Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus.) madness, eccentricity; usu. as have/get the darling pea, to act eccentrically.

1889		T. Quin Well-Sinkers 101: ‘The man’s mad!’ [...] ‘No,’ said Peter. [...] ‘he’s got a touch of what we call the Darling Pea.’.
1894		M. Roberts Red Earth 246: When you say a man has ‘got the Darling pea’ you mean that loneliness and desolation – the heat of the sun, and [...] the lack of all the natural outlets of humanity – have made him less than human, that he is mad.
1904		L.M. Palmer-Archer Bush Honeymoon 76: We had about sixty shepherds, and now and then one would get ‘Darling Pea’ (become insane), and cut his throat, or hang himself.
1908		G. Seagram Bushman All 224: He’s got the Darling Pea right enough. Mad as a hatter.
1918		A.J. Campbell Renaming Aus. Birds 29: The Darlin’ pea is drivin’ men an’ cattle off their chump [AND].

a minimal amount of rainfall accompanying a dust-storm, thus the dust-storm itself.

1869		Maitland Mercury (NSW) 11 Feb. 1/6: [There are] storms; but they are merely clouds of dust, sometimes accompanied by Darling showers — that is, two drops to the acre — and only serve to tantalize us in our need.
1878		Maitland Mercury (NSW) 14 Mar. 7/4: [O]ne of our celebrated ‘Darling showers’ [...] An almost solid wall of dust that forced itself into every crack and crevice.
1881		Australasian (Melbourne) 13 Aug. 7/2: ‘I believe we’re going to have rough weather at last,’ I said [...] ‘Very likely it’ll only be a Darling shower after all, one drop to the acre, wild as it looks’.
1891		Sydney Morn. Herald 24 Feb. 5/7: [Y]esterday was a most disagreeable day, ending in a thunderstorm, accompanied by Darling showers.
1907		Morn. Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld) 22 Nov. 3/5: [T]he resultant storm was a ‘Darling shower,’ and a pretty severe one at that The dust swept over the town for quite a long time.
1914		Winner (Melbourne) 16 Sept. 7/7: [A] ‘Darling shower,’ was raging, and the only thing perceptible was the whirling dust and sand of the parched surrounding paddocks.
1925		Nat. Advocate (Bathurst, NSW) 13 Oct.2/3: A puckish breeze set iron roofs rattling [...] Clouds of dust were swirling every where. People called it a ‘Darling Shower’.
1931		Narromine News (NSW) 18 Sept. 8/3: [A] violent blinding dust-storm swept over the town in gushes, and at times severe darkness prevailed. This class of weather is known as the ‘Darling Showers’.
1943		Western Star (Toowoomba, Qld) 24 Sept. 2/3: tho worst dust-storm experienced [...] for some years past struck the town yesterday. It was a real ‘Darling’ shower.
1952		Nat. Advocate (Bathurst, NSW) 28 Jan. 3/1: Something Like Heat [...] 112.5 degrees in the shade. Terrific Darling shower, but no rain.
1979		Concise Encyc. Aus. I 337: DARLING SHOWER. Colloquial name for a duststorm in western NSW. ‘Cobar Shower’ and ‘Wilcannia Shower’ have similar meaning. ‘Bedourie Shower’ in Qld.
1994		Wilde et al. Oxon. Companion to Aus. Lit. 217: [S]uch outback humorisms as a ‘Darling shower’, i.e. a clap of thunder, two drops of rain and a dust-storm.

see Murrumbidgee whaler under Murrumbidgee n.