Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(N.Z.) an Irish immigrant; a Roman Catholic.

1905		Truth 9 Sept. 1: A Mick Dooley asked a Wellington barmaid for ‘some of that new French drink’. [Ibid.] 23 Sept. 1: Where Mickey Doos have always been [DNZE].
1965		McEldowney Full of Warm South (1983) 123: When she came in from shopping she found that Michael Hickey had the gym full of ‘little Micky Doos’ – Holy Name children.
1968		G. Slatter Pagan Game (1969) 161: Trouble was she was a Mickey Doo – / Buggered for the want of an Irish king.
1972		Salient (Wellington) 5 July 5: However the fact that Mike only polled 529 votes against 434 for a wog, 409 for a micky doolan and 253 for Professor Liley’s stand in shows [DNZE].
1976		(con. 1935) A. Campbell Island To Island (1984) 87: We’d gang up on the kids who chucked off at us — like the boys from the Catholic home [...] we’d call them ‘doolans’, ‘doolies’, ‘Mickey Doolans’ — or worse.
1982		National Business Rev. 2 Aug. 32: And it [i.e. boxing] was something Catholic kids (Mickey Doos) were forced to do that gave us another excuse for avoiding them [DNZE].
1987		Landfall 162 163: And this time I promised Dad that I’d never play with that little Micky Doolin bastard again [DNZE].
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 72/2: Mickey Doolan Roman catholic and usually Irish aka mick, mickey, Mickey Doo; ‘mick’ used elsewhere.
1995		Dominion (Wellington) 1 Apr. 21: It’s enough to start a horrid little internecine scrap – them Mickey Dos trying to flog the Protty Dog [=Anglican] nuns for their turgid little doco [DNZE].
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].