"Here [in Kangaroo Island] is also the wallaba . . . The young of the animal is called by the islanders a joe."
1861. T. McCombie, I`Australian Sketches,' p. 172:
"The young kangaroos are termed joeys. The female carries the latter in her pouch, but when hard pressed by dogs, and likely to be sacrificed, she throws them down, which usually distracts the attention of the pack and affords the mother sufficient time to escape."
1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 10:
"Sometimes when the flying doe throws her `joey' from her pouch the dogs turn upon the little one."
1896. F. G. Aflalo, `Natural History of Australia,' p. 29:
"At length the actual fact of the Kangaroo's birth, which is much as that of other mammals, was carefully observed at the London Zoo, and the budding fiction joined the myths that were. It was there proved that the little `joey' is brought into the world in the usual way, and forthwith conveyed to the comfortable receptacle and affixed to the teat by the dam, which held the lifeless-looking little thing tenderly in her cloven lips."
(2) Also slang used for a baby or little child, or even a young animal, such as a little guinea-pig. Compare "kid."
(3) A hewer of wood and drawer of water.
1845. J. A. Moore, `Tasmanian Rhymings,' p. 15: