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yabby
noun (plural yabbies)
any Australian freshwater crayfish of the genus Cherax: *Bill showed her how to trap yabbies too, with an old stocking of Grace's and a few pieces of bacon rind –JEAN BEDFORD, 1986. Compare clawchie, crawchie, craydab, crayfish, jilgie, lobby, lobster, marron. Also, yabbie. [from the Aboriginal language Wembawemba (Victoria/NSW) yabij] –yabbying, noun
Contributor's comments: There were definitely 'yabbies' in the creek behind my house in the Northern Suburbs of Sydney when I was growing up so please include this in the regional distribution.
Contributor's comments: This word, yabby, is definitely in use in Townsville. I am almost certain that it is most usually 'yabbie' singular though. There are, of course, many yabbies in North Queensland.
Contributor's comments: Yabby is also used in WA but is more commonly yabbie.
Contributor's comments: In Brisbane this term is used to describe small salt water crustaceans that are used as fishing bait. I used to go onto the Moreton Bay mudflats with my uncle and his yabby pump to extract them for abovesaid use.
Contributor's comments: We used to catch tiny yabbies (about 3-5cm long), with a pump, to use as fishing bait. This was around the Hervey Bay area in Queensland.
Contributor's comments: The yabby, coonac, jilgie (gilgie) and marron are all different species of animal and as such are not interchangable words for one specific beastie.
Contributor's comments: As children in central Queensland we all used this word, however when going to boarding school at the coast noticed the use of crawchi (no idea of spelling) instead.
Contributor's comments: In Queensland, the term 'yabby' describes the small saltwater crustacean obtained by pumping the mudflats with a yabby pump. It is used as a bait, particularly for bream. The word 'lobby' refers to the freshwater crustacean, described as a 'yabby' in southern states.
Contributor's comments: 'Yabby' is not a regional West Australian word. It has only recently had a lot of usage in W.A., probably due to the influx of eastern staters and TV. Gilgies and Coonacks are the normal terms for these freshwater crustaceans found here.
Contributor's comments: Yabbie was used in N.E. Tasmania to refer to the burrowing crayfish family.
Contributor's comments: [Adelaide informant] small fresh water shell fish: "We're going yabbie-ing in the dam."
Contributor's comments: A common usage word in all of Queensland. Bait found by pumping the sand on the beach near the waters edge: "I am going Yabbying." "The best bait around here is live Yabbies."
Contributor's comments: While growing up, in regional Victoria, the term Yabby was applicable to fresh water crayfish. However when I completed my schooling at Gympie the students there used the term for a small edible plant of which only the seedpod was eaten.
Contributor's comments: Around Canberra in the 50s and 60s, yabbies were freshwater crayfish inhabiting dams. We baited our lines with lumps of meat.
Contributor's comments: We caught yabbies (the freshwater crayfish version) in the Belabula River (Central West NSW) as kids. Tangled them up in the "slime" (masses of a long, filamentous algae). The contributors from coastal QLD seem to be talking about what we knew as nippers on the NSW south coast (Bermagui) in the 70's - small crustacean in holes on the sandflats, got with a nipper (yabby) gun. One large claw.