wood-and-water joey
noun Australian /NZ informal
1An unskilled labourer who carries out the menial tasks in a place of work: at fifteen he was working as a wood-and-water joey on a big cattle station...
- The wood-and-water joey fell a victim to his bowie.
- He was wood and water joey at some squatter's place.
- It's not so common nowadays, working your way up from wood-and-water joey to boss.
1.1A servile employee: I’m not going to be wood-and-water joey, I can tell ye...
- There is no doubt that the statesmen took advantage of the inexperience of our representatives and forced upon them an agreement which still leaves Australia in the position of a wood and water joey.
- They expected the minister to be a wood-and-water joey in connection with the work of the church.
- They were not merely wood-and-water-joeys, they were energetic men.
Origin
Mid 19th century: from an allusion to the biblical phrase 'hewers of wood and drawers of water' (Josh. 9:21) + joey1 (in the sense 'a recent arrival on a goldfield')..