Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) a derog. term for an Inuit, an Eskimo person or an Eskimo dog.

1978

Maledicta II:1+2 (Summer/Winter) 156: Esky Diminutive for Eskimo, applied chiefly to Eskimo people and customs, rather than as a euphemism.

2. (Aus.) a portable drinks cooler, popularly filled with beer for cricket watching etc.

1979		National Geographic Mag. Feb. 228: No less popular is Rugby League football, where raucous fans with well-stocked ‘eskies’—beer coolers—scream and swill and brawl.
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 84: Brucie [...] camouflaged the freshly replenished Esky under a heap of tarpaulin.
1987		B. Chatwin Songlines 75: An ‘Eski’, for ‘Eskimo’, is a polystyrene cool-pack without which a journey into the desert is unthinkable.
1991		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper From The Inside 24: I used to have a small eskie that floated on the water.
1996		(con. 1964-65) B. Thorpe Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 94: ‘If you’d like a Coke, they’re [...] in the esky’.
2004		T. Winton ‘Abbreviation’ in Turning (2005) 18: The Landy’s motor was running [...] eskies strapped aboard.
2014		www.news.com.au 2 July 🌐 Can swear mid-word, loves a nudie run, Ned Kelly, a barbecue and has an esky of beers kept next to his bed.