boong

plural boongs · alternative bung · alternative bong

1. AustraliaethnicoffensiveslangslurAn Australian Aboriginal person.

   ‘[…]I quit the feds because I didn't want to be a showpiece boong cop.’

   2010, Peter Temple, The Broken Shore, page 82

   2 more examples

   I heard Bruce tell one of the drinkers he'd bought a place in Queensland where you could ‘still call a Boong a Boong’.

   1988, Bruce Chatwin, The Songlines, page 92

   “Yeah,” he said, “them boongs are a useless lot. The sooner they all die off, the better.” “And why is that?” Bill asked. “The Abos are nothing but a pack of boozers. All they wanna' do is get pissed.” The man glared at his beer. “Useless, they are.”

   2011, Linda Lee Rathbun, Tjuringa, unnumbered page

   Synonyms: Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel, abo, Jacky

2. AustraliadatedslangA native of New Guinea or Malaysia.

   A couple of boongs came down and carried me up to the hut where our R.A.P. corporal was.

   1943, Australian Army, “Timor Souvenir”, in Khaki and Green: With the Australian Army at Home and Overseas, page 119

   2 more examples

   During the War the soldiers generally referred to Papua New Guineans as “Boongs,” a name also given to black Americans. It is not a nice word, but is fair to say that the Aussies held the boongs in quite some affection during the War.

   1998, August Ibrum K. Kituai, My Gun, My Brother: The World of the Papua New Guinea Colonial Police, 1920-1960, page 282

   [Department of Information cameraman Damien] Parer's views on mateship encompassed both the Papuans and the soldiers: at one point he wrote ‘“no boongs, no battle”, implying that natives and diggers were equal partners in their fight against the Japanese.’⁷¹

   2000, Prue Torney-Parlicki, Somewhere in Asia: War, Journalism and Australia's Neighbours 1941-75, page 48