Meanings
plural shiralees
- AustraliacolloquialdateduncommonA type of swag that when rolled up resembles a leg of mutton, carried over the shoulder, usually with another load on the chest to balance it.
2006, Pip Wilson, Faces in the Street: Louisa and Henry Lawson and the Castlereagh Street Push, page 8, “Nothin′. A prickly gecko, mate. He dropped off your shiralee.”
1 more example
The bag of food like a shiralee across his shoulders, the water container stuffed into the looseness of his shirt, the compass, not required for awhile^([sic]) yet, in his side pocket, and the rifle balanced in his hand.
2001, Filton Hebbard, Memories of Kalgoorlie: Tales from the Australian Outback, page 183Synonyms: matilda
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA type of swag that when rolled up resembles a leg of mutton, carried over the shoulder, usually with another load on the chest to balance it.
Origin
First attested in print 1892. Later popularised through its use in the title of D'Arcy Niland′s 1955 novel The Shiralee (and two film adaptations, in 1957 and 1987)). Its meaning is no longer well known. Sometimes claimed to be from an (unidentified) Australian Aboriginal language. Alternatively, an anglicisation of Irish tiarálaí (“itinerant roustabout”) which came to be applied to his swag or matilda, and later (inspired by Niland's novel) to mean not only a physical burden but also a psychological one.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
shiralee. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shiralee
“shiralee.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shiralee. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shiralee,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shiralee.
Source: shiralee on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.