Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus.) any European refugee or immigrant.

1947		Courier mail (Brisbane) 19 Dec. 1/1: Romance in Balt Camp. First Wedding at the Baltic Migrants’ Camp.
1949		Sydney Morn. Herald 11 Aug. 3/8: The Minister for immigration [...] to-day appealed to the Australian people not to call migrants ‘Balts,’ ‘Displaced Persons,’ and ‘D.P.s’.
1953		T.A.G. Hungerford Riverslake 7: ‘What nationality?’ ‘God knows – Balts of some sort.’ [Ibid.] 127: This’s where you begin your flamin’ lesson, Baltie!
1957		‘Nino Culotta’ They’re a Weird Mob (1958) 53: Dagoes an’ Jerries an’ Balts an’ Poles an’ Lithu-bloody-wanians?
1963		R. McGregor-Hastie Compleat Migrant 44: The word Balt is used loosely [...] to describe anyone who is not a British immigrant.
1965		W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags 163: We had some terrific street brawls with the dagos that the Government had started bringing out. Our boys hated these dagos and bolts [sic] that were coming out here, trying to take over our country.
1986		S. Naipaul Unfinished Journey (1988) 5: My father used to have Balts working here [...] Refugees from Europe, you know, Balts — that’s what we called them in those days.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 11: We went on to be specifically derogatory with terms like balt (arrivals from the ‘Baltic’ countries).
2006		P. Carey Theft 172: A single reffo or wog or balt.