Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus.) a cadger, a sponger, one who shirks work; thus poling, doing less than a fair share of work.

1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Sept. 11/3: Kurikka and the Finns in Queensland are known to the writer as a sturdy, muscular crowd of tireless workers. Yet for their hard labor and pleasant-manners they receive from the local ‘poler’ – who has his 1s. an hour secure – but little encouragement.
1913		Sport (Adelaide) 22 Mar. 12/3: They Say [...] That Dave the kid and Ben the poler work well in double harness — I don’t think.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: poling. To do less than one’s share thereby rendering the other fellows more difficult. This term was also borrowed from Australian Bullock driving parlance. The ‘Polers,’ the pair of bullocks nearest to the pole of the wagon, are generally regarded as being not only the strongest, but next to the leaders the outest pair in the team, and therefore more inclined to take things easy and let the other bullocks do the pulling, if the driver is not observant.
1938		X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) 486: The long-jawed poler [...] living on the fat of the land.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 108: Hummer, poler and bot-fly are additional synonyms for a cadger.
1993		Aus. Word Map 🌐 poler. When I was at school in Tasmania a Poler was the term applied to some one who was slacking, usually when participating, or being forced to participate in some communal task. I understand that was derived from bullock teams, where the beasts yoked at the rear of the team, either side of the wagon pole, could easily give the appearance of pulling hard when all they were doing was supporting the pole.