The Pioneering Shiralee

In his introduction to the 2002 reprint of D'Arcy Niland's book The Shiralee (originally published in 1955), Les Murray comments that when the book was first issued the word shiralee had little currency in Australia and abroad, but at the same time it had appeal because it sounded 'exotic or plausible'. A quick Internet search today reveals that not much has changed. The melodious shiralee has surprisingly few occurrences. While most Internet sites use the word in reference to D'Arcy Niland's book, and the subsequent movies and television series, other sites reveal the appeal of the word as a name for many different things-a backpacker hostel, a group of holiday cottages on Norfolk Island, a craft group, a female first name, and most importantly a prizewinning Basset Hound.