brumby

Unknown; perhaps from James Brumby, early Australian soldier and pastoralist, who is said to have left horses at his abandoned property.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɹʌmbi/

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brumby (plural brumbies)

1. (Australia) A wild or feral horse.
   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter VIII, in Capricornia‎, page 125:

     I'm too weak to ride. I'd have to ride, because for one thing the white-ants have eaten the wheels of my buckboard, and my one cart-horse has gone bush with the brumbies.

   • 1943, H. Lorna Bingham, The Lost Tribe, Sydney: Winn and Co., page 31, column 2:

     "It could mean one of two things," he said. "Either that help is coming, or that a herd of wild brumbies is passing somewhere near."

   • 1967, December 22, Life‎, page 69:

     He captures brumbies, the wild horses of the outback, running them down on motorcycles and shipping them to the city where they are butchered for pet food.

   • 1976, Tom Lee McKnight, Friendly Vermin: A Survey of Feral Livestock in Australia‎, page 17:

     If the latter situation prevails, brumbies can be developed into valuable stockhorses, either for use on the local property or for sale in other areas.
     Whatever the condition of a captured brumby, there is always the potential of selling it for pet food, fish bait, or even for human consumption.

   • 1988, Tom Cole, Hell West and Crooked:

     Harry Farquharson said there were two or three springs and that the horses were “bloody wild”. He said there were probably about 300 and they were good horses, a long way above the average brumby.

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