Whip Australian into court (3)
I believe the answer is:
cat
'whip' is the definition.
(cat o' nine tails, cat for short is a type of whip)
'australian into court' is the wordplay.
'australian' becomes 'A' (common abbreviation).
'into' is an insertion indicator.
'court' becomes 'ct' (abbreviation used in road names).
'a' put within 'ct' is 'CAT'.
(Other definitions for cat that I've seen before include "Feline mammal" , "Common pet" , "Domestic animal" , "Pussy" , "eg Leopard" .)