The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word RHODESIAN
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
R
H
O
D
E
S
I
A
N
More clues leading to the result RHODESIAN
- Old African horse and I, struggling
- Former inhabitant of Africa – island fellow
- Danish ore, possibly coming from former colony
- Sheridan plays about old African once
- Old African in a shed or building
- Old African or Danish translated around English
- De Niro has played an old countryman
- He ordains eccentric old African
- Two blokes following Greek character and historic African
- Former African island given Indian article
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "coming from former colony" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case coming from former colony = rhodesian.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.