Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US campus) a new student, a newcomer.

1834		Military and Naval Mag. of US (Oct.) 110: I was all unconscious that as yet I was but a ‘base plebe,’ an unexamined ‘newy’ [HDAS].
1856		B.H. Hall College Words (rev. edn) 334: newy [...] a fresh arrival.
1978		L. Kramer Faggots 22: Better use Redford and McQueen, oh, weren’t they all too old . . . where were the Newies?

2. (Aus.) a new immigrant; a new arrival.

1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 11 Dec. 4/8: Telling sundry boon companions that on that fateful day / He had tracked another ‘newy’ to her nest.
1919		Aussie (France) v 12 Mar. 4/2: ‘Stan Who?’ enquired the ‘newie.’.
1940		H. Drake-Brockman Hot Gold I i: A girl he’s got with him. A newie.

3. (Aus.) anything new or hitherto unknown.

1907		Sun. Times (Perth) 26 May 4/7: It’s a rare chump that doesn’t know the yarn of the ‘Our Own Make’ ticket [...] Here’s a newey.
1914		Sport (Adelaide) 3 Apr. 5/2: Buy your brother one [i.e. a straw hat] as he [...] wants a newy badly .
1951		Cusack & James Come in Spinner (1960) 440: You haven’t heard this one, this is a newy.
1959		D. Niland Big Smoke 170: That’s a newie for me.
1960		A. Buzo Front Room Boys Scene i: gibbo: Are these the new type of report, Robbo? robbo: Yeah, these are the newies.
1963		A.E. Farrell Vengeance 141: It’s a newy to me.
1976		D. Ireland Glass Canoe (1982) 56: It’s [i.e. a car] not new exactly. Someone in the government got rid of it and bought a newie.