Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus.) a generic term for a bushman.

1910

Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Nov. 15: Barcoo Bill: ‘And kin yer write on a hempty stummick?’.

(Aus.) a form of scurvy.

1833		Aus. Town & Country Jrnl (NSW) 10 Nov. 26/3: In the absence of which Worcester sauce, painkiller and farmers’ friend were brought into requisition, of the sore eyes, ‘Barcoo rot,’ and ‘Belyando spew’.
1870		E.B. Kennedy Four Years in Queensland 46: Land scurvy is better known in Queensland by local names [...] such as ‘Barcoo rot,’ [...] it is simply the festering of any cut or scratch on one’s legs, arms or hands.
1882		Brisbane Courier (Qls) 19 Dec. n.p.: Those classical maladies called the Barcoo rot and the Bellyando spew.
1890		C. Lumholtz Among Cannibals 58: In Western Queensland people are also subject to bad sores on the hand, called barcoo-rot. They take months to heal.. . Want of vegetables is assigned as the cause.
1894		Queenslander (Brisbane) 27 Oct. 788/1: There’s Bathurst burr [...] Ticks and Belyando spew, / There’s Barcoo rot and sandy blight.
1898–9		H. Lawson ‘A Vision of Sandy Blight’ in Roderick (1972) 310: We talked of sandy blight, and fly-bite and sand-flies [...] and branched off to Barcoo rot.
1900–10		Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.].
1901		Bulletin (Sydney) 19 Oct. 14/4: [S]altbush is a fair substitute for vegetables, and stops the dreaded ‘Barcoo rot,’ if taken early and properly cooked (boiled like young greens.).
1911		Sun. Times (Perth) 26 Feb. 12/4: [advt] Mayhew’s ointment for Barcoo Rot.
1915		F. Garrett diary 3 July 🌐 Owing to a lot of barcoo rot being prevalent at Anzac [...] our allowance of jam has been increased to ½ tin per man.
1925		Western Mail (Perth) 30 July 3/2: There has been much talk in the columns about barcoo sickness [...] Barcoo rot, and barcoo ‘spues’, as it is commonly called in the bush. Barcoo rot is, I think, in the blood.
1939		West Australian (Perth) 18 Jan. 9/1: Barcoo rot or barcoo sickness are diseases which are more prevalent in Australia.
1945		Baker Aus. Lang. 62: Barcoo rot, Kennedy rot or Queensland sore, a festering sore difficult to cure under inland conditions — it rapidly disappears when the sufferer eats plenty of fruit or green vegetables.
1956		Argus (Melbourne) 17 Feb. 4/4: On the Barcoo / Where they eat nardoo / Jumbuck gibklets and pig-weed stew / Fever and ague / and scurvy plague you / And the Barcoo rot.
1957		J. Greenway ‘Aus. Cattle Lingo’ in AS XXXIII:3 164: barcoo rot, n. Sores caused by irritation and lack of vegetable food.
1968		R.D. Magoffin We Bushies 56: Have you never seen / A man with Barcoo Rot?
1986		R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 7: Barcoo rot: A form of scurvy caused by the bushworker’s diet of corned beef and damper.
1996		B. Scott Banshee and Bullocky 64: No tobacco means that you don’t get your vitamins, and you’re likely to get scurvy and Barcoo rot.

(Aus.) a characteristic gesture in Australia of brushing away flies from one’s face.

1954		in P. Adam-Smith Barcoo Salute (1974) [title page] ‘I see you’ve learnt the Barcoo salute,’ said a Buln Buln Shire Councillor to the Duke of Edinburgh. ‘What’s that,’ said His Royal Highness, waving his hand again to brush the flies off his face. ‘That’s it,’ said the man from the bush.
1974		Sydney Morning Herald 23 Apr. 6: The humble, if ubiquitous, bushfly is not only responsible for our national habit, the Barcoo salute, but is also the feature of Australia most often commented on by overseas visitors [GAW4].
1993		D. Waterhouse 16 Sept. 🌐 There is a story of how Australians are always very friendly, because when you see them in the bush they’re doing what is called the ‘Barcoo salute’. That doesn’t mean that they’re waving at you, but just waving the flies off their nose.

1. a curlew between two sheets of bark.

1968

W.N. Scott Some People 120: Before he went he taught the little bloke [...] how to make a Barcoo Sandwich, which is a curlew between two sheets of bark [AND].

2. a goanna between two sheets of bark.

1976

B. Scott Complete Bk of Aus. Folk Lore 380: A Barcoo sandwich is a goanna between two sheets of bark, or a double rum between two beers.

3. a double rum between two beers.

1976

see sense 2.

(Aus.) three drinks for half-a-crown (12.5p); a bargain at a time when drinks were usu. a shilling (5p) each.

1905		Newsletter (Sydney) 11 Mar. 22/3: Writer remembers when north and west of Rockhampton (Q.), all drinks were 1s, unless you could ring in on the publican a ‘Barcoo shout,’ three drinks for 2s 6d, at which some publicans growled.
1912		Advertiser (Adelaide) 1 June 7/5: The barcoo shout — three drinks for half a crown.
1915		Brisbane Courier 30 Sept. 8/4: A laughable story about an immigrant and a ‘Barcoo shout’.
[1919		Bulletin (Sydney) 20 Mar. 22/1: West of Winton (Q) a gargle costs a bob. A pound-note buys 20 drinks; but if three thirsts breast the bar and place thereon a half-crown, it buys the three drinks].
1936		Bulletin (Sydney) 8 Apr. 21/4: Remember the ‘Barcoo shout,’ when, though drinks were a bob a time, a man could claim three for half-a-crown.

(Aus.) severe vomiting brought on by drinking bad water and often accompanied by attacks of dysentery.

1889		Sth Aus. Register (Adelaide) 8 Feb. 6/1: A slight dsysentery [...] what is termed ‘Barcoo Spew’, similar to the complaint prevalent [in] North Queensland, where it is known as ‘Belyando Spew’.
1898		E.E. Morris Austral Eng. 20/1: Barcoo Vomit, n. a sickness occurring in inhabitants of various parts of the high land of the interior of Australia. It is characterized by painless attacks of vomiting, occurring immediately after food is taken, followed by hunger, and recurring as soon as hunger is satisfied.
1900–10		Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 10: BARCOO VOMIT.
1919		North. Territory Times (Darwin) 15 Nov. 13/2: The barcoot rot, the barcoo spew, /The prickly heat, and dysentrew / [...] All caused by a little fly.
1925		Western Mail (Perth) 30 July 3/2: Barcoo spues has always affected me in the following way. I can be having a hearty meal [...] when suddenly I have to rush from the table and be sick.
1927		Mail (Adelaide) 25 June 15/2: Barcoo spew [...] is like being violently seasick, only if possible, more so.
1933		W.H. Fysh Taming the North 218: ‘Barcoo Spew’ or ‘Belyando Spew’ was common also, and appeared in the form of a sudden and violent urge to be ill, often in the middle of a meal.
1945		Baker Aus. Lang. 62: Barcoo spew, Barcoo vomit [...] a sickness characterized by vomiting after food is taken.
1957		D. Niland Call Me When the Cross Turns Over (1958) 52: I got the Barcoo spews [...] A cow of a thing.