Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a dockyard labourer.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 155/1: C.20.

2. (Aus.) a pickpocket’s assistant.

1943		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. (2nd edn).
1953		Argus (Melbourne) 31 Oct. 9/6: The ‘rip-and-tear man’ usually works with a ‘bumper-up’ - someone who bumps the victim off balance and distracts his attention while the pickpocket ‘lifts’ the ‘willy’ (wallet). Most pickpockets begin as‘bumpers-up’.

3. (Aus.) a handyman who works for a prostitute.

1943

Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. (2nd edn).