Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. Aus.) a wealthy or upper-class person.

1865		Rockhampton Bulletin (Qld) 28 Jan. 2/3: In proof of this, we may refer to the issue of sundry placards mysteriously referring to the Silver-tails and Dark Lantern mob, specimens of which it would appear are about to seek office .
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 18 July 18/2: There was war to the knife at Dubbo last week between the local ‘copper tops’ and the fastidious ‘silver tails,’ and Carcoar has the same story to tell.
1894		G. Boothby On the Wallaby 223: The dance was an enormous success. All the élite [...] were there: Silver and Coppertails, as they are variously denominated.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 27 Jan. 13/1: Apparently there are some real ringers offering for the Bushman’s Contingent. One last week nearly fell down when asked if he was a bushman. ‘Why, dog-scratch-me,’ he said with a shriek of anguish, ‘I’m gidyah bred, straight from the Culgoa and no scalawag neither, but a right-down silvertail. Can I ride? why I rode a ZR filly last week until the hide came off with the saddle, and as for track, I’d track a bug to an aboriginal.’.
1900–10		Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.].
1903		Sun. Times (Perth) 8 Jan. 1/1: The silvertails have been doing themselves well out of the Fremantle loco stores.
1908		Sun (Kalgoorlie, WA) 2 Aug. 1/1: They Say [...] That the would-be silver-tails of Kurrawang are fairly in the throes of select dances run by the goat clique.
1910		Truth (Perth) 1 Oct. 4/7: You will ‘jerry’ when they tell, / Bishop Wright, / Of some ‘silvertail’ or ‘swell’ / Who got ‘tight,’ .
1931		Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld) 3 June 9/1: The silvertails and bohunks / Called each other Bill or Jack.
1938		H. Drake-Brockman Men Without Wives II i: She’s a rotten silvertail and I’m tired of hearing her name.
1955		D. Niland Shiralee 125: ‘That’s where I am’ [...] ‘Among the silvertails, eh?’ Macauley bantered.
1965		F.J. Hardy Yarns of Billy Borker 13: The silvertails always say the unemployed don’t want work.
1968		S. Gore Holy Smoke 25: These silvertails around the place wasn’t too shook on this.
1971		F.J. Hardy Outcasts of Foolgarah (1975) 8: The set of uppers [...] were made to dentists’ measure for some silvertail up on the top of Nob Hill. [Ibid.] 214: Members of the upper class, VIP’s, Who’s Who listed celebrities, in a word, Silver Tails.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 45: Silvertails Those favoured in society.
1984		P. Corris ‘Luck of Clem Carter’ in Heroin Annie [e-book] You’re wondering what a silvertail like Kenny was doing living in a dump like this?
1986		R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 50: ‘On the susso’ was an expression of derision used by silvertails.
1996		S. Maloney Brush-Off (1998) 162: The Members’ carpark was where the silvertails held their chicken and champers picnics.
2000		S. Maloney Big Ask 56: Big Bob was a legend. A rough-nut among the silvertails. The man they couldn’t root, shoot or electrocute.
2004		T. Winton ‘On Her Knees’ in Turning (2005) 103: She was worth twice what those silvertails paid her.

2. one who puts on ‘airs and graces’, a social climber.

1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl.
1953		T.A.G. Hungerford Riverslake 214: Those silver-tails in the office get ideas if we don’t give ’em a kick in the slats occasionally!

3. (UK prison) a better-class prisoner.

1944		H.C. Brewster King’s Cross Calling in DSUE (1984).
1953		Baker Aus. Speaks.

4. (Aus. prison) a prisoner who colludes with the authorities.

1984		B. Ellem Doing Time 98: And then you’ve got crims who will call others an ‘informer’, or a ‘suck’, a ‘dog’ or a ‘silver tail’, just because they don’t like them, are jealous of them, want to have a go at them, or want to win points against they in an argument.
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Silver tail. A prisoner who easily obliges the authorities, and is perceived as untrustworthy by his peers.