Where "Joe Blake" Comes From
"Joe Blake" rhymes with "snake" and is documented in Australian English from 1905 — making it one of the earlier examples of distinctively Australian rhyming slang rather than a Cockney import. No "Joe Blake" appears in British Cockney rhyming slang collections, which makes sense: in a country where many common snakes are genuinely venomous, having a local rhyming term for them was more than colourful wordplay.
"Watch out for the Joe Blakes" at a campsite is both a real warning and a piece of linguistic colour. The term also occasionally extended to slang for the "shakes" — delirium tremens — linking back to the serpentine imagery of trembling. It is documented in Australian rhyming slang collections from the early 20th century.
Source:
"Found a Joe Blake in the yard."
How Aussies Actually Use It
Used matter-of-factly when a snake turns up somewhere it shouldn't — in the backyard, near the shed, or out on a bush walk — the kind of thing many rural Australians deal with fairly regularly.
It softens what could otherwise be an alarming moment with a bit of laid-back Aussie humour.
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