Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (N.Z./US) a tall, thin person.

1823		J.F. Cooper Pioneers (1827) II 213: What’s that you say, you old, dried corn-stalk! you sapless tub!
1866		G.W. Harris ‘Sut Lovingoods Big Dinner Story’ Nashville Union and American XXXIII Aug. in Inge (1967) 167: Misses Jarrold at the head, an’ her ole cornstalk ove a man at the foot ove the table.
1916		‘Anzac’ On the Anzac Trail 8: I believe there was only one man in the platoon under five feet ten. They were not ‘cornstalks’ either; they carried weight on top of their legs.

2. (Aus., also cornstalker, Jack Cornstalk, Johnny Cornstalk) an Australian, esp. one who originates from Europe and is based in New South Wales; thus John Cornstalk, Jack Cornstalk, a generic for such people; Cornstalkopolis, Sydney.

1827		Australian (Sydney) 4 July 3/3: Lots of blunt flew about [...] and a good sdeal of chaffing among the ‘corn stalks’ and the ‘townies‘.
1827		P. Cunningham New South Wales II 116: We have [...] Colonial born, the latter bearing also the name of cornstalks (Indian corn), from the way in which they shoot up.
1831		Australian (Sydney) 7 Jan. 3/5: Up flew the hats. ‘Corn-stalks for ever!’.
1834		G. Bennett Wanderings in New South Wales I 341: The Australian ladies may compete for personal beauty and elegance with any European, although satirized as ‘Cornstalks,’ from the slenderness of their forms.
1849		J.P. Townsend Rambles in New South Wales 68: Our host was surrounded by a little army of ‘Cornstalks.’ [...] The designation ‘Cornstalk’ is given because the young people run up like the stems of the Indian corn.
1852		G.C. Mundy Our Antipodes I 45: [note] Cornstalk is the national nickname of the Australian white man. [Ibid.] 50: Many of the Cornstalks, or Colonial-born men, are tall and large-boned. [Ibid.] 208: In his inland hotels, however, Brother Jonathan beats brother Cornstalk hollow.
1869		W.R. Honey Madeline Clifton III v: Look you, there stands young cornstalk.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Nov. 6/1: That dear old back-blocks ‘missionary,’ the Reverend J.J. Westwood, has, we read in the Sydney Evening News, arrived in Cornstalkopolis from Queensland ‘in consequence of the drought, and will thankfully receive subscriptions during his stay in Sydney.’.
1887		‘Aus. Colloquialisms’ in All Year Round 30 July 67/2: A native of New South Wales is known as a ‘cornstalk,’ because the men grow tall and thin.
1888		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery Under Arms (1922) 229: We Cornstalks never thought of more than the regular pair of lamps, pretty low down too.
1889		Music Hall & Theatre Rev. 16 Feb. 11/1: Can you tell us anything about the [...] cornstalkers’retreat [and] the profesh in Melbourne and Sydney?
1890		A.J. Vogan Black Police 79: ‘Advance Australia,’ yells Mr. Corn-stalk (N.S. Wales), John Chinaman Crow-eater, Esq. (South Australia), or hot-headed Master Banana-boy (Queensland).
1895		‘Banjo’ Paterson ‘An Idyll of Dandaloo’ Man from Snowy River (1902) 40: All the cornstalks from the West, / On ev’ry kind of moke and screw, / Came forth in all their glory drest.
1903		J. Furphy Such is Life 35: I’m a Cornstalk, born in New South Wales.
1909		N.Z. Observer 9 Oct. 13/1: No thanks, Johnny Cornstalk.
1911		E.S. Sorenson Dissertation of Travellers in Life in the Aus. Backblocks 66: The Cornstalk doesn’t much care how he rolls his [swag]; he merely objects to bulk and weight.
1918		Kia Ora Coo-ee 15 June 4/3: During target practice with the guns the other day, a lanky Cornstalk was sent to the officers’ cook to obtain paste for the target, and as Old Bill was absent, he helped himself to three bowls which had been placed on a shelf in the Mess.
1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 64: Cornstalks, The: The Australians.
1945		Baker Aus. Lang. 185: The many expressions we have developed to describe those who are Australians [...] cornstalk, cornstalker, gumsucker, Aussie.
1949		Sun. Herald (Sydney) 30 Jan. 65/8: Scratch [...] a Sandgroper or a Cornstalk [...] and you’ll find an Australian.
1955		N. Pulliam I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 232/1: cornstalk (cornstalker) – an Australian.
1958		R. Ward Aus. Legend 54: Probably more and better food and an active, out-door life did make the average ‘Cornstalk’ taller and more slender than the average Briton.
1965		B. Wannan Fair Go, Spinner 175: They were not admired by the Croweaters and Cornstalks and Gumsuckers.
1978		T. Davies More Aus. Nicknames 2: Cornstalks come from New South Wales.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 75: cornstalks [come] from New South Wales.