hut-keepern.
/ˈhʌtˌkiːpə/, U.S. /ˈhətˌkipər/, Australian English /ˈhʌtˌkiːpə/, New Zealand English /ˈhʌtˌkiːpə/ Australian and New Zealand. Now historical.
A person whose job is to take care of or guard a hut or a number of huts on a farm, station, etc., while the occupants are away at work. Cf. hut n.1 1b.
ΚΠ
1793 W. Tench Compl. Acct. Settlem. Port Jackson 145 To every hut are appointed two men, as hut-keepers, whose only employment is to watch the hut in working hours, to prevent them from being robbed.
1802 Barrington's Hist. New S. Wales x. 390 Hut-keepers to remain at home and prevent robbery, while the other inhabitants of the hut were at labour.
1911 C. E. W. Bean ‘Dreadnought’ of Darling xi. 98 In the early days in Australia..they used to have shepherds..men living out in lonely huts twenty miles back on the run, generally with a hutkeeper to mind their little log ‘humpy’.
2000 D. Malouf Dream Stuff 116 We were the first ones on this bit of land, other than the hut-keepers and young inexperienced stockmen that had stayed up here for a couple of seasons to establish a claim.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2021; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
n.1793