nulla-nulla

plural nulla-nullas · alternative nulla · alternative nulla nulla · alternative nullah-nullah

1. AustraliaA club used by Aboriginal Australians for hunting and fighting; a waddy.

   See also quotations under nulla and nullah-nullah.

   3 more examples

   When these two men get within hearing distance, they tap two nulla nullas, or other weapons together, and crouch down in the long grass, or among bushes, so as to be out of sight. The bush mob hear the tapping, but pretend they don't know what it is, and say to each other in the presence of the boys, "What noise is that?"

   1897, R.H. Mathews, “The Wandarral of the Richmond and Clarence River Tribes”, in Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, volumes 7-10, page 38

   After the growling the two men stood apart and hurled their boomerangs at each other, but these were easily fended off with the nulla-nullas. Then the two men came together and fought with nulla-nullas. They swung and thrust at each others' head, legs and arms, jumping about all over the place.

   1977, Dick Roughsey, Moon and Rainbow: the autobiography of an Aboriginal, Rigby, page 37

   A nulla nulla should be grasped so that one's fingers are not crushed by a blow (several older men were missing part of a finger and had a crushed thumb). One trick is to slide one's nulla nulla along an opponent's nulla nulla and thus rake his fingers.

   2005, David McKnight, Of Marriage, Violence and Sorcery: The Quest for Power in Northern Queensland, Ashgate, page 63

   Synonyms: waddy