1. Themes
  2. A to Z
  3. Search
  • Click to view this Transcript

Extract

Title
Flash mobs
Description

The Argus reports that ‘flash mobs’ are prowling around the diggings at night ‘in search of plunder to the annoyance of every respectable person’.

Published Source
Australian National Dictionary Centre, The Gold Rushes and Australian English: a resource for researchers, teachers and students, Australian National University, 2005, http://www.anu.edu.au/andc/res/aus_words/gold/index.php. Details
Rights
This material is provided by the Australian National Dictionary Centre, a joint project of the Australian National University and Oxford University Press Australia.

Versions

  1. Click to view this transcript
    Type
    Transcript

Concepts

Transcript

BALLARAT CORRESPONDENT. I am sorry to say that there are on these diggings several bad characters denominated by the colonial phrase ‘flash mobs’, but what in England would be better known by the name of ‘area sneaks’, who nightly prowl about in search of plunder to the annoyance of every respectable person, though the individuals alluded to are perfectly harmless in all other respects. I wonder the diggers do not do as the Californians did, - drive them off the diggings. It is almost impossible for the police to interfere, as, if they were taken before the Commissioner, no specific charge could be produced against them, - a thing much to be lamented. Argus, 14 April 1853

Created: 20 October 2006, Last modified: 13 February 2007