Christmas is over, the New Year has come, you might have had your fill of pudding but at the Macquarie Dictionary office we are hungry for more. A magic pudding is anything which appears to be inexhaustible.  Go easy, mate. This is no magic pudding! The phrase is in reference to the stroppy little pudding character of Norman Lindsay's Aussie children's classic The Magic Pudding. Slices cut from Lindsay's pudding magically reappeared. If only! Of course, nothing lasts forever, but since its publication in 1918, the Magic Pudding has been continuously referenced in Australian life. Newspapers continue to allude to the children's classic in everything from articles on growing vegetables to prediction pieces on the performance of financial markets.  Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.

This week at Macquarie Dictionary we are on the move. The wallaby track is a phrase that describes the route across country taken by workers looking for seasonal employment, usually while they lived as swagmen. Also described as living 'on the track,' this phrase goes right to the heart of Australia's view of itself in the early twentieth century as a rugged country populated by hardy adventurers, something that was romanticised by Norman Lindsay: Upon the wallaby he goes, Sundowner of the Everywhere; The tracks of every land he knows, The Ever-Wandering Native Bear  The phrase also links to Australia's national song Waltzing Matilda. The words Waltzing Matilda actually refer to carrying your swag as swagmen did while travelling from place to place in search of work. In other words, Waltzing Matilda is way of saying you are on the wallaby track! A lot of people blithely sing the song without exactly knowing what the lyrics mean – which is a little bit funny since it is our national song after all. Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.

This week we are paying tribute to the great Australian gum tree. From the Snowy Mountains in the Great Dividing Range to Tasmania, Darwin, Far North Queensland and beyond, the landscape is dominated by the beautiful Australian eucalypt, so named from its gummy sap. By definition, a gum tree is any tree or shrub of the myrtaceous genus Eucalyptus, almost entirely Australian apart from a limited number of tropical species in New Guinea and other nearby islands. Some gums yield eucalyptus oil and some hardwood timber while others bear gumnuts as fruits. Some of the gum trees you might spot on a drive around Australia include yellow gum, ghost gum and stinking gum, while grey box refers to a number of species of gum tree.   Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.

When the last time you saw a bit of a blue break out? 

No wucking furries mate, we've got you covered for Aussie Slang...

This week we have a slang phrase for you to listen out for while you're at the beach...

Don't be a derbrain. Read our weekly Aussie slang blogs instead.

We are purring over our Aussie Slang this week...

This week at the Macquarie Dictionary, we are playing by Rafferty's rules...

The term Brisvegas, a portmanteau of Brisbane and Vegas, originated in Queensland in part with ironic reference to the river city's lack of showy opulence...

Stunned mullet is a classic piece of Aussie slang from the 1950s that refers to a person who is completely and utterly stunned, amazed, dazed or otherwise stonkered...

The football season may be over but we thought there was still time for some state versus state rivalry. This week's Aussie Word of the Week is Cabbage Garden...