"A quantity of hair, a wallaby-skin rug.

<hw>Wallaby track, On the</hw>, or <hw>On the Wallaby</hw>,
or <hw>Out on the Wallaby</hw>, or simply <hw>Wallaby</hw>,
as <i>adj</i>. [slang]. Tramping the country on foot, looking
for work. Often in the bush the only perceptible tracks, and
sometimes the only tracks by which the scrub can be penetrated,
are the tracks worn down by the <i>Wallaby</i>, as a hare
tramples its "form." These tracks may lead to water or they
may be aimless and rambling. Thus the man "<i>on the
wallaby</i>" may be looking for food or for work,
or aimlessly wandering by day and getting food and shelter
as a <i>Sundowner</i> (q.v.) at night.

1869. Marcus Clarke, `Peripatetic Philosopher' (Reprint),
p. 41:

"The Wimmera district is noted for the hordes of vagabond
`loafers' that it supports, and has earned for itself the name
of `The Feeding Track.' I remember an old bush ditty, which I
have heard sung when <i>I</i> was on the `Wallaby.' . . . At
the station where I worked for some time (as `knockabout man')
three cooks were kept during the `wallaby' season--one for the
house, one for the men, and one for the travellers."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `A Colonial Reformer,' p. 82:

"`What is the meaning of `out on the wallaby'?' asked Ernest.
`Well, it's bush slang, sir, for men just as you or I might be
now, looking for work or something to eat; if we can't get
work, living on the country, till things turn round a little.'"

Ibid. p. 388:

"Our friends who pursue the ever-lengthening but not arduous
track of the wallaby in Australia."

1893. Gilbert Parker, `Pierre and his People,' p. 242:

"The wallaby track? That's the name in Australia for trampin'
west, through the plains of the Never Never Country, lookin'
for the luck o' the world."

1894. Longmans' `Notes on Books' (May 31), p. 206:

"`On the Wallaby: a Book of Travel and Adventure.' `On the
Wallaby' is an Australianism for `on the march,' and it is
usually applied to persons tramping the bush in search of
employment."

1894. Jennings Carmichael, in `Australasian,' Dec. 22,
p. 1127, col. 5:

"A `wallaby' Christmas, Jack, old man!--
Well, a worse fate might befall us!
The bush must do for our church to-day,
And birds be the bells to call us.
The breeze that comes from the shore beyond,
Thro' the old gum-branches swinging,
Will do for our solemn organ chords,
And the sound of children singing."

1896.