Australian National Dictionary Second Edition 2016. Photo by author. Used with permission.
All the Australianisms in this story have been verified in the hard-copy 2nd edition of the Australian National Dictionary. Where necessary, meanings are given in parentheses.
Many Aussies are shitty (upset) about an attack on our cultural heritage. I’m also mad as a cut snake (angry) with the Australian National University's (ANU) recent proposed funding cuts to the Dictionary of Australianisms, an annual record of Australian English.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation summed up the issue in an audio interview with the director of the Australian National Dictionary Centre, Amanda Laugesen.
The Australian National Dictionary Centre (NDC) conducts research into Australian English, and provides Oxford University Press with editorial expertise for their Australian dictionaries.
But now the centre could be shut down.
It's been earmarked as part of proposed cuts at the Australian National University.
The NDC maintains a website with a selection of Australianisms and other related resources. The Centre is jointly funded by the ANU and Oxford University Press (OUP). It helped with the publication of two hard-copy editions by OUP of the Australian National Dictionary in 1988 and 2016.
The two-volume 2016 edition has 1,864 densely-packed pages with “16,000 headwords, phrases, compounds, idioms, and derivates …illustrated by 123,000 citations”. My two volumes weigh 4.512 kgs (9.947 lbs) in total.
Its “word of the year”, such as the 2016 winner, “democracy sausage”, always draws public interest both in Australia and internationally. The dictionary contains many words borrowed from First Nations peoples, such as galah (fool, idiot), which comes from an Aboriginal word for cockatoo, a common bird down under (Australasia). Dingo (an Australian wild dog) is another word that is sometimes used to describe treacherous people. Both words could well be applied to those responsible for the decision.
There are proposed cuts to the National Centre for Biography (NCB) and the School of Music, among several other areas of the humanities.
On The Conversation, Monash University academics Howard Manns, Senior Lecturer in Linguistics, and Kate Burridge, Professor of Linguistics, put forward a case for why the dictionary matters:
Dictionaries help define and reflect a nation’s identity.
The Australian National Dictionary (AND) grounds our words, and their meanings, in their historical and cultural contexts. The AND tells us where words have come from, when they were first used and how their meanings have changed over time. In short, the AND is a living, breathing and evolving record of how language is wrapped up in who we are as Australians.
Former Chancellor of the ANU, Gareth Evans, was “gobsmacked” with the planned cost-saving measures.
Evans was the Labour foreign minister from 1988 until 1996. The current Chancellor, Julie Bishop, served in that role from 2013 to 2018 for the conservative Liberal/National coalition government.
On BlueSky, Melbourne academic Dominic Kelly posted concerns about the cuts:
Tom Griffiths and Mark McKenna: 'ANU’s recent announcement to slash three full time positions at the Australian Dictionary of Biography and “disestablish” the Australian National Dictionary … represent cultural vandalism on a breathtaking scale.' inside.org.au/the-jewel-in…
— Dominic Kelly (@dominickelly.bsky.social) 2025-07-22T03:07:14.417Z
Tom Griffiths, Professor Emeritus of History at the ANU, and Mark McKenna, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Sydney, penned a strong response on Inside Story. They are both on the Editorial Board of the Australian Dictionary of Biography (ADB). They argued that:
ANU’s assault on the ADB and the Australian National Dictionary is taking place in the context of a sustained attack on the humanities in Australia.
…What do we, as Australians, value? Who else will nurture and defend the languages, cultures and histories of this continent, who else will tell the life stories of this place, who else will cultivate our capacity to share a common reference point of understanding…
They also joined other commentators in wondering why the Federal government's AUD 200 million (USD 130 million) National Institutes Grant is not being used to maintain these programs.
The ANU's use of “disestablish” to refer to its cuts must join the list of “weasel words”, a term popularised down under by Aussie author Don Watson‘s books “Dictionary of Weasel Words” and “Death Sentence: The Decay of Public Language”.
A thread on Reddit, when the cut to the DNC was first flagged in July, brought a swift condemnation by user MindlessOptimist:
Comment
byu/PlumTuckeredOutski from discussion
inAnu
In a “Day of Rage” against the cuts, ANU students protested against Vice-Chancellor Genevieve Bell and Julie Bishop’s management, calling for their sacking (firing):
The leadership of the ANU has been under fire over a range of issues recently. Chancellor Julie Bishop has faced allegations by ANU demographer Liz Allen of bullying and harassment. These were aired at a Senate inquiry into the quality of governance at higher education providers. Allen resigned from the ANU Council earlier this year. Another council member, Francis Markham, has also resigned over “concerns about governance practices within the council”.
One Sydneysider was particularly critical of Bishop on BlueSky:
Its like bullying your hostage that is suffering PTSD after years of Government abuse and cuts that Bishop was part of.ANU academic accuses Julie Bishop of shocking bullying and threats during Senate inquiry into university governance abc.net.au/news/2025-08… via @ABCaustralia #auspol #abc730
— 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️ 🍉 (@chrishehim.bsky.social) 2025-08-12T06:31:31.610Z
In a recent development, the Federal government's Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) has launched an investigation into ANU's governance and financial management. According to an Aunty (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) news article, the agency has:
… demanded the university defend the conduct of its council members amid concerns they failed to competently oversee the institution's operations.
Finally, a Victorian from Gippsland used a few old Australian phrases in their response on BlueSky, which indicate surprise and disgust, plus the suggestion of craziness in the decision-makers:
Australia will be much poorer culturally for years if ANU Humanities, Music and Art are disbanded.And, as for defunding and closing down the Australian National Dictionary… stone the crows, fair suck of the sauce bottle, mate, they must be a few kangaroos short in the back paddock!
Many Aussies like myself have found the potential cuts “chunderous” (sickening in the extreme). Let's hope the stoush (fight) to restore funds will lead to a uey (U-turn) by the ANU. We don't want to end up a country of nongs (fools).
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