’s brother (Kangaroo Ted = Roo Ted = rooted): .
2004		J. Lambert Macquarie Aus. Sl. Dict. 221/1: Wallaby Bob’s cousin ruined, wrecked, rooted (get it? Roo Ted is Wallaby Bob’s cousin). Man I’m feeling like Wallaby Bob’s cousin. Aussie slang since the 1970s. Also heard in the form Wallaby Bobbed, as in I’m a bit Wallaby Bobbed at the moment.
2005		aus.electronic 18 Feb. 🌐 On the plus side, even if the power supply is Wallaby Ted’s brother (ROO-TED) he should be able to find a 240Vac/24Vdc AC adapter with a 100mA rating fairly easily.
2009		Australian 24 June 🌐 Poor old Truffles. Hasn’t learnt a lot about politics in his time in politics. Didn’t pick up much about dodgy emails with Ozemail by the look either. He’s Wallaby Bob’s cousin.
2012		SeaBreeze.com.au 29 Dec. 🌐 At the END of the DAY you feel like Wallaby Ted’s brother Roo Ted 8-10-12 Stubbies of beer don’t even touch the sides.
2016		Bachmann Trains 17 Nov. 🌐 Opening the tender I found that my new Zimo decoder had a large burn mark on it. It was what we know here in Oz as Wallaby Bob’s Cousin.