Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus.) a lift on a horse.

1934

Bulletin (Sydney) 5 Sept. 20/1: Victorian philologists are becoming alarmed over an outbreak in the State schools of a new form of slang. Two words in particular have gained great popularity – ‘dink’ and ‘pug’. These are, apparently, both used to express a request for a double-bank ride. [...] When a cobber wants a lift home behind the kid in the saddle he asks for a ‘pug’.