Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(orig. N.Z./S.Afr.) a general intensifier, describing something extreme or large of its kind, e.g. a hang of a headache.

1941		Baker N.Z. Sl.
1943		J.A.W. Bennett ‘Eng. as it is Spoken in N.Z.’ in AS XVIII:2 Apr. 90: Equally meaningless, though of older antecedents, are [...] the intensives hanguva, hangershun – modified forms of helluva.
1955		B.J. Cameron Collection (TS July) n.p.: hangava (adv) Very. (Mainly children’s slang) [DNZE].
1966		G.W. Turner Eng. Lang. in Aus. and N.Z. 159: Children are notable users of slang [...] and in these good old days [i.e. 1930s] the most current included hang of a, hangashun, heck of a and heckashun, all intensives [DNZE].
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 54/2: hang of a/hanguva intensive regarding something big or forceful; euphemistic version of ‘helluva’; a fervent intensive favoured by juveniles; eg ‘That was a hanguva good flick, eh?’.
1996		CyberBraai Lex. at www.matriots.com 🌐 Hang of: This the same as the American ‘heck of’, as in: ‘I have a hang of a headache’ or ‘I had a hang of a good time at the braai.’.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].