Green’s Dictionary of Slang

depressed, nervous.

1892

‘Corinda’ ‘Murphy’s Man’ in Clarence & Richmond Examiner (Grafton, NSW) 23 July n.p.: He has been mooching around the station every day for a fortnight, like a lost bandicoot looking for a hollow log.

solitary, on one’s own; thus miserable,unhappy.

1894		D. Teleg. (Sydney) 23 June n.p.: The last time I saw you you looked like a bandicoot on a burnt ridge, and now you’re as plump as a young rabbit in fresh grass.
1901		H. Lawson ‘Joe Wilson’s Courtship’ in Joe Wilson and His Mates n.p.: I mooched round all the evening like an orphan bandicoot on a burnt ridge.
1906		‘On Tented Field’ in Gundagai Indep. 3. Oct. n.p.: is pig-tail came off, and he looked like a sick bandicoot on a burnt ridge.
1980		B. Jefferis in Bulletin (Sydney) 23-30 Dec. n.p.: That left me stuck there two years with them, like a bandicoot on a burnt ridge.
2003		K. Richards Aussie Bible 13: [He] lived out in the bush - all alone like a bandicoot on a burnt ridge - until it was time for him to start spreading the news.