Send her down, Hughie!
I am seeking the origins of a common Australian phrase
"send her down Hughie" Used when it's raining this phrase is appealing to the heavens for more and heavier rain.
Can you help ?From Eric Partridge, Dictionary of Catch Phrases: American and British, from the Sixteenth Century to the Present Day:
"send her down, Hughie!" (and ". . . , Steve!") This Aus. -- hence also NZ -- catchphrase of late C19-20, the 'Steve' var. being used during WW1, expresses a fervent desire for rain. . . . Variations of the next, 'her' for 'it' being characteristically Aus.
"send it down, David (with var. "Davy lad")!" The var. belongs to the Regular Army; and the basic 'send it down, David' is often intensified by the addition of a repetitive 'send it down': late C19-20. In the army, esp. during WW1, it was used to implore David, the Welsh patron saint, to send a preferably very heavy shower, notably when it might cause a parade to be postponed or cancelled. Parts of Wales have a notoriously wet climate: and, what is more, Wales is 'the Land of _Leeks_' (leaks).
Hughie A 20th-century
Australian euphemism for God, especially in contexts that have to do with the
control of the weather. *Send her down, Hughie* is a common outback exhortation
to the Almighty Rainmaker.
From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
Huey
noun a jocular name for the powers above used when encouraging a heavy rainfall,
good snow or good surf: _Send her down, Huey!_ _Whip 'em up, Huey!_ Also, *Hughie*.
[origin of appellation unknown]
From _Macquarie Book of Slang_
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Down
Hughie* pours.
*Hughie = the rain. (L.J. Villers, _The Changing Year_, 1918)
_Send her down, Steve!_ Let it rain on. (W.H. Downing, _Digger Dialects_, 1919)
The missionary tackled him with 'Who made this country, Peter?' 'Dunno' -- says Peter -- 'was here when I came.' 'Well,' says Parson, 'who is it makes the rain?' Peter knew that all right. 'Ole Hughie,' he answered promptly. (_Bulletin_, January 26, 1922)
To the best of my belief, it was at Charlton [in 1905] that 'Hughie' as the chief deity in the job of controlling the weather came into being. (H.P. Tritton, _Time Means Tucker_, 1964)