Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus.) a fig. ‘coin’ of insignificant value.

1906		Sun. Times (Perth) 9 Sept. 4/8: Lines in daily to canoodle / Jezebel behind the jump, / His pecuniary troubles / If he hasn’t got a droob!
1910		Bunbury Herald (Bunbury, WA) 9 Apr. 3/6: He used to sing out, ‘Sampler snatched the Stakes;’ ‘Muddler Mucked the Mile;’ ‘Uckleberry ’umped it ’ome in the ’Urdles,’ and generally wind up by saying, ‘Real rotten; didn’t draw a drube’.
1917		Mirror (Sydney) 22 Sept. 8: ‘Sixpence, then?’ ‘Not a drube.’ Think I’m the Bank of England?’.
1929		Sun. Times (Perth) 21 July 6/8: I’ve seen ’em wake up full of rum an’ remorse. / An’ come-to on painkiller, pickles an’ sauce; / Not a droob for a drink, not enough for a nip.
1935		Northern Miner (Charters Towers) 8 Jan. 4/2: But now here’s four years after / And I haven’t got a drube. / Just one old pair of sandshoes, / But I’ve dodged the dole and boob.
1953		S.J. Baker Aus. Speaks 127: droob—a minute portion of anything, especially used in the negative phrase, ‘He didn’t get a droob’, meaning ‘He got nothing’.
1953		Argus (Melbourne) 24 July 18/4: You’ll have not a drube in your pockets when they lug you so you won’t have to sign for anything when they let you go after Lil weighs in with your bail.