Green’s Dictionary of Slang

billabonger n.

[SE billabong, a dry watercourse, in which such men took shelter and slept]

(Aus.) a vagrant.

Show quotations
[Aus]Illus. Sydney News Dec. 33/3: Sam the Billabonger, / Whose noted points were ribaldry and beer [AND].
[Aus]J. Gunn We of the Never-Never (1962) Prelude: A strange medley of [...] travellers, overlanders, and billabongers, who passed in and out of our lives.
[Aus]T. Ronan Vision Splendid 217: They dispensed tactfully casual invitations for lunch or tea to billabongers who hadn’t eaten a really square meal for months.