an apprentice station hand working on, and learning how to manage, a cattle or sheep station. Origin unknown. Suggestions have been legion, such as: the male name Jack blended with 'kangaroo'; a corruption of Johnny Raw; and borrowings from various Australian Aboriginal languages. Originally it was a Queensland word referring to a man living away from settled areas, and so may be referable to a native Queensland language AUSTRALIA, 1845

to work as a jackeroo AUSTRALIA, 1875