noun

• A native-born Australian man, as distinct from an immigrant.

  ‘the currency lads and lasses began inventing the Australian way of speaking’

  More example sentences

  • ‘The physical and behavioural characteristics of currency lads and lasses impressed contemporary observers.’
  • ‘W. C. Wentworth was the most celebrated currency lad.’
  • ‘She got more pleasure from a moment's reading than the admiration of the local currency lads.’
  • ‘One story argues that currency lads were so called because they demanded to be paid in cash money.’
  • ‘Currency lads and lasses were mostly the children of convicts or emancipists, and the term suggested inferiority and a distinct identity.’
  • ‘Our currency lads and lasses do honour to the country whence they originated.’
  • ‘His characterization of the currency lads and lasses exemplifies the general contemporary view.’
  • ‘The two young men are currency lads—born and bred in the new land now being called Australia.’
  • ‘As the spirit of Australian nationhood bloomed, when called currency lads or lasses, native-born children of all classes bore the name with pride.’