Vocabulary

Claim (noun)
Mum asked one night when she’d got back from her job on the checkout at Khan’s and me and Dad were relaxing after a hard afternoon’s work out at the claim.
a demand for something as due; an assertion of a right or an alleged right

wobbled (verb)
The noise of a car drove into our ears and a four-wheel-drive police jeep came wobbling down the creamy red track that leads to our claim.
to incline to one side and to the other alternately, as a wheel, top, or other rotating body when not properly balanced.

startled(verb)
My dad turned around, startled. He was totally off his guard.
to disturb or agitate suddenly as by surprise or alarm.

figment (noun)
that Pobby was a figment of her imaginings.
something produced by the imagination

rummaged (verb)
He rummaged through piles of rocks.
to find, bring, or fetch by searching (often followed by out or up).

ute (noun)
I slammed the door of the ute in Dingan’s face
Type of car (slang word)

crackpot (noun)
Lightning Ridge was full of flaming crackpots as far as I could see.
Eccentric, impractical, fanatical


Mello Yello (noun)
I said, hiding my anger in a swig from my can of Mello Yello.
Name of the soda

mates (noun)
“I still say Kellyanne could do with some real-live mates,”
a person who lives with you, works in the same place as you, etc.

opal (noun)
My dad would come back from the opal mines covered in dust,
: a white or clear stone that reflects changing colors and that is used in jewelry

fairdinkum (adj)
“Fairdinkum?”
used to emphasize that or query whether something is genuine or true.

imaginary (adj)
but I wasn’t crazy enough to talk to imaginary friends,
not real : existing only in your mind or imagination

grub (noun)
She said they were quieter and better behaved than me and deserved the grub.
the young form of an insect in which it looks like a small worm

fossilized (adj)
There’s rumours going that Lucky Jes has taken out a million-dollar stone and a fossilized mammoth tooth with sun-flash in it.
having been changed into a fossil

mammoth (noun)
There’s rumours going that Lucky Jes has taken out a million-dollar stone and a fossilized mammoth tooth with sun-flash in it.
a type of large, hairy elephant that lived in ancient times and that had very long tusks that curved upward