bunyip aristocracy

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#1·7h ago

(Australia, derogatory) A peerage (hypothetical or proposed) in Australia; the new (in the colonial era) landed rich aspiring to aristocracy; snobbish Australian conservatives.

1853, Daniel Deniehy, A heritage befitting the dignity of free men, speech at the Victoria Theatre in Pitt St, Sydney, 15 August 1853, reported in the Sydney Morning Herald the following day, reprinted 2009, Pamela Robson, Great Australi…

Origin: . satirising a proposal of William Wentworth for a hereditary peerage in the then colony of New South Wales. At the time, bunyip was Sydney underworld slang for an impostor or con-man, a sense Deniehy may have been aware of, but which was “obviously” unknown to Wentworth. Origin information sourced from Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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