Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus.) a minor official, a ‘jack-in-office’.

1894		Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW) 19 Jan. 2/5: It was not right that when an accident occurred some ‘pannikin boss’ should be put in the box, and on him thrust the weight of responsibility.
1898		E.E. Morris Austral Eng. 339/1: Pannikin-boss, or Pannikin-overseer, n. [...] applied colloquially to a man on a station, whose position is above that of the ordinary station-hand, but who has no definite position of authority, or is only a ‘boss’ or overseer in a small way.
1902		W.A. Sun. Times (Perth) 23 Feb. 1/1: They say [...] that the pettifogging pannikin boss in question will one day be the cause of a general strike.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 18 May 3/6: A pannikin mine manager, down trom Lawlers district.
1906		Sun. Times (Perth) 4 Nov. 1/1: This pannikin pasha has a son living in the house.
1907		Sun. Times (Perth) 10 Nov. 1s/8: Another pannikin potentate woke up to the fact.
1911		A. Wright Gamblers’ Gold (1931) 74: ‘Pannikin boss’ Tom Foran, known as ‘Tommy the Pig’ to the men, raged at his gang of shovellers.
1914		Sport (Adelaide) 14 Aug. 4/2: Hedley R. [...] is a pannican boss in the mines .
1924		Worker (Brisbane) 24 Apr. 10/1: Six men [...] refused to risk their lives by walking on a log over a flooded creek when instructed to do so by a pannikin boss.
1926		J. Doone Timely Tips For New Australians 20: PANNIKIN BOSS.—A shift boss. A man in charge of a small gang of workmen.
1936		A. Russell Gone Nomad 71: It contained the offer of a job, that of ‘pannikin-boss’* and book-keeper on a sheep run. [*sub-overseer].
1947		Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 21 Mar. 5/3: More ‘tin’ for Pannikin Boss.
1953		D. Cusack Caddie 41: My mother-in-law was a pannikin* snob as my father would have said. *From pannikin boss—a person of very minor authority.
1956		T. Sutherland Green Kiwi 128: A vehicle suspected of carrying an engineer or ‘pannikin boss’ [...] quickly brought speedometers rolling back towards the ‘thirties’.
1965		F.J. Hardy Yarns of Billy Borker 23: Within a week, he jobbed the panno, snatched his time and bought an air ticket to gay Paree.
1970		N. Beagley Up and Down Under 38: My chief who was called a ‘pannikin’ boss, in charge of a small section, happened to be English.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 39: Panno Foreman stevedore.
1984		(ref. to 1930s) S. Macintyre Militant 71: The ‘pannikin boss,’as he was known, picked the men he wanted.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 82/2: pannikin boss foreman on building and other jobs; originally manager of a sheep station.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

(Aus.) eccentric, crazy; thus go off one’s pannikin v., to lose one’s temper, to lose emotional control.

1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Nov. 6/4: The visitor, whom the military display had taken by surprise, decided that the bushman was slightly ‘off his pannikin,’ rapidly executed a flank movement, and [...] skipped across the ridge.
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 56: Off his pannikin, silly .
1907		E. Dyson ‘Two Battlers and a Bear’ in Lone Hand (Sydney) Nov. 24/2: Wally was reputed to be ‘off his pannikin,’ but no man thought it his duty to retrain him.
1916		C.J. Dennis ‘The Game’ in Moods of Ginger Mick 112: Per’aps I’m orf me pannikin wiv sittin in the sun, / But I jist wrote to Rose the other day.