WHALERS AND WALERS

TWO CREATURES in Aussie English are pronounced identically but spelt differently. The first is a fish and the second a horse. The fish is the Murray cod, which is known colloquially as a “whale” because of its size. Murray cod have been nicknamed “whales” since the 1870s. A large specimen can weigh as much as a human (and live as long!).

There was a certain type of swaggie called a “whaler” because he followed the banks of the Murray, Darling, Lachlan or Murrumbidgee rivers, living on the cod he could catch.

The horse was called a “waler”

(short for “New South Waler”) and was noted for its strength and toughness.

In World War I, Australian Light Horse troops were mounted mainly on walers – often rounded up from brumby herds and broken to harness by a team of rough riders under the command of Major ‘Banjo’ Paterson.