-oak and its soft sappy wood . . ."

1890. `The Argus,' June 14, p. 4, col. 2:

"I came to a little clump of sheoaks, moaning like living
things."

1895. `Notes and Queries,' Aug. 3, p. 87:

"The process followed by the Australian colonists when they
converted a native word for the Casuarina trees into
`she-oak.'"

1896. H. Lawson, `When the World was Wide,' p. 204:

"The creek went down with a broken song,
'Neath the she-oaks high;
The waters carried the song along,
And the oaks a sigh."

(2) Slang name for colonial beer.

1888. Cassell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol. iii. p. 83:

"Their drivers had completed their regulation half-score of
`long-sleevers' of `she-oak.'"

1890. Rolf Boldrewood,' Miner's Right,' c. vi. p. 59:

"Then have a glass of beer--it's only she-oak, but there's
nothing wrong about it."

<hw>She-Oak nets</hw>, nets placed on each side of a gangway
from a ship to the pier, to prevent sailors who have been
indulging in <i>she-oak</i> (beer) falling into the water.

<hw>Shepherd</hw>, <i>v</i>. (1) to guard a mining claim
and do a little work on it, so as to preserve legal rights.

1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 135:

"Few of their claims however are actually `bottomed,' for the
owners merely watch their more active contemporaries."

(Footnote): "This is termed `shepherding' a claim."

1890. `Goldfields of Victoria,' p. 11:

"All the ground . . . is held in blocks which are being
merely shepherded."

(2) By transference from (1). To follow or hang about a person
in the hopes of getting something out of him. Compare similar
use of <i>shadow</i>.

1896. Modern:

"The robbers knowing he had so much coin about him, determined
to shepherd him till an opportunity occurred of robbery with
impunity."

<hw>Shepherd</hw>, <i>n</i>. a miner who holds a claim but does
not work it.

188-. `Argus' (date lost):

"The term `jumper,' being one of reproach, brought quite a yell
from the supporters of the motion. Dr. Quick retorted with a
declaration that the Grand Junction Company were all
`shepherds,' and that `shepherds' are the worse of the two
classes. The `jumpers' sat in one gallery and certain
representatives or deputy `shepherds' in the other. Names are
deceitful. . . . The Maldon jumpers were headed by quite a
venerable gentleman, whom no one could suspect of violent
exercise nor of regrettable designs upon the properties of his
neigh