Also -bi(e, -bee, walloby, whallabee. Pl. wallabies, † -bys. [Native Australian: spelt wal-li-bah by D. Collins, Acc. Eng. Colony N.S. Wales, 614, 1798. Morris suggests derivation from walla to leap.]
1. A kangaroo belonging to any of the small species of the genus Macropus, formerly grouped as the sub-genus Halmaturus, or of the genera Onychogale (‘Nail-tailed Wallaby’), Petrogale (‘Rock Wallaby’), Lagorchestes (‘Hare Wallaby’) and Lagostrophus (‘Banded Wallaby’). All the species are confined to Australia and the neighboring islands.
The sing. form is used in sporting language as collective plural.
1828. P. Cunningham, N. S. Wales (ed. 3), I. 289. The wallabee and paddymalla grow to about sixty pounds each.
1830. R. Dawson, Pres. State Australia, iii. (1831), 111. A species of small kangaroo … which the natives call the ‘Walloby.’
1832. Bischoff, Van Diemen’s Land, II. 28. The wallabee is not very common.
1843. J. E. Gray, List Specim. Mammalia Brit. Mus., 89. The Whallabee. Halmaturus Ualabatus [etc.].
1845. J. O. Balfour, Sk. N. S. Wales, 25. The wallaby, or rock kangaroo, is of a dark-grey colour [etc.]. Ibid. The wallabys are to be seen only on the hottest days.
1846. J. L. Stokes, Discov. in Australia, I. ix. 267. The Wallaby are numerous on this part of the island [Tasmania].
1860. G. Bennett, Gather. Naturalist, xiv. 286. A species of Wallaby Kangaroo was found about the rocky ranges at the Nepean.
1867. W. Richardson, Tasmanian Poems, 18. Go to the country a week to shoot wallaby.
1884. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Melbourne Mem., iii. 24. Violet was so fast that she could catch the brush kangaroo (the wallaby) within sight.
1893. Mrs. C. Praed, Outlaw & Lawmaker, II. 35. The scared rock wallabies darted out of their holes.
2. On the wallaby track, hence shortened on the wallaby: on tramp; wandering about on foot, whether in search of work or aimlessly as a vagrant.
1864. The Age (Melbourne), 16 April, 6/1. I obtained a short job of shearing some scabby sheep, which I finished in ten days, when I found myself once more upon what bushmen call the ‘Wallaby track.’
1869. Marcus Clarke, Peripatetic Philosopher, 41 (Morris). An old bush ditty, which I have heard sung when I was on the ‘Wallaby.’
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer, ix. What is the meaning of ‘out on the wallaby’?… It’s bush slang, sir, for men just as you or I might be now, looking for work or something to eat. Ibid., xxvii. He wanted a summer on the wallaby track to open his mind.
1896. Kipling, Seven Seas, Lost Legion, ii. And some of us hunt on the Oil Coast, And some on—the Wallaby track.
3. attrib., as in wallaby skin, tail; wallaby (-proof) fence, a fence intended to keep out wallabies; wallaby-grass, an Australian grass, Danthonia penicillata.
1852. Mundy, Antipodes, ii. 43. I found myself … swallowing with relish, a plate of wallabi-tail soup.
1881. Gentl. Mag., Jan., 56. A portion of this station was fenced with wallaby-proof fence—a high, close paling, reminding one of an English park.
1890. Melbourne Argus, 13 June, 6/2. A wallaby-skin rug.
1897. Outing, XXX. 138/2. Down the wallaby fence … the emus turned at a hurricane gait.
