One of the mysteries of the English language finally explained.
The owner of a small agricultural enterprise, especially an orchard; a smallholder.‘he picked grapes for a blockie and cut wood for the pumping station’
- ‘He reports that "Blockies say no to housing proposal".’
- ‘The company thus reversed a policy it had held for several years and ended a bitter campaign waged by the blockies against the development.’
- ‘He moved in 1936 to the home missions churches in the midst of the blockies of the Murray irrigation area.’
- ‘Dozens of blockies had written hundreds of submissions, held countless meetings, spent thousands of dollars, and fronted the town planners on several occasions.’
- ‘Since Monday, local blockies have blockaded gas workers from leaving their camp, about 300 kilometres north-west of Brisbane.’
- ‘Time and again the blockies had to fight to protect their chosen environment.’
- ‘The fruit blockies didn't want the rain yet as they're midway through the grape harvest, and if the weather stays cool, they will be okay.’
- ‘I went to where the blockies live.’
- ‘We were going to an anti-gas protest in a town of about 1,000 people, most of whom live off the grid on plots of 30–250 acres and refer to themselves as blockies.’
- ‘The number of blockies was low—some people have scraped up enough money to buy a few acres of land, but are struggling to find the money to build a house on that land.’
1940s: from block in the sense ‘a small parcel of land’ + -ie.
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