Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus./N.Z.) a utility vehicle, a small truck.

1943		Hunt & Pringle Service Sl. 68: Ute, short for Utility truck, a light van used by the Army.
1951		(con. 1941) E. Lambert Twenty Thousand Thieves 106: He [...] pinches a ute from the transport lines, takes the sheila into Tel Aviv.
1964		P. White Burnt Ones 311: Alone in the back of the ute, Lum Whalley sat forward on the empty crate.
1977		K. Gilbert Living Black 120: We used to have to cart the water from the river in a forty-four gallon drum in an old Dodge, a 1926 ute.
1986		T. Winton That Eye, The Sky 3: He revs the ute up.
1997		L. Davies Candy 24: His ute was loaded down with hoes and shovels and star posts and chicken wire.
1999		Observer Mag. 15 Aug. 20: There was a pick-up truck, known in New Zealand as a ‘ute.’.
2004		T. Winton Turning (2005) 158: Max’s ute was outside.
2008		Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) 23 Sept. 🌐 Aussie blokes have a reputation for being tough [...] They are typical Bruces; rough, hard-drinking, ute-driving tattooed types.
2012		L. Redhead ‘Grassed’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] A twin cab ute pulled up at the curb.
2018		C. Hammer Scrublands [ebook] [T]he ute appears from nowhere. One moment he’s alone—earth, sky, road and nothing else—the next moment there is the blaring of a horn.
2020		D. Whish-Wilson Shore Leave 175: [H]e recognised the tail-lights of Riley’s old ute.