Green’s Dictionary of Slang

Collins Street farmer n.

also Collins Street cocky, ...grazier
[Collins Street, the financial and social centre of Melbourne; note (US agricultural) suitcase farmer, ‘a term used of farmers on the Great Plains who put in a crop of wheat in the fall and come back to harvest it the next summer, after having spent the winter in their permanent homes elsewhere’ (R. Diller, Farm Ownership, Tenancy, & Land Use (1941)); similarly sidewalk farmer, those who live in urban areas and drive to the country to care for their crops and livestock]

(Aus.) a businessman who owns or shares a farm from which he takes annual profits but rarely visits.

Show quotations
Parliamentary Debates (Aus. Parliament) 2044/1: Since Labour assumed office in Canberra it has taken privileges away from the Collins-street ‘farmer’.
B. Vernon A Big Day at Bell Bird 114: Unfortunate farmers like Atkins forced off their land so that Collins Street graziers can take over! [GAW4].
[Aus]R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 41: Pitt Street Farmer: A Sydney expression which [...] [m]eans that someone is using country property losses for city advantages. The Melbourne expression is Collins Street Farmer.
[Aus]Aus. Word Map 🌐 Collins Street cocky one who owns a country property, often for tax loss purposes, but who lives and works in Melbourne.
G. Disher Straight, bent, and barbara Vine 92: The family has bred horses here for generations whereas I’m new, no better than a Collins Street farmer [...] in their eyes.
(ref. to 1980s) ‘Vic Country Hour’ on ABC Radio 21 Aug. [radio] In the 1980’s farm investment from the big end of town was booming, the so-called Collins Street farmer was a common sight, the moleskins and the four wheel drive. But that enthusiasm has waned as commodity prices fell, tax changes have made any losses less attractive to write off, and the stock market has been booming.
[[Aus]P. Temple Truth 95: Her husband, Keith, usually called a farmer, he would have soft Collins Street hands].