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gibber


noun a stone or pebble. Compare brinnie, boondie2, gonnie, goolie, ronnie, yonnie. [from the Aboriginal language Dharug (Sydney region) giba stone]
Contributor's comments: Gibber also refers to stones/rocks in the Pilbara area of W.A.

Contributor's comments: As children we used the word gibber, in outback New South Wales, to describe the smaller stones often covering large areas of arid plains. My wife, in central west NSW, used the word to describe rocks used for skimming across water. We used "goolie" to describe larger rocks.

Contributor's comments: My Dad was born and raised in the mid north of S.A. and often called a rock a gibber.

Contributor's comments: [Wodonga informant] The term "gibber" has always been used in our area to describe larger, jaggerd road rocks often encountered out bush on 4WD tracks. There was a spot that my younger brother and I used to visit that was a trecherous trip, 'twas "Gibber Gully".

Contributor's comments: Stone (Apparently an Aboriginal word for stone now in common use in northern SA). The area around Woomera is gibber desert. "Throw a gibber into the dam and see if you can hit that piece of wood." The Woomera newspaper is called "The Gibber Gabber".

Contributor's comments: Gibber was all around inland SA, north of Port Augusta, around Woomera, Andamooka, Coober Pedy, Kingoonya - it was gibber desert aka desert pavement. An absolute bugger of a surface if you were fencing, or driving or riding across it. Crushed gibber pebbles were used in driveways, like gravel only real fine - we called this stuff crusher dust. Usually bright white / grey colour, unlike the deep grey or black exterior of the gibber pebbles.

Contributor's comments: Gibber is widely used for stone in arid areas of SA where much of the country is "gibber desert" or stoney desert.

Contributor's comments: We used this word in Gippsland.

Contributor's comments: Gibber is a common term for the small often dark brown small stones which made up huge tracts of "waste" land out from places like Port Augusta, Woomera and so on; the Gibber Gabber is Woomera's paper. We used to pitch gibbers at the crows and kites as they circled overhead out at the pigfarm at Woomera.

Contributor's comments: Never used brinnie in eastern Melbourne, a gibber was a flat stone thrown across water, but yonnies were what one fought with.

Contributor's comments: Never used brinnie in eastern Melbourne, a gibber was a flat stone thrown across water, but yonnies were what one fought with.

Contributor's comments: [Brisbane informant] Gooly was used by boys to describe a larger stone or pebble than a gibber - they would be more likely to say they threw a goolie and fired a gibber from their shanghai (catapult): "The goolies we were throwing made a huge splash as they landed in the water."

Contributor's comments: I grew up in the Shire and we never used this word.