Bogan Fleas
We have all the prickles in the Mallee - Burr Daisy, Gentle Annie, Bindiis - but my favorite is the Bogan Flea (Calotis hispidula). I love to hate this hairy, unassuming annual plant with tiny yellow flowers. It causes no end of trouble. At this time of year, the plant has dried up but the Fleas remain … the tiny, prickly burrs containing the seeds.
If you sit down where it was growing and you will be picking Fleas from your clothing for months. You can’t kneel down to take a photo, and the dog has to wear boots … Grrrr
(Special note: if it’s wet then the Bogan Flies are too soft to be a problem. Hooray!)
But Bogan Flea is the funniest name. I thought it was because “Ya’ know, like, fleas that get stuck to bogans, right? (In my best Kylie Mole voice). But it’s not named for that kind of bogan.
In western New South Wales, you can find the Bogan River, near to the town called Bogan Gate. It’s pretty dry there, so you have a “Bogan Shower” (a dust storm), and that’s where the Bogan Flea thrives (and annoys the graziers by contaminating the wool of sheep). So, they’re Fleas from the place called Bogan.
It appears that using “Bogan” to describe an uncultured or unsophisticated person is actually unrelated parallel evolution. It was possibly the late 1980s TV show: Kylie Mole on Comedy Company who described bogans as complete losers. “Worst holiday ever. We went to a national park. And, ya know, like, only bogans and parents go to national parks.” But there are also claims that students at Xavier College (a private school in Melbourne) created the bogan character in a school ‘zine in 1984. Whatever the source, the hooligan bogan was a common descriptor by the 1990s.
But our Bogan Fleas are named for the river in New South Wales and are nothing to do with a bogan, bevan, westie, booner or chigga.
Bogan Flea (Calotis hispidula) flowering in August
Bogan Flea one month later, drying off and releasing the fleas.
First published 24 March 2020
More bogan stuff:
ABC (2019) The origins of the word bogan.
Pierce, P. (2017) Bogans, flipwrecks and maggot bags
General rant about bogans - https://www.dailyliberal.com.au/story/5232058/my-word-laurie-barber/
And a collection of all the prickles of Central Australia - https://wildlife.lowecol.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/25/Bindis-and-Burrs.pdf