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V-hut . a term used in the province of Canterbury, New Zealand. See quotations.
1857. R. B. Paul, 'Letters from Canterbury,' p. 57:
'The form is that of a V hut, the extremities of the rafters being left bare, so as to form buttresses to the walls' (of the church).
1863. S. Butler, 'First Year in Canterbury,' p. 73:
'I am now going to put up a V-hut on the country that I took up on the Rangitata. . . . It consists of a small roof set up on the ground; it is a hut all roof and no walls.'
1879. C. L.Innes, 'Canterbury Sketches,' p. 20:
'In case my readers may not know what a 'V' hut is like, I will describe one:--It is exactly as if you took the roof off a house and stood it on the ground, you can only stand upright in the middle.'
1896. Jan. A Traveller's note:
'Not long ago a Canterbury lady said--'I was born in a V-hut, and christened in a pie-dish.''
Van Diemen's Land . the name given to the colony now called Tasmania, by Abel Jansz Tasman, the Dutch navigator, in 1642, after Anthony Van Diemen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. The name was changed to Tasmania (q.v.) in 1853, on the granting of Responsible Government.
Vandemonian, n. and adj. belonging to Van Diemen's land, the old name of Tasmania; generally used of the convicts of the early days; and the demon in the word is a popular application of the law of Hobson-Jobson. Now obsolete.
1852. G. C. Mundy, 'Our Antipodes,' (edition 1855), p. 533:
'The Van Diemonians, as they unpleasingly call themselves, or permit themselves to be called, are justly proud of their horse-flesh.'
1853. S. Sidney, 'Three Colonies of Australia' (2nd edit.), p. 171:
'One of the first acts of the Legislative Assemblies created by the Australian Reform Bill of 1850 was to pass . . . acts levelled against Van Diemonian expirees.'
1855. W. Howitt, 'Two Years in Victoria,' vol. i, p. 367:
'Unquestionably some of the Van Diemenian convicts.'
1867. 'Cassell's Magazine,' p. 440:
''I never wanted to leave England,' I have heard an old Vandemonian observe boastfully. 'I wasn't like one of these 'Jemmy Grants' (cant term for 'emigrants'); I could always earn a good living; it was the Government as took and sent me out.'
Vandemonianism, n. rowdy conduct like that of an escaped convict; the term is now obsolete.
1863. 'Victorian Hansard,' April 22, vol. ix. p. 701:
'Mr. Houston looked upon the conduct of hon. gentlemen opposite as ranging from the extreme of vandemonianism to the extreme of nambypambyism.'
Vedalia, n. a genus of greedily predatory ladybirds. The V. cardinalis of Australia was imported by the United States Government from Australia and New Zealand into California in 1888-89, in order to kill the fluted scale (Icerya purchasi), a fruit-pest. It destroyed the scale in nine months.
Velvet-fish, n. name given in Tasmania to the fish Holoxenus cutaneus, Guenther., family Cirrhitidae. The skin is covered with minute appendages, so soft to the touch as to suggest velvet; the colour is deep purplish red.
Verandah, n. In Australia, the heat of the sun makes verandahs much commoner than in England. They are an architectural feature of all dwelling-houses in suburb or in bush, and of most City shops, where they render the broad side-walks an almost continuous arcade. 'Under the Verandah ' has acquired the meaning, 'where city men most do congregate.'
1873. A. Trollope, 'Australia and New Zealand,' c. xxvii. p. 418:
'In Melbourne there is the 'verandah'; in Sandhurst there is a 'verandah'; in Ballaarat there is a 'verandah.' The verandah is a kind of open exchange--some place on the street pavement, apparently selected by chance, on which the dealers in mining shares do congregate.'
1895. Modern. Private Letter of an Australian on Tour:
'What I miss most in London is the Verandahs. With this everlasting rain there is no place to get out of a shower, as in Melbourne. But I suppose it pays the umbrella-makers.'
Victoria, n. the name of the smallest of all the Australian colonies. It was separated from New South Wales in 1851, when it was named after Queen Victoria. Sir Thomas Mitchell had before given it the name of 'Australia Felix,' and Dr. J. D. Lang wanted the name 'Phillipsland.' He published a book with that title in 1847. Previous to separation, the name used was 'the Port Phillip District of New South Wales.'
Village Settlement . the system, first adopted in New Zealand, whence it spread to the other colonies, of settling families on the land in combination. The Government usually helps at first with a grant of money as well as granting the land.
Vine, n. In Australia, the word is loosely applied to many trailing or creeping plants, which help to form scrubs and thickets. In the more marked cases specific adjectives are used with the word. See following words.
1849. J. P. Townsend, 'Rambles in New South Wales,' p. 22:
'With thick creepers, commonly called 'vines.''
1881. A. C. Grant, 'Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. ii. p. 21:
'Impenetrable vine-scrubs line the river-banks at intervals.'
1890. C. Lumholtz, 'Among Cannibals,' p. 25:
'Vitis in great abundance and of many varieties are found especially in the scrubs, hence the colonists call this sort of brush, vine-scrub.'
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