Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(N.Z.) a euph. for bloody adj.

1859		Bell’s Life in Sydney 23 Apr. 3/3: It would probably be an exaggeration to assess that his guests were the elite of Sydney, still there can be doubt that they think no colonial swankey of themselves.
1892		Taranaki Herald (N.Z.) 3 Nov. 2/8: [heading] Colonial Adjective [...] Attention has been drawn by a correspondent [...] to the habit of swearing among colonial youth [etc.].
[1894		Truth (Sydney) 23 Dec. 3/3: If you want to hear d—d twaddle — to use a colonial phrase — come here].
1901		‘Rolph Boldrewood’ In Bad Company 415: His sobriquet was acquired more through the ebullitions of a harmless vanity than from any of the offensive qualities which the well-worn colonial adjective is wont to imply.
1903		Wanganui Herald (N.Z.) 8 Dec. 6/2: The ‘Observer’ makes the most of his opportunity, by implying that the great colonial adjective was the blanky.
1907		N.Z. Truth 21 Dec. 7/4: A hard-drinking individual with a weakness for the great colonial adjective.
1933		Eve. Post (N.Z.) 17 June 12/6: He demonstrated to the writer [...] the possibilities of the so-called ‘colonial adjective’.

1. (Aus./NZ) a boned roast shoulder (duck) or leg (goose) of mutton stuffed with sage and onions.

1872		Leader (Melbourne) 11 May 19/4: Colonial goose is an article on the bill of fare at some cheap eating houses in the city, which has puzzled their frequenters. They find it rather like very young veal, and extremely toothsome as cheap feeding goes.
1878		Sydney Mail 6 July 10/4: Colonial Goose.— One way to cook a shoulder of mutton is simply to roast it; but a far more tasty dish is to make it into a colonial goose, which is done in the following manner: Take out the bone, then make stuffing of onions and sage, as for ordinary goose, put it in place of the bone and sew it up, then roast.
1880		Sydney Morn. Herald 30 Mar. 1/5: [advert] SCHOOL OF COOKERY, Temperance Hall. [...] Evening Lesson, Tuesday, at 7.30 — Home-made bread, colonial goose, Boston teacakes, stock, rice pudding, rissoles. Admission, 1s 6d.
1894		Star (Canterbury) 6 Jan. 2/1: I give the bill of fare: Roast mutton and colonial goose.
1898		E.E. Morris Austral Eng. 94/2: Colonial goose, n. a boned leg of mutton stuffed with sage and onions.
1900–10		Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 50: COLONIAL GOOSE AND DUCK: colonial duck: a shoulder of mutton with the bone taken out; it is then filled with savoury stuffing and rolled into a form somewhat resembling a roast duck. Colonial goose – a leg of mutton similarly treated.
1916		Sun. Times (Perth) 10 Dec. 95/2: For hashmagandy, for curry-and-rice, for another wing of colonial goose.
1924		West Australian (Perth) 25 Jan. 12/7: 'Colonial Goose' is simply a fancy name for stuffed leg of mutton, prepared as follows: [etc].
1933		(ref. to 1890-1910) L.G.D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs (1951) 370: Colonial goose – Leg of mutton, boned and stuffed.
1945		Baker Aus. Lang. 79: Colonial goose and colonial duck [...] the former is a boned leg of mutton stuffed with sage and onions; the latter is a boned shoulder of mutton treated in the same fashion.
1953		Sydney Morn. Herald 20 June 7/1: Colonial Goose is another truly Australian national dish. It is a boned leg of mutton stuffed with sage, onions and bread-crumbs, and baked.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 30/1: colonial goose boned and stuffed leg of mutton bearing some resemblance to a goose; once regarded as a national dish both sides of the Tasman.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 50: colonial goose Dressed mutton flaps. Originally a boned and stuffed leg or shoulder of mutton, popular when these cuts were less expensive.

2. (Aus.) euph. name for a black swan, as eaten.

1872

Leader (Melbourne) 11 May 19/4: Colonial goose is another term for black swan, which somehow does not look inviting on a carte.

(Aus.) mocking name for a rich man’s son sent to learn how to manage a station (which his father owns).

1895

Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 19: Colonial Experience, the son of a rich townsman working on a station to learn how to manage it.

(Aus.) a bloody nose and a black eye.

1945

(ref. to mid-19C) Baker Aus. Lang. 44: Black eyes were known as a Botany Bay coat of arms or colonial livery.

(US) sexual intercourse.

1944

Maurer & Baker ‘“Aus.” Rhyming Argot’ in AS XIX:3.

(Aus./N.Z.) one shilling.

1869		R.P. Whitworth Grimshaw, Bagshaw and Bradshaw’s Comic Guide to Dunedin 39: Shall we invest in two Colonial Roberts in a seat each in the stalls? [AND].
1885		Australasian Printers’ Keepsake 71: I paid, as he discovered he hadn’t ‘the colonial Robert’ upon him that he thought he had [AND].
1917		Truth (Sydney) 16 Dec. 1/8: It takes 13 bright Colonial Roberts to get your name In the ‘Herald’s’ Roll of Honour [AND].
1972		(ref. to 1912) R.P. Hargreaves From Beads to Banknotes 151: The term ‘colonial Robert’ [...] recorded in 1912 as being a New Zealand term for a ‘bob’ or shilling.

see under my oath! excl.