He was clad in a shabby khaki-drill suit and grubby panama and sandshoes, and wore neither socks nor shirt, and was unshaven.

1986, Pete Thomas, The Coalminers of Queensland, Volume I: Creating the Traditions, Queensland Colliery Employees Union, page 325,
Later, however, the union ran into a problem of a severe shortage of sandshoes in Queensland. The rationing authorities, in reply to a union request on this, said that the Chief Inspector of Coalmines had condemned use of sandshoes in mines as being “not conducive to health or safety.”

2003, Peter Plowman, Across the Sea to War: Australian and New Zealand Troop Convoys from 1865 through two World Wars to Lorea and Vietnam, Rosenberg Publishing, Australia, page 387,
Sandshoes had been issued for shipboard use, to avoid damage to the decks by hob-nailed boots.

2007, Melissa Harper, The Ways of the Bushwalker: On Foot in Australia, UNSW Press, page 272,
The sandshoe versus the boot; this is an issue that has stirred the blood of bushwalkers for more than fifty years. […] The demise of the ubiquitous hob-nailed boot (circa 1950s) in favour of a boot with a patterned rubber sole generated concern, but the popularity of a boot that combined a rubber sole and a canvas upper with no ankle support simply went too far for some.

But because yer sandshoes, if they were dirty, it was a point off yer team, so ye were just to try yer hardest.

Sandshoe

Meaning

Noun

Origin

Synonyms