Jackaroo
Origin
Obscure. Possibly from an Aboriginal term meaning ‘wandering white man’.
Alternative forms
Full definition of jackaroo
Noun
jackaroo
(plural jackaroos)- (Australia, Queensland, obsolete) A white man living outside white settlement.
- (Australia) A trainee station manager or owner, working as a stockman or farm hand; formerly, a young man of independent means working at a station in a supernumerary capacity to gain experience.
- 1895, Banjo Paterson, Saltbush Bill, The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, %22jackeroo%22+-intitle:%22jackaroo|jackeroo%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=h1OMT8nlDbDwmAXslKnDCQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22jackaroo%22|%22jackeroo%22%20-intitle%3A%22jackaroo|jackeroo%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false page 37,But this is the tale of a Jackaroo that came from a foreign strand,
And the fight that he fought with Saltbush Bill, the King of the Overland. - 1964, Russel Braddock Ward, The Penguin Book of Australian Ballads, %22jackeroo%22+-intitle:%22jackaroo|jackeroo%22+-inauthor:%22%22&dq=%22jackaroo%22|%22jackeroo%22+-intitle:%22jackaroo|jackeroo%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=gE2MT8WhDY3HmQXSq7HYCQ&redir_esc=y page 86,A Jackeroo lived, as a kind of gentleman apprentice, in the squatter′s or manager′s homestead, not in the men′s huts; but most of his daily work was done side by side with the working ‘hands’.
- 1974, The Pastoral Review, Volume 84, %22jackeroo%22+-intitle:%22jackaroo|jackeroo%22+-inauthor:%22%22&dq=%22jackaroo%22|%22jackeroo%22+-intitle:%22jackaroo|jackeroo%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=BlKMT5fbNczmmAW6tvDOCQ&redir_esc=y page 611,Frequently the overseer would come to me and say a certain jackeroo was useless, and would never be any good, when the boy had only just started.
Verb
- (intransitive) To work as a jackaroo.Bill has gone jackarooing out west.