colonial
experience--into dairyman, knockabout man, bullock-driver,
and finally stock-rider."

<hw>Knock-down</hw>, <i>v</i>. generally of a cheque. To spend
riotously, usually in drink.

1869. Marcus Clarke, `Peripatetic Philosopher' (reprint),
p. 80:

"Last night! went knocking round with Swizzleford and
Rattlebrain. C'sino, and V'ri'tes. Such a lark! Stole two
Red Boots and a Brass Hat. Knocked down thirteen notes, and
went to bed as tight as a fly!"

1871. J. J. Simpson, `Recitations,' p. 9:

"Hundreds of diggers daily then were walking Melbourne town,
With their pockets fill'd with gold, which they very soon
knock'd down."

1882. A. J. Boyd, `Old Colonials,' p. 6:

"Cashed by the nearest publican, who of course never handed
over a cent. A man was compelled to stay there and knock his
cheque down `like a man'"

1885. H. Finch-Hatton,' Advance Australia,' p. 222:

"A system known as `knocking down one's cheque' prevails all
over the unsettled parts of Australia. That is to say, a man
with a cheque, or a sum of money in his possession, hands it
over to the publican, and calls for drinks for himself and his
friends, until the publican tells him he has drunk out his
cheque."

1887. R. M. Praed, `Longleat of Kooralbyn,' c. xviii. p. 182:

"The illiterate shearer who knocks down his cheque in a spree."

<hw>Koala</hw>, <hw>Coola</hw>, or <hw>Kool-la</hw>,
<i>n</i>. aboriginal name for <i>Native Bear</i> (q.v.); genus,
<i>Phascolarctus</i> (q.v.). A variant of an aboriginal word
meaning a big animal. In parts of South Australia koola means
a kangaroo.

1813. `History of New South Wales' (1818), p. 432:

"The koolah or sloth is likewise an animal of the opossum
species, with a false belly. This creature is from a foot and
a half to two feet in length, and takes refuge in a tree, where
he discovers his haunt by devouring all the leaves before he
quits it."

1849. J. Gould, `Proceedings of the Zoological Society of
London,' November:

"The light-coloured mark on the rump, somewhat resembling that
on the same part of the Koala . . . the fur is remarkable for
its extreme density and for its resemblance to that of the
Koala."

<hw>Kohekohe</hw>, <i>n</i>. Maori name for a New Zealand
tree, sometimes called Cedar, <i>Dysoxylum spectabile</i>,
Hook (<i>N.O. Meliaceae</i>).

1883. Hector, `Handbook of New Zealand,' p. 127:

"Kohekohe. A large forest tree, forty to fifty feet hi