Green’s Dictionary of Slang

shingle-splitting n.

[SAusE shingle-splitter, a builder of houses, esp. in the outback]

(Aus.) escaping one’s creditors by vanishing into the countryside.

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Hobart Town Almanack 89: When a man gets behindhand with his creditors... and rusticates in the country... he is said to be shingle-splitting [F&H].