ˌfree-seˈlector Austral.
One who takes up a block of crown-land under the Land Laws and by annual payments acquires the freehold (Morris). Also called simply selector.
| 1866 Sydney Morn. Her. 9 Aug. (Morris), The very law which the free selector puts in force against the squatter. 1881 Mrs. C. Praed Policy & P. III. 260 He made a spring at the free-selector. 1883 Keighley Who are You 79 Far apart stood free-selectors' huts. |
So free-seˈlect v. trans., to take up (land) under Government; hence free-selecting vbl. n. and ppl. a.; free-seˈlection, the action of the vb.
| 1870 T. H. Braim New Homes ii. 87 A man can now go and make his free selection before survey of any quantity of land..at twenty shillings an acre. 1884 Boldrewood Melb. Mem. xix. 134 Had he proceeded to free-select an uninhabited island. Ibid. xx. 142 This was years before the free-selection discovery. 1890 ― Col. Reformer (1891) 321, I camped..just below those free-selecting friends of yours. Ibid. 401 Free-selecting here might be very well for some people; it didn't suit them. |