Jumbuck is an Australian term of Aboriginal origin for a male

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal 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 d ...

, and is featured in

Banjo Paterson Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, (17 February 18645 February 1941) was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author, widely considered one of the greatest writers of Australia's colonial period. Born in rural New South Wales, Paterson worke ...

'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 Gamilaroi, 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 Austr ...

(

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

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

etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

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 a police expedition in 1841 to capture

Maraura The Maraura or Marrawarra people are an Aboriginal group whose traditional lands are located in Far West New South Wales and South Australia, Australia. Language The Maraura spoke the southernmost dialect of Paakantyi. A wordlist of the lang ...

people from the region west of the junction of the Murray and Darling rivers, 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 spelled ''Daung Wurrung'', are 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''. A news report from 1839 noted that Indigenous people from the region around

Yass, New South Wales Yass () is a town on the periphery of the Southern Tablelands and South West Slopes of New South Wales, Australia. The name appears to have been derived from an Australian Aboriginal, Aboriginal word, "Yarrh" (or "Yharr"), said to mean 'running ...

used the word ''jimbuck'' to describe sheep.

References

{{Reflist Australian English Livestock in Australia