Warrabah National Park—a small park on the northern side of the Namoi River, in a setting of huge granite boulders, deep gorges and quiet pools. The gorges were formed by the Namoi River, which cut into the west side of the Great Dividing Range. The sheltered southern slopes contain small pockets of red stringybark, rough-barked apple and Quinn's mallee. Warrabah's vegetation is mainly woodland. The scrub layer is dominated by tea-tree, while the riverbanks support tall stands of river oak, tea-tree and bottlebrush. The park's rocky terrain is an ideal habitat for reptiles, including the copper-tailed skink, southern spotted velvet gecko and the timid red-bellied black snake. Warrabah is one of the few inland river parks in NSW and is located 35km north-east of Manilla and 80km north of Tamworth.

Warrego River—rises in the western fall of the Carnarvon Range east of Augathella in New South Wales.

Warrego-Paroo—the catchment is approximately 130,000sq km. The Warrego River rises in the western fall of the Carnarvon Range east of Augathella. The Paroo River rises in the dissected plateaus between Charleville and Quilpie, although the catchment is mainly flat. In their lower reaches the Warrego and Paroo catchments support extensive wetlands. During large floods, water flows between these catchments because of the flat topography across both catchments. Mulga is the prominent vegetation type in the Warrego-Paroo catchment. The main land use is extensive grazing. Land degradation through feral animals, over grazing and vegetation removal is a major land management issue in this catchment, which has resulted in woody weed invasion, soil erosion and severe degeneration of waterways.

Warren bioregion—dissected, undulating country of the Leeuwin Complex and Albany Orogen, with loamy soils supporting karri forest, laterites supporting jarrah-marri forest, leached sandy soils in depressions, and plains supporting paperbark/sedge swamps, and Holocene marine dunes with willow myrtle woodlands. Moderate Mediterranean climate.

Warren National Park—protects virgin karri forest along the valley of the Warren River. The river is flanked by magnificent karri trees, river banksias, peppermints and wattle. The park also sports some of the largest karri trees, including the Dave Evans Bicentennial tree, one of the fire-lookout trees. Another notable karri tree protected by the park is the Marianne North tree, which has a large, bulbous outgrowth about ten metres above the ground. Warren National Park covers 2982ha in the heart of the karri forest, south-west of Pemberton, Western Australia.

Warrgamay—an Aboriginal people of Queensland.

warrigal—1. dingo. 2. myall. 3. a wild or untamed horse.

warrigal cabbage—Tetragonia tetragonoides, (or previously T. expansa) a leafy groundcover native to New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Chile and Argentina. The species, rarely used by Maori or other indigenous people as a leaf vegetable, was first mentioned by Captain Cook. It was immediately picked, cooked, and pickled to help fight scurvy, and taken with the crew of the Endeavour. It spread when the explorer and botanist Joseph Banks took seeds back to Kew Gardens during the latter half of the 18th century. For two centuries, T. tetragonoides was the only cultivated vegetable to have originated from Australia and New Zealand. The species prefers a moist environment for growth. It has a trailing habit, and will form a thick carpet on the ground or climb though other vegetation and hang downwards. The leaves of the plant are 3-15cm long, triangular in shape, and bright green. The leaves are thick, and covered with tiny papillae that look like waterdrops on the top and bottom of the leaves. The flowers of the plant are yellow, and the fruit is a small, hard pod covered with small horns. The plant is a halophyte and grows well in saline ground. it has similar flavour and texture properties to spinach, and is cooked like spinach. Like spinach, it contains oxalates. It thrives in hot weather, and is considered an heirloom vegetable. Few insects will bother it, and even slugs and snails do not seem to bother it. Also known as New Zealand spinach, Warrigal greens, kokihi' (Māori language), sea spinach, Botany Bay spinach, tetragon and Cook's cabbage.

Warrina—a railway siding and small settlement, built to service the Afghan Railway. A few stone settler's cottages are the only remnants of the long-deserted settlement. Located 117km from William Creek.

Warrnambool—a major port on the coast of western Victoria, situated on Lady Bay. The town name is said to be derived from the Aboriginal name for a nearby mountain range, meaning “water between two rivers”. The first known European to visit Lady Bay was the French navigator and explorer, Nicholas Baudin, who recorded some of the coastal landmarks around Warrnambool in 1802. Whalers and sealers utilised the bay on a seasonal basis in the 1830s, and Lady Bay was surveyed and named by whalers in 1844. During colonial expansion of the 1800s, the treacherous coast earned an infamous reputation as a ships’ graveyard, with hundreds of ships lost, earning it the title “Shipwreck Coast”. Today the tranquil harbour at Warrnambool is the domain of a few patient anglers. Southern right whales still come within view of the shoreline to give birth each year between June and October, at Logan’s Beach. Warrnambool is an important manufacturing and distribution centre, known for its woollens. The town is noted for its rugs and blankets, a wool mill that dates back to 1874 and the Fletcher Jones clothing company, which has its national headquarters here. Other local industries include milk-processing and dairy product plants.

Warrnambool Plain—nutrient deficient soils over low calcareous dune formations and a distinctive, cliffed coastline. Much of the limestone has been overlain by more recent sediments, and between the limestone dunes, areas of swamplands are characterised by highly fertile peats and seasonal inundation. The area east of Warrnambool is characterised by deeper soils of volcanic origins overlying limestone, which are dissected by streams. Prior to European settlement, the Girai wurrung and the Dhauwurd wurrung were the Aboriginal people of the Warrnambool Plain, with the population mainly concentrated in open or lightly timbered country with access to permanent water. European occupation, mainly by graziers, commenced in the late 1830s. The major population and commercial centre of the bioregion is now the coastal city of Warrnambool. Most people live in towns on or near the coast and in smaller inland towns. Long established tourist destinations include Port Campbell National Park, the Great Ocean Road and the adjacent Bay of Islands Coastal Park. A recent tourism feature during the winter months is the annual visitation of southern right whales to Logans Beach at Warrnambool. Sheep and cattle grazing are widespread land uses, however the prime agricultural focus of the bioregion is the dairy industry. The coastal waters of the region support southern rock lobster and abalone fisheries.

Warrumbungle National Park—located 490km north-west of Sydney this 21,000ha park protects the Warrumbungle Range. The most widely known feature is the Breadknife, a 90m-high wall of rock that rises from the wooded slopes. Thirteen million years ago the area featured a number of highly active volcanoes continually spewing molten rock from beneath the crust. The lava hardened above the sandstone floor that had been deposited when this side of the coast was submerged by the ocean. Over time, wind and rain eroded the softer clays, leaving the basalt formations exposed—as we see them today. Over 90 species of birds and 25 species of wattle have been identified within the park's boundaries, as well as grey kangaroos, wallaroos, red-necked wallabies, swamp wallabies and koalas.

Warrumbungle Range—a 130km spur of the Great Dividing Range. Being of volcanic origin, the Warrumbungles contain some striking formations made of trachyte—a fast-drying lava which plugs volcanic craters and remains after the softer surrounding cones have eroded, leaving some ridges, spires and domes. The best-known of these is the Breadknife, a structure 90m in height and a metre thick. European discovery of the range was made by the explorer John Oxley in 1818, on his second inland expedition. Today the mountains are known as the Warrumbungles, as they were known to local Aboriginal people before Oxley arrived. This word comes from the Kamilaroi language and is believed to mean 'crooked mountains'. The Kamilaroi are one of the Aboriginal language groups who have lived in the Warrumbungles for thousands of years.

warrup—traditional hand drum.

Warrwoona group—a group of cherts providing significant evidence for the world's first life forms. These carbonaceous cherts date back to 3500-3300Ma, and contain filamentous and conical structures that are likely to be early life forms, probably photo-autotrophic cyanobacteria (blue-green algae). This is very significant for a study of plant evolution because plants derive their energy from photosynthesis. The presence of cyanobacteria in these rocks indicates the age of photosynthesis.

warwicks/warwick farms—(rhyming slang) arms: e.g., He grabbed me by the warwicks and held me down.

washeteria—laundromat.

washland—land periodically flooded by a stream.

waspish—bad-tempered.

Watagan Mountains State Forests—between Gosford and Newcastle, inland from Tuggerah Lake and Lake Macquarie, lies an almost continuous corridor of state forests of great beauty and variety. The Watagans is the name given to the forested mountain range separating the Hunter River catchment and the Tuggerah Lakes system. These forests are close to the major population centres of Sydney, Newcastle and the Central Coast. There are good recreation facilities for the many thousands of visitors who drive, walk or camp in them each year. Of course, they are still production forests and visitors must be aware of log trucks that use these roads. As you admire the variety of plant life and the panoramic views from the lookouts, consider that some parts of these lush forests have been logged for timber since the 1830s. Now, modern management of logging and regeneration dictates that no more timber can be logged than can be replaced by new growth, so the forests are self-supporting. Many excellent facilities for visitors have been established by the Forestry Commission in the last few years, including camping facilities at the Basin, Pines Forest Park and Gap Creek.

watch-night—1. the last night of the year. 2. a religious service held on this night.

watchhouse—a building, now usually attached to a police station in which suspected law-breakers are held under temporary arrest.

watching brief—1. a brief held by a barrister following a case for a client not directly involved. 2. a state of interest maintained in a proceeding not directly or immediately concerning one.

water closet—1. a lavatory with the means for flushing the pan with water. 2. a room containing this.

water dragon—Physignathus lesueurrii lives only in the far eastern part of Australia from eastern Victoria in the south, to Cairns, Queensland, in the north. There must be water basins or rivers very nearby and there must be a period of at least six months in which daytime maximum is 24°C or over. Males reach a total length of 2½ to 3 feet, and females reach 2 to 2½ feet. Males get a crest in the neck region and they get a blood red color on their belly and upper forelimbs, and the black/white design on the male’s head is very strongly expressed: white lips and a deep black band behind their eyes. Females have smaller heads, dull white lips, a gray-black band behind the eye and white to pinkish bellies.

water lily—Nymphaea violacea, a commonly occurring water lily that is found in swamps, billabongs and slow-moving creeks and rivers across northern Australia. The fruit and seeds are eaten raw, lightly roasted or ground and roasted to make damper. The seeds are very high in oils and have a pleasant oily taste. The stems can also be eaten, after stripping—it's a little bit like celery but it is not quite as crisp. The fruit are available from mid-wet to mid-dry, January to July. The seeds are also used medicinally to treat blood disorders, and the tubers are used to treat diarrhoea.

water pandanus—Pandanus aquaticus, commonly grows along the banks of permanent freshwater streams. Its fruit is inedible.

water python—Liasis fuscus's scales have an iridescent dark brown colouration which reflects the colours of the rainbow. Aboriginal myths tell of a water python called the Rainbow Serpent, which created the rivers and valleys of northern Australia with its brightly coloured body.

water reserve—Crown lands reserved to protect a water supply catchment or accommodate works associated with water supplies.

water the horse—to urinate.

water whistling-duck—Dendrocygna arcuata, head and neck are buff with a darker crown and hindneck; breast is buff with black spotting; abdomen and flanks are chestnut; the ventral area, undertail coverts and outer uppertail coverts are whitish; there's a line of somewhat elongated, creamy coloured flank feathers with black outer feather web; upperparts dark brown with chestnut edgings on mantle and scapular feathers; wing dark brown with chestnut lesser coverts. Reproductive season begins at the start of the wet season—December to April in Queensland, December to May in New Guinea. Forms strong, permanent pair bonds. The nest is built on the ground, often away from the water in vegetation, using plant material but no down. Both parents incubate, and both usually tend their offspring until fledging. Sometimes the water whistling-duck will 'adopt' stray plumed whistling-duck ducklings. Feeds mainly on water, diving up to 3m and also dabbling on the surface and stripping seeds from plants along the water's edge. Feeding flocks of 3,000 individuals are common, with flocks of up to 40,000 birds seen outside the breeding season. Flocks are made up of pairs and their families. The water whistling-duck inhabits coastal lowlands and deep, permanent freshwater swamps or lagoons of the Kimberley's and the northern regions of Australia. Also known as diving whistling-duck, wandering whistling-duck, whistling tree-duck, wandering tree-duck, black-spotted tree-duck.

water-hammer—a knocking noise in the pipes when the tap is turned off.

water-ice—a confection of flavoured and frozen water and sugar etc; a sorbet.

water-joey—one who is employed to carry water and to supply the needs of a group.

waterbush—Bossiaea aquifolium, a wildflower of Western Australia, commonly found in the understorey of karri forests. The blue-green (glaucus) leaves of this shrubby plant have spiny-toothed margins and are arranged in opposite pairs along the stem. Flowers are red-yellow and irregular.

waterbuttons—Cotula coronopifolia, a perennial, succulent plant up to 17cm tall. Flowers are yellow and flowering occurs throughout most of the year. Around Lake Illawarra the species occurs mainly in the upper saltmarsh zone and may extend into the middle saltmarsh zone where there is a continuous seepage of freshwater.

watertable—the saturated level of unconfined groundwater. Swamps or lakes in low-lying areas may be surface expressions of the watertable.

Watha Wurrung—variant spelling of Wathaurong.

Wathauronga—variant spelling of Wathaurung.

Wathaurung—a tribal language group consisting of fifteen clans, and one of four tribes belonging to the Kulin nation. The Wathaurung lived west of Port Phillip Bay on the Bellarine Peninsula, inhabiting the area from the western side of the Werribee River to Streatham. The fifteen Wathaurung clans were allied with the Port Phillip clans, particularly those of the Bunurong. In each of the Woiworung, Bunurong and Wathaurung clans there was a headman, who had authority over other clan members and who represented the clan at tribal meetings. The headman of the Marin bullock at the time Melbourne was founded was a man named Bung a rim. This individual was one of the guardians of the well-known quarry at Mount William, which was the major source of stone for making ground-edged axes. The name of Bung a rim also appears as that of one of the 'chiefs' on John Batman's deed of purchase. In the Kurung jang ball clan, the headman at the time of European settlement was Bet banger. In the Yalit willam at the same time, there were two men, Derremart and Eurenowel (or Benbow), who had particular importance in the clan. Both of these men were in the group of Koories who warned John Pascoe Fawkner of an intended attack on the white settlement in October 1835. The Wathaurung had lived in the Geelong region of Victoria for more than 25,000 years before white settlement. Grazing sheep destroyed much of the root crops the tribes depended on, while introduced diseases ravaged the people. About 140 archaeological sites have been found in the region, and the Yollinko Park Aboriginal Garden on the banks of the Barwon River contains the remains of living mounds and food plants.

Wathawurung—variant spelling of Wathaurung.

watjin—(in Aboriginal English) a white woman (alt. of white gin).

Watson, John Christian—born John Christian Tanck; 9 April 1867 – 18 November 1941), commonly known as Chris Watson, was an Australian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of Australia. He was the first prime minister from the Australian Labor Party, and the first prime minister from the labour movement in the world. He was of Chilean birth, with German and New Zealand ancestry. Previously serving in state parliament for seven years, Watson was elected to federal parliament at the inaugural 1901 election, where the state Labor parties received a combined 15.8 per cent of the first past-the-post primary vote against two more-dominant parties. The Caucus chose Watson as the inaugural parliamentary leader of the Labor Party on 8 May 1901, just in time for the first meeting of parliament. Labor, led by Watson, increased their vote to 31 per cent at the 1903 election and 36.6 per cent at the 1906 election. From the first election, Labor held the balance of power, giving support to Protectionist Party legislation in exchange for concessions to enact the Labour Party policy platform. Watson's term as Prime Minister was brief—only four months, between 27 April and 18 August 1904. He resigned as Labor leader in 1907 and retired from Parliament in 1910. The Canberra suburb Watson and the federal electorate of Watson are named after him. In 1969 he was honoured on a postage stamp bearing his portrait issued by Australia Post.

Wattarka National Park—an important conservation area and a major attraction within Central Australia. The park encompasses the western end of the George Gill Range, with its scenic landscape of rugged ranges, gilgais and gorges, and a variety of arid flora and fauna. Kings Canyon features ancient sandstone walls, sculpted by the elements and rising up 100m to a plateau of rocky domes. The 'Garden of Eden' is a palm-fringed rock pool, and the park as a whole provides refuge for many plants and animals. The area has been home to the Luritja people for the last 20,000 years and their word watarrka refers to the umbrella bush that proliferates here. In fact, this area has over 600 different plant species. Watarrka National Park is located about 450km south-west of Alice Springs, NT.

wattle—a common name for the acacia in Australia. it is believed "wattle" comes from the Aboriginal name, wattah. The Aborigines tapped the roots of desert wattles for water, while European settlers soon learnt that wattle, plastered with mud or clay, made sturdy walls. Wattle and daub houses were common in the early years of settlement. Australia has more than 750 species of wattle, from groundcovers to lofty trees. They grow quickly and flower early. Wattles in flower are exquisite, with blossoms varying from golden yellow to orange and white. The flowers are either ball- or bar-shaped. Leaves vary greatly.

wattle bark—the bark of any of several species of wattle, some of which are cultivated commercially for the high tannin content of their bark.

Wattle Day—an annual celebration of the blossoming of the wattle.

wattle scrub—Callitris glaucophylla, shrubs or trees to 30m, with a single trunk with brown, rough and furrowed bark. Leaves in whorls of 3 (sometimes 4 or 5 when juvenile), usually glaucous (bluish grey). Seed cones solitary, rarely remaining on the plant long after maturity. Widespread, found mostly on sandy soils, from isolated individuals to extensive forests, especially in inland districts. Extensive forests are only found in the Tambo-Dalby-Inglewood region of southern Queensland and the Baradine-Narrabri and Cobar districts of northern New South Wales. Although the Murray-Darling Basin receives annual rainfall of only 300mm to 650mm, periodic flooding in helps to support the productive Callitris forests. The Pilliga State Forest is the only large area in the Murray-Darling Basin that has naturally regenerated from sparse open woodland to forest over the period of European settlement. This is essentially due to the elimination of Aboriginal burning and livestock grazing. By the early 1900s, the elimination of burning was resulting in very dense growths of C. glaucophylla, and the area now has the largest expanse of inland plains forest in Australia. With the exception of the Pilliga forest, C. glaucophylla is not found in large, pure stands; it grows best in open woodlands with Eucalyptus and other species. This may be partly because of allelopathy; each tree puts out an exudate through its roots and leaves that inhibits the growth and dominance of its neighbors.

wattle seed—a small, oval, black variety of the Acacia seed. After being dry-roasted and ground, the seed's color changes to mustard-brown, and its naturally nutty flavor becomes rich and coffee-like. Wattle seed is used in myriad foods including rice, soups, meat rubs and baked goods.

wattle tea tree and swamp scrub—before European settlement, this community and its many sub-communities colonised lower and wetter depressions where nutrient & minerals were deposited. The soil structure was one of shallow sands and heavier, sandy clay loams that sat over the more fertile clays. These soils remained waterlogged throughout wet winters and generally held their moisture into the summer months. Fire was held at bay by the moister conditions and lack of a flammable woody understorey. These communities and their sub-communities could have fringed the smaller, non-permanent wetland areas and covered the less-frequently flooded depressions near creeks or drainage lines. These communities were diverse in their structures—they could have conformed in spacing and canopy structure to both the closed- or open-scrub classification, with swamp paperbark growing in tight stands. These stands formed a closed canopy with a sparse, sun-starved understorey. They may also have formed open forest or woodland, with the dominant but widely spaced tree being swamp gum or silver stringybark, with an understorey of prickly tea-tree, and a ground layer of tall sedges & herbs. The understorey could have consisted of tree everlasting with tall prickly tea-tree in the more closed scrub areas and shorter prickly tea-tree in the more open woodland areas. The moisture-loving golden spray may have been also present. In areas where the swamp paperbarks were periodically inundated with water and grew densely, forming a closed canopy, the understorey would have been absent. Wattle tea-tea and scrub and swamp scrub fringed shallow open water pools. Bullrush or the tall, densely growing common reed may have been found. Typical of poorly drained soils, rushes and sedges such the swamp club-rush, tall spike-rush and the tiny club-rush were present, along with the common sword-sedge and thatch saw-sedge. Smaller, more delicate flowering herbs such as the ivy-leaf violet flourished in the cool, moist conditions. Where light permitted, bracken may have been present, along with common heath and the beautiful flowering lily, long purple-flag, growing in the more open areas.

wattle-and-daub—a method of constructing walls consisting of upright stakes bound together with withes (strong flexible shoots or twigs), and covered in mud or plaster. Few of the people who came with the First Fleet had any skill in the building crafts, and they inevitably lacked knowledge of the properties of Australian timber species, many surprisingly different from those of Europe and America. Our earliest buildings were constructed either of wattle-and-daub or of hand-made clay bricks.

wattlebird—three species of the genus Anthochaera, large honeyeaters with loud, harsh calls and sometimes conspicuous facial wattles. The red wattlebird is found across southern Australia, while the yellow wattlebird is restricted to Tasmania and Bass Straight islands, where the red wattlebird does not occur. The little wattlebird is smaller and lacks the distinctive, red, wart-like growth (the wattle) seen below the red wattlebird’s ear.

Wattleridge Indigenous Protected Area—comprises 480ha of botanically unique Aboriginal tribe or clan occupying the bushland on outcropping granite country near the top of the Buffalo, King and Ovens River area in New England Tablelands in northern Buffalo, King and Ovens River area in New South Wales. About 63km north-east of Guyra, Wattleridge is characterised by having a distinct and diverse flora with exceptionally high floristic diversity and endemic rare and threatened plant species. The area also contains the only recorded axe grinding groove sites and fully recorded art sites in the local area. Viewing platforms have been constructed for the protection of Buffalo, King and Ovens River area in rock art. Wattleridge lies within the northern section of the traditional lands of the Buffalo, King and Ovens River area in Banbai country. Two ancient axe-grinding sites have been recorded on granite boulders in the IPA. In a rock shelter created by an overhanging granite boulder, the only such shelter on the property, lies an ancient art site. The paintings depict an Buffalo, King and Ovens River area in echidna figure, human figures, Buffalo, King and Ovens River area in emu tracks, lines and dots. The IPA contains significant areas of Buffalo, King and Ovens River area in bushland which have been protected from logging, grazing and fire for nearly 30 years, which has allowed an almost total retention of flora. There are at least fifteen rare or endangered plant species on the property and twelve rare or threatened fauna species. Wattleridge is dominated by the Sara River to the north and its tributaries. The IPA is located in the Clarence River catchment and contributes to the protection of the biodiversity thereof.

Water Police—police officers, usually a department of a larger police organisation, who patrol in water craft. Their patrol areas may be coastal sea waters, rivers, estuaries, harbours, lakes, canals or a combination of these. Water police are usually responsible for ensuring the safety of water users, enforcing laws relating to water traffic, preventing crime on vessels, banks and shores, providing search and rescue services (either as the main provider or as an initial response unit before more specialised units arrive), and allowing the police to reach locations not easily accessible from land. They may also be responsible for coastal security, conservation law enforcement, immigration and smuggling patrols, and diving search operations (although many police organisations have separate units to handle this). Equipment ranges from personal water craft and inflatable boats to large seagoing craft, but most police vessels are small to medium, fast motor launches. In some areas these vessels incorporate a firefighting capability through a fixed deck nozzle.

waugal—alternative spelling of wagyl.

Wave Rock—a natural rock formation that is shaped like a tall, breaking ocean wave. The "wave" is about 14m high and around 110m long. It forms the north side of a solitary hill, which is known as "Hyden Rock." This hill, which is a granite inselberg, lies about 3km east of the small town of Hyden and 296km east-southeast of Perth, Western Australia. Wave Rock and Hyden Rock are part of a 160ha nature reserve, Hyden Wildlife Park. Wave Rock has cultural significance to Aborigines. Hyden Rock, of which Wave Rock is part, consists of 2.63 billion year-old biotite K-feldspar porphyritic monzogranite that is part of the Yilgarn Craton. Hyden Rock is an granite inselberg, which consists of three domes. The central and western domes are separated by a deep valley, which is now occupied by a reservoir. The central and eastern domes are linked by a low platform. A multistage process of landform development created these domes. The initial step in the development of Hyden Rock was the subsurface alteration by weathering of granite bedrock beneath a lateritised land surface during the Cretaceous Period between 100-130 million years ago. Depending on the degree to which it was fractured by jointing, the granite bedrock underlying this surface was altered to varying depths beneath the land surface. This process formed underground "domes" of solid granite bedrock surrounded by deeply weathered, relatively loose, and disaggregated granite. Following separation of Australia and Antarctica and accompanying tilting of what became south-western Australia, periodic erosion of the deeply weathered granite, which underlay the surrounding land surface, exposed these buried solid bedrock domes over time as Hyden Rock. Wave Rock is a spectacular example of what geomorphologists call a "flared slope". A flared slope is a concave-upward or -inward bedrock surface that is typically found around the base of inselbergs, bornhardts, and granitic boulders and also on their higher slopes. Flared slopes like Wave Rock are particularly well developed in granitic landforms of south-western and southern Australia. The flared slopes are argued to have formed by the concentrated chemical weathering around the base of an inselberg by groundwater. The chemical weathering of the bedrock by groundwater produces a concave-upward or –inward pocket of deeply weathered, relatively loose, and disaggregated bedrock within the formerly solid bedrock base of an inselberg. When the land surface around an inselberg, which is underlain by deeply weathered bedrock, is lowered by erosion, the pocket of deeply weathered disaggregated bedrock is also removed to produce a flared slope such as Wave Rock. It has also been argued that flared slopes can form during erosion of slopes of inselbergs. A wall lies above Wave Rock and about halfway up Hyden Rock and follows the contours of the wall. It collects and funnels rainwater to a storage dam. The wall and dam were constructed in December 1928 by the Public Works Department for the original settlers of East Karlgarin District. Both were renovated in 1951 to increase water capacity for the Hyden Township. Such walls are common on many similar rocks in the Wheatbelt.

Waveroo—an Aboriginal tribe or clan occupying the Buffalo, King and Ovens River area in Victoria.

wax—(children's language) take turns when kicking a football from end to end.

wax-head—a surfer.

WC—toilet (water closet).

weak as cat's piss—lacking in strength, power, influence, authority, effect, intelligence, moral resolution etc.

weakie—a coward; weak, irresolute person; person lacking in physical or moral strength.

wear—1. tolerate; put up with: e.g., I'm not going to wear any more of his abuse! 2. believe; accept as truth: e.g., I don't think the boss will wear that as an excuse for not going to work today.

wearing two (or more) hats—holding two (or more) titles, positions, offices.

wedding bush—any of several white-flowered shrubs of the Australian genus Ricinocarpos.

wedding celebrant—(see: celebrant).

wedge-tailed eagle—Aquila audax, a large eagle widespread in Australia, with dark brown to almost black plumage, feathered legs and a long, wedge-shaped tail. It is a massive bird, weighing up to 5kg, with a wing span of up to 2.2m. Wedge-tailed Eagles usually hunt in open areas though they will hunt in wooded country where they pursue prey through trees with amazing agility, forcing the prey into open land where it may be caught. Common food sources include wallabies, ducks, young kangaroos, cockatoos, crows, rats and rabbits. The clutching power of the talons and the force with which the wedge-tailed eagle's feet strike is often enough to kill their quarry. Breeding eagles need over 10ha of surrounding forest, especially uphill of a nest tree. They use very traditional nests, almost always in very large eucalypts sheltered from the wind. They are very shy nesters and will often desert their nests if disturbed by land clearing, particularly early on in the breeding season, which is August to January. The Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagles have been isolated from their mainland counterparts for 10,000 years and have become a separate subspecies. With only about 130 pairs successfully breeding each year in Tasmania, the wedge-tailed eagle is listed as endangered. The major threats to the species include habitat loss, nest disturbance, collisions and electrocutions with powerlines, and persecution through shooting, trapping and poisoning by thoughtless persons.

← Back

Next →