cabbage-tree mob
(also cabbage-tree hat mob)
noun Australian historical
A gang of boisterous, often badly behaved young men, particularly in an urban area: these youth gangs can be traced back to the cabbage-tree mobs of the 1850s inadequate policing of the streets enabled the cabbage-tree mob to roam at night assaulting people...
- There was a cabbage-tree mob in Sydney given to assaulting people at night and in the 1920s.
- He dates back to the cabbageites and the cabbage-tree mobs of the early nineteenth century.
- They were constantly worried about crime and the disrespectful behaviour of Cabbage Tree Hat mobs, larrikin pushes and bodgie gangs.
Origin
Mid 19th. cent: from cabbage tree + mob. The gangs wore cabbage-tree hats as a badge of identity.