wurleys

Noun

wurley (plural wurleys)

1. (Australia, South) An Australian indigenous shelter made from small branches with the leaves still attached.
   • I took a walk amongst them [the First Nations of the Adelaide Plains] who were in their wurlies, saw a collection of naked boys and girls, men and women, either entirely or half so. They are quite innocent in this respect and the women think nothing of (stalking) bolt upright in perfect nudity.1844, Irene [Margaret] Watson, quoting William Anderson Cawthorne, “Naked: The Coming of the Cloth”, in Aboriginal Peoples, Colonialism and International Law: Raw Law (Indigenous Peoples and the Law...
2. (Australia, South, broadly) A settlement made up of such shelters.
   • But latterly they came in good numbers, and commenced a nightly system of annoyance by dancing their corroberies:[…]. Finding remonstrance of no avail, one evening, when they were all seated quietly at the wurlie [footnote: Encampment.], I fired a charge of small shot into the midst of them, and...1846, “a squatter” pseudonym of E. Lloyd, “Biographical Sketch”, in A Visit to the Antipodes: With Some Reminiscences of a Sojourn in Australia, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 65, Cornhill, →OCLC...