mulga

[ muhl-guh ]

/ ˈmʌl gə /

an Australian shrub or small tree, Acacia aneura, forming dense growths in some areas and having foliage used as forage for livestock.

an object, as an Aboriginal shield or club, made from the wood of this tree.

Origin of mulga

1830–40; < Yuwaalaraay (Australian Aboriginal language spoken near Lightning Ridge, N New South Wales) malga

There are a number of gum-trees, and the new tree that was found on Captain Sturt's expedition, 1844, but mulga predominates.

Explorations in Australia, The Journals of John McDouall Stuart |John McDouall Stuart
The horse simply stood in the shade of a small belt of mulga, but he would not try to eat.

Australia Twice Traversed, The Romance of Exploration |Ernest Giles
The valley consists of grassy flats, though somewhat thickly timbered with mulga.

Australia Twice Traversed, The Romance of Exploration |Ernest Giles
To continue this course would lead me again into the mulga scrub, where I do not want to get if I can help it.

Explorations in Australia, The Journals of John McDouall Stuart |John McDouall Stuart

As the sun set our faith was rewarded; before us in an outcrop surrounded by mulga lay two fine rock-holes with an ample supply.

Spinifex and Sand |David W Carnegie

mulga

/ (ˈmʌlɡə) /

any of various Australian acacia shrubs, esp Acacia aneura, which grows in the central desert regions and has leaflike leafstalks

scrub comprised of a dense growth of acacia

the outback; bush

from a native Australian language