L. Leichhardt, `Overland Expedition,' p. 75:

"The Moreton Bay Ash (a species of <i>Eucalyptus</i>). ..was
here also very plentiful."

<hw>Assigned</hw>, <i>past part</i>. of <i>verb</i> to assign,
to allot. Used as <i>adj</i>. of a convict allotted to a
settler as a servant. Colloquially often reduced to "signed."

1827. `Captain Robinson's Report,' Dec. 23:

"It was a subject of complaint among the settlers, that their
assigned servants could not be known from soldiers, owing to
their dress; which very much assisted the crime of
`bush-ranging.'"

1837. J. D. Lang, `New South Wales,' vol. ii. p. 31

"The assigned servant of a respectable Scotch family residing
near Sydney."

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 75:

"Of the first five persons we saw to Van Diemen's Land, four
were convicts, and perhaps the fifth. These were the assigned
servants of the pilot."

1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 324:

"Under the old practice, the convicts, as soon as they arrived
from Britain, were assigned among the various applicants. The
servant thus assigned was bound to perform diligently, from
sunrise till sunset, all usual and reasonable labour."

<hw>Assignee</hw>, <i>n</i>. a convict assigned as a servant. The
word is also used in its ordinary English sense.

1843. `Penny Cyclopaedia,' vol. xxv. p. 139, col. 2:

"It is comparatively difficult to obtain another
assignee,--easy to obtain a hired servant."

1848. W. Westgarth, `Australia Felix,' p. 324:

"Any instance of gross treatment disqualified him for the
future as an assignee of convict labour."

<hw>Assignment</hw>, <i>n</i>. service as above.

1836. C. Darwin, `Journal of Researches' (1890),
c. xix. p. 324:

"I believe the years of assignment are passed away with
discontent and unhappiness."

1852. John West, `History of Tasmania,' vol. ii. p. 126:

"That form of service, known as assignment, was established by
Governor King in 1804."

1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 117:

"The assignment system was then in operation, and such as
obtained free grants of land were allowed a certain proportion
of convicts to bring it into cultivation."

<hw>Asthma</hw> Herb, Queensland, <i>n. Euphorbia
pilulifera</i>, Linn. As the name implies, a remedy for asthma.
The herb is collected when in flower and carefully dried.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 183:

"This plant, having obtained some reputation in