Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus.) an improvised covering, made by stitching together a pair of chaff bags, sacks etc.

1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 21 Apr. 32/2: A cast-off wool-bale is his eider-down, or, as he call [sic] it, his ‘Wagga-rug.’ Sheets are unknown.
1905		Duke Tritton’s Letter n.p.: The Hot Cross Bun was down and the Silver Spoon was rising when I spread the Wagga and turned in.
1908		C. Tomalin Venturesome Tom 80: Their luggage usually consists of an old blanket and wagga-wagga rug, which is made of three flour or corn sacks sewn sideways together.
1914		Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Nov. 13/2: This keeps shed-hands on the jump from six to six [...] and the cook’s ‘offsider’ from 5 a.m. (when he throws off his ‘wagga’ to prepare hot coffee for the run before breakfast) till 9 p.m.
1938		X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) 417: The nap [...] consisted of two greasy bran-sacks, or, as bushmen call them, Wagga Rugs.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 80: Wagga blanket, a rough covering used by tramps.
1941		A. Gurney Bluey & Curley 13 Nov. [synd. cartoon] Where’s my wagga rug?
1944		F.J. Hardy ‘A Stranger in the Camp’ in Man From Clinkapella 21: Four or five hundred horses on the job meant a plentiful supply of chaff and oat bags, and these were pressed into service to build tents, primitive sleeping bags called ‘waggas’, eating houses, stables, and the like.
1955		D. Niland Shiralee 179: Macauley darted round the other side of the fire [...] searching the small form under the wagga.
1963		‘Nino Culotta’ Gone Fishin’ 128: Flake out there on the axminster, an’ throw that Wagga rug over you.
1973		(con. 1930s) F. Huelin ‘Keep Moving’ 36: When we get among those spud cockies you can make a wagga from spud bags.
1984		W. Ammon et al. Working Lives 69: The nights were [...] cold so that we reached for any extra wagga or old bag round the place.