English

Noun

Botany Bay dozen ‎(plural Botany Bay dozens)

1. (Australia, slang, obsolete or historical) 25 lashes, ie. strokes of a whip across a person's back as a punishment. ^[1]
   • 1893, Frank Murcott Bladen, Historical Records of New South Wales: Papers Relating to Grose and Paterson, 1793-1795, Volume 2, page 796,

     If guilty, he is taken to a cart-wheel to receive a Botany Bay dozen, which is twenty-five lashes ; […] .

   • 1948, Eleanor Dark, Storm of Time, 1963, Collins, page 58,

     “Will they be strung up for a Botany Bay dozen like we are if we so much as squeak? Not those fine gentlemen, with their uniforms an' their pockets full o' gold!”

   • 2003, Mary Hawkins, Australian Outback: Four Journeys to a New Country Ride on the Wings of Faith and Love, page 47,

     He gave a harsh snort and said angrily, “A Botany Bay dozen is not twelve. It's twenty-five, and more than capable of exposing a man's backbone.”

Synonyms

• tester

References

1. ↑ Robert Hughes, The Fatal Shore, 1987, paperback 1996 ISBN 1-86046-150-6, chapter 12.