government man

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

government man (plural government men)

1. A representative of the government.
2. A supporter of the government.
3. (Australia, euphemistic, obsolete or historical) A convict.
   • 1888, Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, Gutenberg eBook #1198:

     Whatever it was that had happened to him in the old times when he was a Government man he didn′t talk about.

The term convict was considered an insult in early colonial Australia, government man was the approved euphemism.^[1] See convict for other terms.