"The colonial term scrub, of frequent and convenient use in the
description of Australian scenery, is applicable to dense
assemblages of harsh wild shrubbery, tea-tree, and other of the
smaller and crowded timber of the country, and somewhat
analogous to the term jungle."

1859. H. Kingsley, `Geoffrey Hamlyn,' vol. ii. p. 155
[Footnote]:

"<i>Scrub</i>. I have used, and shall use, this word so often
that some explanation is due to the English reader. I can give
no better definition of it than by saying that it means
`shrubbery.'"

1864. J. McDouall Stuart, `Exploration in Australia,' p. 153:

"At four miles arrived on the top, through a very thick scrub
of mulga."

1873. A. Trollope, `Australia and New Zealand,' c. v. p. 78:

"Woods which are open and passable--passable at any rate for men
on horseback--are called bush. When the undergrowth becomes,
thick and matted, so as to be impregnable without an axe, it is
scrub."

[Impregnability is not a necessary point of the definition.
There is "light" scrub, and "heavy" or "thick" scrub.]

1883. G. W. Rusden, `History of Australia,' vol. i. p. 67
[Note]:

"Scrub was a colonial term for dense undergrowth, like that of
the mallee-scrub."

1885. R. M. Praed, `Australian Life,' p. 7:

"Where . . . a belt of scrub lies green, glossy, and
impenetrable as Indian bungle."

(p. 8): "The nearest scrub, in the thickets of which the Blacks
could always find an impenetrable stronghold."

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 36:

"A most magnificent forest of trees, called in Australia a
`scrub,' to distinguish it from open timbered country."

1890. J. McCarthy and R. M. Praed, `Ladies' Gallery,' p. 252:

"Why, I've been alone in the scrub--in the desert, I mean; you
will understand that better."

1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals,' p. 374:

"One more prominent feature in Australian vegetation are the
large expanses of the so-called `scrub' of the colonists. This
is a dense covering of low bushes varying in composition in
different districts, and named according to the predominating
element."

1893. A. R. Wallace, `Australasia,' vol. i. p. 46:

"Just as Tartary is characterised by its steppes, America by
its prairies, and Africa by its deserts, so Australia has one
feature peculiar to itself, and that is its `scrubs.'. . .
One of the most common terms used by explorers is `Mallee'
scrub, so called from its being composed of dwarf sp