gidgee

gidgee

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɪd͡ʒi/

• Audio (Southern England)

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Etymology 1

Borrowed from Wiradhuri gijir.

Alternative forms

• gidgea, gidyea

Noun

gidgee (plural gidgees)

1. (Australia) Any of various trees of the genus Acacia, especially Acacia cambagei. [from 19th c.]
   • 1890, Joseph Henry Maiden, Wattles and Wattle-barks: Being Hints on the Conservation and Cultivation of Wattles, Together with Particulars of Their Value:

     Acacia homalophylla, A. Cunn., B. Fl., ii., 383. "Curly or Narrow-leaved Yarran." A "Myall." Called also "Gidgee."

   • 1964, Stan Coster (lyrics and music), “By a Fire of Gidgee Coal”:

     Since my early days of droving the years have taken toll, / But I somehow miss my swag wrap by a fire of gidgee coal.

   • 1997, Alexis Wright, Plains of Promise, in Heiss & Minter, Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature, Allen & Unwin 2008, p. 186:

     Although he lay with some sense of security beneath a gidgee tree, his father's totem, he was brooding about how he could get rid of the pigeons.

Etymology 2

From Nyunga gidji.

Alternative forms

• gidgie

Noun

gidgee (plural gidgees)

1. (Australia) A type of long spear, especially in Western Australia. [from 19th c.]
   • 1965, Mudrooroo, Wild Cat Falling, HarperCollins 2001, p. 12:

     “What say we catch gilgies? I've got a gidgee hidden down the river bank. There's some real big ones this time of year.”

   • 2007, Craig Silvey, Jasper Jones, Allen & Unwin, published 2007, page 96:

     I take up the shovel and hold it aloft like a gidgee, but the centipede has disappeared.

   • 2017, Thomas Wilson, Stepping Off: Rewilding and Belonging in the South-West:

     The locals fished by herding fish into the sandy shallows and spearing them with their gidgees.