Jumbuck is an Australian term for a male

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated ...

, and is featured in

Banjo Paterson Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, (17 February 18645 February 1941) was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the ...

's poem "

Waltzing Matilda "Waltzing Matilda" is a song developed in the Australian style of poetry and folk music called a bush ballad. It has been described as the country's "unofficial national anthem". The title was Australian slang for travelling on foot (waltzing) ...

Terminology

The word may come from a

Gamilaraay The Gamilaraay, also known as Gomeroi, Kamilaroi, Kamillaroi and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose lands extend from New South Wales to southern Queensland. They form one of the four largest Indigenous nations in Au ...

(

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

) word, ''dhimba'', of unknown meaning. A different

etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...

was offered by Edward Morris in 1898: "Jumbuck is aboriginal pidgin-English for sheep. Often used in the bush. The origin of this word was long unknown. It is thus explained by Mr. Meston, in the '' Sydney Bulletin'', April 18, 1896: The word ''jumbuck'' for sheep appears originally as ''jimba, jombock, dombock'', and ''dumbog''. In each case it meant the white mist preceding a shower, to which a flock of sheep bore a strong resemblance. It seemed the only thing the aboriginal mind could compare it to." In an account of "The Murray Expedition", published in the ''

Southern Australian ''The South Australian'' was a newspaper published in Adelaide, the capital of colonial South Australia from 2 June 1838 to 19 August 1851. Between 1838 and 1844, it was published as The ''Southern Australian.'' History ''The Southern Australia ...

'' on 6 July 1841, the following passage occurs: "...we found that the whole of the sheep had long before been slaughtered, as we saw their carcasses and bones thrown about in vast heaps in various places where the blacks had formed large encampments, and had folded the sheep; and though we saw and chased thirteen natives, (the only number seen on our side of the river, though numerous enough, on the other), they were ever too closer to the water's edge to admit of our securing them, for they took to the river when driven through the high reeds on its banks, and which rose above our heads when on horseback, and thus, from the want of boats, escaped us, though only a few yards distant. They might, all with certainty, have been shot, but when they found we would not fire, the villains laughed at and mocked us, roaring out "plenty sheepy," "plenty jumbuck," (another name of theirs for sheep)..." The

Taungurung The Taungurung people, also spelt ''Daung Wurrung'', are an Aboriginal people who are one of the Kulin nations in present-day Victoria, Australia. They consist of nine clans whose traditional language is the Taungurung language. Their Country ...

word 'white clouds' is ''dumbok''.

References

{{Reflist Australian English Livestock in Australia