wild colonial boy
noun Australian /NZ
1 historical An outlaw who lived in the bush: Ned Kelly, the original wild colonial boy, has served to reinforce the myth of the bush in Australia’s national identity...
- The wild colonial boy soon slipped off into the night.
- The bushranger was better known as "the Wild Colonial Boy".
- In the latter part of the novel, the focus shifts to his being a “wild colonial boy”, an Australian of the wilderness, owned by nobody.
1.1 informal A boisterous man with no regard for convention or authority: our boys were no angels, but there were plenty of wild colonial boys down there...
- The Australian cricket establishment is as reactionary as they come, and the wild colonial boy from Melbourne knew he didn't have much rope to play with.
- In the early years he had a reputation as something of a "wild colonial boy".
- Come the toss-up for the first Test, those wild colonial boys will be singing from the same hymn-sheet.
Origin
Mid 19th century: from the Australian and Irish ballad ‘The Wild Colonial Boy’.