My mother would sometimes use this exclamation of incredulity or annoyance (sometimes with the adjective 'flaming' inserted).Apparently, there have been a few attempts to explain the origin of this odd phrase. A croze is the groove at the end of a wooden barrel that holds the end plate in place. It has been suggested that the expression was previously stow the croze, ie break open the barrel. There's no support for this, though.
The more prosaic idea - an allusion to throwing stones at crows - is much more likely. Some English sources think it American and vice-versa but it is held to have originated in Australia. Most of the early citations in print come from there. It has a sort of Australian twang to it and is in common with several other similar phrases, all with the same meaning: starve the bardies [are grubs], stiffen the crows, spare the crow. If that's true I don't know how my mother came to use it.
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