Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Aus./N.Z.) a break for smoking; thus smoko-room, smoko-shed, a room where one takes a smoking break.

1866		Argus (Melbourne) 6 Nov. 5/3: The king then bawled out in a loud voice ‘Smoke, oh!’ Immediately all the shear were dropped, tobacco and pipes brought out [etc].
1870		Sydney Mail 19 Nov. 8/4: The presence in your shed of a leading man, or in shearers' vernacular ‘a ringer’ is most objectionable. Tbis man is supposed to be privileged to call ‘Smoke, oh!’ or ‘Knock off!’ &c.
1880		Williamstown Chron. (Vic.) 12 June 3/3: It is such a nice billet this. Unlimited ‘smoke oh!’ sleep ad lib, and a good recruiting ground for the army of the Unemployed.
1890		Bulletin (Sydney) 19 July 18/1: [S]he motioned Boofles into the hole in the drift and cried ‘smoke-ho!’ And it was a real smoke-ho, for Julia produced a pipe of workmanlike blackness and puffed away stolidly.
1898		(con. 1875) F.T. Bullen Cruise of the ‘Cachalot’ 77: ‘Smoke-oh!’ The luxury of that rest and refreshment was something to be grateful for.
1900–10		Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 52: CRIB: miners term for a twenty-minute interval for food or smoke-ho.
1904		‘Dads Wayback’ in Sun. Times (Sydney) 31 Jan. 3/7: ‘[Y]ou sets on a fence an’ has a smoke-ho’.
1907		Lone Hand (Sydney) July 278/1: Jim Barry and his pen-mate [...] were sacked shortly after smoke-oh for cheeking the shed boss.
1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 22 Sept. 10/4: They point blank refuse to do a hand’s turn – nothing will do but spell-o, smoke-o, arbitration, r-ump steak, ha-am and aigs and all that sort of thing unsuitable to that class of people.
1918		R.H. Knyvett ‘Over There’ with the Australians 48: Smoke-o that day had seen much activity in the business of brushing and polishing.
1928		V. Palmer Passage 247: At smoko, when they took a spell in the middle of loading the boat.
1938		X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) 282: The job was finished. Smoke-o was called.
1940		H. Drake-Brockman Hot Gold III i: Snakey and me allowed a smoke-o till the Heads clear up the winnings.
1945		N. Marsh Died in the Wool (1963) 145: There’ll be a smoke-oh in ten minutes.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 8: After they had dug and shovelled for almost an hour, they stopped for a smoke-oh.
1958		C. Lee diary 20 Feb. in Eight Bells & Top Masts (2001) 65: Another one was waiting by number four hatch when we came back for smoke-o.
1957		‘Nino Culotta’ They’re a Weird Mob (1958) 80: ‘Watta yez all knocked orf for?’ ‘Smoke-o.’.
1963–74		B. Humphries Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 55: It’s all right by me if the blokes take their coats off and have a smoke-oh.
1965		F.J. Hardy Yarns of Billy Borker 22: This fella used to be always saying he’d like to go to Paris [...] said it nearly every day at smoko.
1973		(con. 1930s) F. Huelin ‘Keep Moving’ 13: About halfway through the job the maid came out with a cup of tea and a slab of cake. ‘Smoko,’ she said.
1981		P. Barton Bastards I Have Known 5: We workers were sitting around having a smoko.
1992		R.G. Barrett Davo’s Little Something 7: Len [...] who do you want to go to early smoko?
1998		P. Doyle (con. late 1950s) Amaze Your Friends (2019) 154: It was a kind of smoko room for the fettlers, with a kero heater.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 193: smoko Refreshment break for workers From late C19, when a break usually meant time to smoke a cigarette The refreshment area was called a smoko room or smoko shed.
2006		Age (Melbourne) 6 Jan. 🌐 By smoko we were wet through and stank.
2012		D. O’Donnell Locked Ward (2013) 257: He liked to pass the time of day with me [...] at coffee time or smoko.
2016		N. Cummins Adventures of the Honey Badger [ebook] He also loved a yarn and a feed at smoko with the troops.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1865		Aus. Monthly Mag. (Melbourne) I 234: They in a ‘smoke oh!’ time, commenced to recount feats that they had seen done [AND].
1921		(con. WWI) E. Lynch Somme Mud 323: The local town corporation has invited our draft to a smoko dinner.
2001		(con. 1945–6) P. Doyle Devil’s Jump (2008) 56: I poured nips of scotch into the tin mugs we’d gathered from the smoko room.
2016		N. Cummins Adventures of the Honey Badger [ebook] Israel Folau couldn’t beat the old man to a smoko truck.

3. (Aus.) a party (poss. all-male).

1904

Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 27 Jan. 7/7: A big ‘smoke-oh’ was held at Bateman’s Hotel [...] at which the prizes for the interstate race were presented.

4. the cup of tea and/or the food that often accompanies such a break.

1959		D. Niland Big Smoke 114: I’ll make you a bit of smoko.
1965		B. Wannan Fair Go, Spinner 69: For smoko, they have what is called a mother-in-law special—bread, six layers of beetroot, a layer of pineapple and enough arsenic to cover a brick.
2021		Betoota-isms 196: ‘The boys were starving for smoko, so we trotted down to The Viets and picked up a Bung Knee and a can of Black Doctor’.

5. (Aus. prison) marijuana [smoke n. (2e)].

1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Smoko. Marijuana.
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] ‘I haven’t got any smoko but Titch owes me a smoke’.