G'day Gary T,

Well, at least Steve parkes did know what a swaggie was ... We think everyone has hear Waltzing Matilda some time. A swaggie or swagman is someone getting around the country on foot, carrying his possessions rolled in a swag (usually an old blanket, strapped up with a couple of carrying straps).

He is (was) usually an seasonal or itinerant worker, eking out his last paycheck by sleeping rough where ever nightfall finds him - cadging rations and a bit more sleeping comfort from any stations (~ ranches) he passes. If really desperate, he might even do some work for rations.

However, the large station owners knew they depended on itinerant workers, so it was customary to hand out some variation of "Ten, ten, one and a half" (Ten pounds of flour, ten pounds of meat, one pound of sugar and half a pound of tea) to genuine itinerants. This would last them until they reached the next station - often several days away!

Interestingly, most swaggies vanished with the coming of affordable pushbikes. You could cover a lot of country on a bike ... and it didn't need feeding while you worked a shearing season, or similar. These days the seasonal bush worker would probably own a fairly tired (if not rusty) Holden ute ... or a Toyota 4wd!

Utilities are fairly common working vehicles here. Mechanically they will be identical with a sedan from the same maker's range and they usually have only two seats, but are fairly presentable vehicles. They are however, definitely working class, and no relation to fat leisure vehicles of any persuasion.

To "shoot throught" is to depart quickly (and often unannounced). The full expression in Sydney used to be "shoot through like a Bondi tram", but trams (trolleys?) haven't run to Bondi (famous beach suburb) ... or anywhere else in Sydney ... for nearly 40 years,except for a flash new one that is really a light rail train and gets from the CBD to a couple of trendy inner suburbs.

Regards,

Bob Bolton