1865. H. Kingsley, Hillyars and Burtons, lvii. He had met a grey
doe kangaroo with her little ones.... Then the little one, the
joey, had opened its mother’s pouch and got in.
1887. Australian Colloquialisms in All the Year Round, 30 July, p.
67. Joey is a familiar name for anything young or small, and is
applied indifferently to a puppy, or a kitten, or a child, while a
wood-and-water-joey is a hanger about hotels, and a doer of odd
jobs.