Swag (bedroll)

One definition given in Francis Grose's 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue is "any booty you have lately obtained,.... To carry the swag is to be the bearer of the stolen goods to a place of safety.

"[1] James Hardy Vaux, a convict in Australia, used the term for similar purposes in his memoirs written in 1812 and published in 1819.

[2] By the 1830s, the term in Australia had transferred from meaning goods acquired by a thief to the possessions and daily necessaries carried by a bushman.

The compound swagman and colloquial variation swaggie first appeared in the 1850s during the Australian gold rushes, alongside less common terms such as bundleman.

The modern swag is designed for robustness and is marketed towards those travelling by vehicle – they are too heavy (10-20kg) and bulky to be transported long distances on foot.

; shiralee; bluey; drum: *I got my rug and rolled it up into a swag, putting the remains of the bread and butter inside.