Old Dart

Possibly from the river Dart in Devonshire which enters the sea at Dartmouth, location of a Royal Navy College. Royal Navy officers who were returning to England at the end of a foreign tour of duty referred to going back to the "Old Dart" for further training.[1]

Alternatively a variation of "old dirt" (compare old sod).

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Old Dart

1. (Australia, New Zealand) Britain or England, the Old Country; London.
   • 1872, Pen-name Auld Lang Syne, Original Correspondence, Ovens and Murray Advertiser, Beechworth, Victoria, 20 July 1872‎^dart, page 2:

     J. A. W. has still, I am persuaded, any amount of friends in the Old Dart.

   • 1876, Magguffin, Random Notes, Oamaru Mail, 24 June 1876‎^dart, page 2:

     You recollect that when I left the Colony to visit the old dart, besides the usual allowance granted...

   • 2003, John Williams, German Anzacs And The First World War‎, page 9:

     The ‘Old Dart’ mattered little to German Australians but the empire was another matter and Australia was their home.

   • 2003, Di Morrissey, Barra Creek, 2010, page 432,

     ‘I have a whole range of new talents, Dad. I can muster a mob of cattle, break in a horse, speak pidgin, and at a pinch, stitch up someone′s head.’

     ‘Very useful in the Old Dart,’ he commented dryly and returned to his newspaper.

   • 2004, Mark Browning, Rod Marsh: A Life in Cricket‎, page 55:

     Marsh′s experiences during his first days in the Old Dart were no different from most Australian cricketers′.

• the old country

Old Dart is an early colonial colloquialism meaning the settlers country of origin, particularly, Great Britain but sometimes Ireland, predominantly used in Australia and New Zealand from the mid 1800's. Alternatively, a colloquialism used by Royal Navy Officers meaning Dartmouth Royal Navy College.