Move Over, Macquarie

Are you visiting Australia? Moving here? Planning to settle down, buy a ute, and raise a couple of little tackers?

You will need more than a translator.

The Dictionary of Australia is a guide to Australian slang, vernacular, expressions, and idioms as they are actually used in everyday life. It explains the words and phrases you will hear at the pub, at work, in the schoolyard, and around the barbecue, many of which are missing from formal dictionaries or do not quite land the way they are meant to.

This is a country where someone might skull a roadie in safety thongs, drop a bog, and crack a snag on a rag, all before smoko. Understanding the language will not make you Australian, but it may stop you looking like a deadset blow-in.

Written in a clear dictionary format, each entry provides a concise definition with practical context. Some expressions are blunt, some are funny, and some are just useful to know. All of them are part of everyday Australian speech. You can open the book at any page and immediately understand how the expression is used and what it really means.

Whether you are visiting Australia, moving to Australia, or already living here and trying to make sense of the language, The Dictionary of Australia is designed to help you understand how Australians actually speak.

It will not teach you how to be Australian.

It will help you understand what Australians are saying.