Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a germ or parasite, an insect; thus adj. woggy, pertaining to insects [ety. unknown; ? link to dial. wog, to twitch, to move].

1918		Sun (Sydney) 17 Mar. 5/7: It is interesting to read of the activities of the Board of Health and the medical profession generally in the field of research in their endeavor to locate the wily little ‘wog’ responsible for the mysterious disease now known as X.
1924		Mirror (Perth) 5 Jan. 2/7: Wogs! In Melbourne Water [...] All manner o creepy crawly things have been reported as having wriggled their way through Melbourne’s water mains.
1929		H. Eyre Hilarities 119: All he had to do was to sweep cigarette ends, lollie wrappers, ashes, soot, and assorted wogs, germs, and dust from [...] under the seats.
1930		Argus (Melbourne) 15 Oct. 9/1: Taxes, tariffs, and trade tribulations never yet justified a glum and gloomy visage [...] it’s the ‘wogs’ in the blood stream that hamper the smile.
1933		Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld) 14 oct. 37/3: Is it not wonderful that the sun - millions and millions of miles away - should send its rays right down here and turn a small unimportant, shadowy, dull, little wog into a radiant star-like wee creature - Blue Fringe?
1934		Bulletin (Sydney) 31 Oct. 20/4: Buckley’s fluke [...] is a wog that enters the nostrils of these snakes during hibernation.
1940		Bulletin (Sydney) 4 Dec. 16/2: Of all the miscellaneous assortment of wogs that bountiful Nature inflicts on her sons, the ‘itchy grub’ is the most insidious. A harmless-looking hairy caterpillar, about two inches long, it leaves an invisible irritant behind that lingers long after it has gone.
1940		Advocate (Burnie, Tas.) 25 Jan. 9/3: She could see ‘things’ drifting about in her cup — not wogs, mind you, just things [...] she was very definite about the complete absence of anything ‘woggy’.
1948		R. Raven-Hart Canoe in Aus. 66: ‘Wog’ was a microbe and not a coloured person.
1952		Examiner (Launceston, Tas.) 26 June 2/2: It is the dity of [...] the Minister of Health to find them a home, as he is indirectly responsible for the ‘wog-scared’ property owner’s attitude.
1952		Courier-Mail ((Brisbane) 27 Dec. 1/3: ‘Wog’ Back with Winds [...] At least ten people were stung at Palm Beach.
1953		A.W. Upfield Murder must Wait 191: The wogs flying about the light [OED].
1964		R. Braddon Year Angry Rabbit 9: But find the wog, find the super-myxomatosis, the whatever-it-may-be that kills today’s rabbits [OED].
1976		D. Francis In The Frame 126: Fascinating snippets of Australian conversation [...] ... a beastly stomach wog, so he couldn’t come ...
1982		J.A. Sharwood Vocab. Aus. Dried Vine Fruits Industry 32: A grower [...] who is chasing the wogs is examining his vines closely for signs of insect damage [AND].

2. (Aus.) a toy.

1935

Chron. (Adelaide) 17 oct. 52/2: I must not forget to thank you for your graceful acknowledgement of the little wog. I love making little things like that, and in toy-making, utilise every thing and anything, from paper-clips to tooth paste tops. It is a most fascinating hobby.

3. an illness, usu. influenza; a disease, a ‘bug’ [fig. use of sense 1].

c.1946		J.E. Purtill Farewell ‘Robbie’ 25: The Padre looked along the line-boys with the ‘flu’ and ‘wog’, / Then went off with his cobber to eat the poor girl’s dog [AND].
1954		Centralian Advocate (Alice Springs, NT) 16 July 1/2: Call it ‘the flue,’ call it ‘heavy cold’ or call it just ‘the wog’.
1956		J.E. Macdonnell Commander Brady 224: ‘What actually was wrong with him?’ Number One looked at him steadily. ‘Like I said. A wog.’ ‘Yes, I heard that. What sort of wog?’ [...] ‘Malaria,’ he said briefly.
1962		Honolulu Advertiser (HI) 15 Oct. 7/3: ‘I’m in bed with wog’ — down with the flu.
1965		J. O’Grady Aussie Eng. (1966) 88: Tell him I can’t come to work today; I got the wog.
1972		Aus. Women’s Wkly 12 Jan. 17/1: [headline] The Gastric Wog in Summer.
1973		(con. 1940s–60s) Hogbotel & ffuckes ‘Jean Baptiste’ in Snatches and Lays 28: Because he has diarrhoea / Zis leetle dog he caught ze wog / In Mesopotamia.
1973		Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Feb. 43/2: The great decimator that has plagued man for centuries ... since he became so mobile and began moving the wog around the globe may come under control.
1984		S. King Thinner (1986) 83: This is skin cancer [...] Now will you for Christ’s sweet sake shut up about that old wog!
2000		P. Temple Dead Point (2008) [ebook] Then his dad got some tropical wog, [...] he died.

4. a tiny fragment.

1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl.
1955		N. Pulliam I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 242/1: wog – a little of something, a germ, a particle, i.e., ‘I’ve a wog of dust on my nose.’.