Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(a) a fourpenny piece, a groat [radical politician Joseph Hume MP (1777–1855), who encouraged the introduction of the coin. The term was coined by the London cabbies, who lost money by the coin’s invention, when the joey replaced the sixpence as the usual payment for shorter journeys].

1839		Coventry Herald 11 Oct. 2/3: Now six long uns and ten short uns is four and a ‘joey’ and twelve dots is a ‘bob’ more, vich makes together five and fourpence.
1841		Hawkins Hist. Silver Coinage of England n.p.: These pieces are said to have owed their existence to the pressing instance of Mr. Hume, from whence they, for some time, bore the nickname of joeys [F&H].
1843		R.S. Surtees Handley Cross (1854) 90: In comes I, looks in my hand — hang me, if it wer’n’t a Joey!
1846		Swell’s Night Guide 71: They is a feeling school of swells vot goes there, and as green as the upper tog of a cowcumber, and doesn’t tumble a bit to our dodge, but downs with their tanners and joeys like smoke.
1853		H. Hayman Pawnbroker’s Daughter 215: Come, go a joey bit on the spoon, and a tizzy on the ladle.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 249/2: The swells give a ‘joey’ where they used to give a ‘tanner’.
1865		H. Kingsley Hillyars and Burtons (1870) 232: A young man as has owed me a joey ever since the last blessed Greenwich fair.
1873		Sl. Dict. 204: Joey a fourpenny piece. The term is derived (like bobby from Sir Robert Peel) from Joseph Hume, the late respected M.P.
1881		Morn. Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld) 18 July 2/6: For fourpenny pieces we find the name of ‘bit,’ ‘castle-rag,’ ‘flag. [...] ‘joey,’ and ‘quarterer saltee’.
1886		S. Watson Wops the Waif 7/1: He given us the price of a pint-and-a-half, that’s a Joey.
1889		Reynolds’s Newspaper 13 Oct. 2/2: The East-end women are now commencing an agitation for [...] their ‘joey’ — i.e., fourpence per hour.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 40: Joey, a four-penny piece.
1922		Tamworth Herald 5 Aug. 3/5: Fourpence (a coin that has disappeared) [...] is a pot [...] or a joey.

(b) (US) four.

1859

Matsell Vocabulum.

(c) a threepenny bit.

1936		‘George Orwell’ Keep The Aspidistra Flying (1962) 7: Fivepence halfpenny – twopence halfpenny and a Joey. He paused, took out the miserable little threepenny-bit.
1938		L. Ortzen Down Donkey Row 12: Joey – Threepence.
1948		Hull Dly Mail 13 Sept. 3/4: Surmising on ‘threepenny joey’ [...] Mr Meldrum’s grandmother still refers to them as ‘threepenny dodgers’.
1976		(ref. to 1930s) R. Barnes Coronation Cups and Jam Jars 69: It’s a Joey a bucket.

(a) in the goldfields, an outsider.

1864		E. Wardley Confessions of Wavering Worthy 171: We were hailed as Joeys, and asked if we wanted a feather-bed, or a ‘sophy’.
1895		Worker (Sydney) 9 Feb. 3/2: He had had but three weeks’ exprience of colonial life. In digging parlance he was a ‘joey’ [AND].

(b) a police officer; in WWI a military policeman.

1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. of Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: joey. A Military Policeman (Also ‘Pretty Joey’).
1953		D. Cusack Caddie 140: Kneeling down behind the bar counter we could pour ourselves a glass of ginger-ale [...] A whistled Joey from a barmaid was the danger signal.
1976		B. Scott Complete Bk Aus. Folk Lore 64: If you do join the Joeys, I hope you’ll be shot. I’d shoot the hull blessed lot of ’em if I had my way.