long-grasser

See also: longgrasser and long grasser

English

Alternative forms

• longgrasser
• long grasser

Etymology

longgrass +‎ -er

Noun

long-grasser (plural long-grassers)

1. (colloquial) A homeless indigenous person living in the longgrass region.
   • 2000, Ian Jack, Australia: The New New World, →ISBN, page 205:

     Usually they were first-person accounts of Darwin politics from the viewpoint of a 'long-grasser', or a homeless drinker around town.

   • 2004, Michael Christie, John Greatorex, “Yolngu Life in the Northern Territory of Australia: The Significance of Community and Social Capital”, in Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration, volume 26, number 1:

     This article uses concepts from Yolngu philosophy to explore these perspectives in three contexts: at the former mission settlements, at homeland centres, and among “long-grassers” in Darwin.

   • 2011, Stephen Gray, The Protectors: A Journey Through Whitefella Past, →ISBN:

     But Miss Harriet Douglas was no long-grasser.

   • 2015, Emma Kowal, Trapped in the Gap: Doing Good in Indigenous Australia, →ISBN, page 69:

     The dense racial politics and the indeterminacy of the long-grasser problem at the Tiwi shops make this a paradigmatic contact zone.