"DIGGER.”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20811, 2 September 1929, Page 12

"DIGGER.”

ORIGIN OF THE TERM. CONTROVERSY IN AUSTRALIA. (From Ocb Own Correspondent.) ! SYDNEY, August 23. bmee the . Returned Soldiers’ Lea"U" endeavoured recently,. but without success, to solve the problem, there has-been quite.a .spirited, controversy in Sydney as to the origin of the term Digger,” as applied to A astralian and New Zealand soldiers who were in, the Great Push in Europe. y * Captain “Charlie” Bean, official his-, tonan of the A.1.F., is authority for the statement that the word, said to have. been used originally among gum diggers in the, north of New Zealand, but tliis does not seem very convincing, became common : among the soldiers hi the terms “cohbor” and ■' mate,” and coming, during the third battle of Ypres, to denote an Australasian private, much as “Tomtnv” denoted a’ British soldier.’ Others • contend that the term ‘ Digger ” ■ originated in Australia long before the war, among meu outback. One may says that it was a sergeantmajor at, Liver pool, camp in New South Wales who established the popularity of the word when he • assembled squads, before putting them oh trench diggings, with the command, “ Come on, you d?o----gerst ”, ’ The. probability is that the sergeantmajor’s command was in slightly more colourful form than that. If anyone in New Zealand feels that he can throw any light on the genesis of the now historic term, “ Digger," Captain Bean, of the Victoria Barracks, Sydney, wil) be delighted to hear from him.