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wagga


a blanket made of knitted patches sewn together, usually small like a knee rug: In Gippsland in the days when cars had no heating mum would always make sure there was a wagga (wogga?) in the car on cold nights, also used as a knee rug on cold nights or sometimes as an extra on a bed.

Contributor's comments: My grandmother born and raised in the wheatbelt, WA and latterly lived in Perth, made many "waggas".

Contributor's comments: As a child I lived in Wellington, NSW. The name wagga was given to a bed covering that was made of several layers sewn together. Possibly because the original blanket had become threadbare. I remember reading a newspaper report in the late 1940s or very early 1950s of an old lady in Sydney who was often brought before the courts for sleeping 'rough'. On one occassion she said she had a wagga and the judge queried this as he had never heard the term before. We laughed when we read it because we all knew the word well.

Contributor's comments: A bed covering similar to a doona but made by sewing hessian (usually chaff) bags inside of two blankets that had been stitched together. Waggas apparently were widely used during the depression years and by shearers in times past.

Contributor's comments: I came upon this word as an adult quilting enthusiast. I never heard this word among my NSW family on the mid-north coast, Sydney, Canberra or, indeed, Wagga.

Contributor's comments: My family in Broken Hill used the word wagga to describe a very heavy doona like blanket of many layers of fabric stitched together and encased in a patchwork cover.