paddymelon
(ˈpædɪˌmɛlən)
Also paddymalla; pad-, paddi(e)-, pade-, pady-, -melon, -mellun.
[A corruption of an aboriginal name, the first element of which has been conjectured to be the same as in pata-gorang (in Sydney dialect) ‘kangaroo’: see Morris Austral Eng. 336/2.]
A small brush kangaroo.
| 1827 P. Cunningham N.S. Wales (1828) I. 289 The wallabee and paddymalla..inhabit the brushes and broken hilly country. 1830 R. Dawson Pres. St. Australia 212 (Morris) Had hunted down a paddymelon (a very small species of kangaroo). 1897 Outing (U.S.) XXX. 138/1 Get a pady⁓melon, hare, or any coursing game. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 23 Feb. 8/1 Kangaroos, Wallabies, Kangaroo rats, Wombats, Bandicoots, Pademelons. |
| attrib. 1851 J. Henderson Excurs. N.S. Wales II. 129 (Morris) These are hunted in the brushes and killed with paddy-mellun sticks. 1885 Mrs. C. Praed Head Station 313 The plains..riddled with paddymelon holes. |