Swagman

A swagman (also called a swaggie, sundowner or tussocker) is an old Australian and New Zealand term describing an underclass of transient temporary workers, who travelled by foot from farm to farm carrying the traditional swag (bedroll).

Particularly during the Depression of the 1890s and the Great Depression of the 1930s, unemployed men travelled the rural areas of Australia on foot, their few meagre possessions rolled up and carried in their swag. Typically, they would seek work in farms and towns they travelled through, and in many cases the farmers, if no permanent work was available, would provide food and shelter in return for some menial task.

Etymology

In the early 1800s, the term swag was used by British thieves to describe any amount of stolen goods. 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."James Hardy Vaux, a convict in Australia, used the term for similar purposes in his memoirs written in 1812 and published in 1819. 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. New Zealanders adopted the term in the 1880s, where swagmen were also known as swaggers.Swagger also originated in Australia, but became obsolete there by the 1890s.

Swagman (comics)

The Swagman is a fictional character, a supervillain, appearing within comic books published by DC Comics. Appearing within the fictional DC Universe, Swagman is primarily an enemy of Batman and the Dark Ranger.

Fictional character biography

Swagman began his career as a criminal in Australia, often coming into the conflict with the Dark Ranger.

Sometime before the Batman R.I.P. storyline, Swagman was recruited by the Black Glove and became a member of the Club of Villains, under the leadership of Doctor Simon Hurt. During the storyline, Swagman took part in Doctor Hurt's plan to drive Batman over the edge of his sanity. As part of the elaborate scheme, Doctor Hurt, who is well aware that Batman is Bruce Wayne, sends a wealthy criminal named Jezebel Jet to pose as a love interest for Bruce Wayne in order to weaken his mental state. The plan ultimately works and the Black Glove discovers the location of the Batcave. The Batcave is compromised by members of the Club of Villains and Bruce Wayne has a mental breakdown, but Wayne was not unprepared. Bruce Wayne had created a back-up personality in which he buried in the back of his mind just in case a situation like this ever occurred. His back-up personality kicks in and Bruce Wayne becomes the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh.