Green’s Dictionary of Slang

excellent, first-rate; admirable.

1903		Sydney Sportsman 11 Feb. 8/1: The semi-final of the Gaiety 9st tournament will be run through next Friday night. Some bontodger sloggers are left in.
1904		St George Call (Sydney) 30 Apr. 6/2: [T]he many friends who have rallied up to do honor to one who has ever been found a real ‘Bon Todger’ Citizen; to one who was ever wakeful in sickness; kind in sorrow; good in prosperity; firm in adversity; and trusty in peril – John Henry Barsby.
1904		Sydney Sportsman 14 Sept. 6/1: Both lads are training hard for this event, and I can promise my readers a bon-todger battle.
1907		Castlereagh (Gilgandra, NSW) 30 Aug. 6/3: [advert] Don’t forget to see Garling’s ‘Beat All’ and ‘Bontoger’ Boots, at 10s 6d, unequalled in the district.
1909		Sydney Sportsman 25 Aug. 6/1: The Gaiety is to be pulled down at an early date, and a bon-todger hall erected. Time the old crib got a shove over.
1911		Truth (Brisbane) 30 July 3/4: Bill Squires, ‘the bontoger boskorino,’ as the Newcastle miners and all the rest of Australia dubbed him when he was knocking down opponents like a bowler in a skittle alley, has arrived.
1914		Grafton Argus and Clarence River General Advertiser (NSW) 28 Aug. 4/3: Mr. M. Edwards (known in Sydney as the ‘Bon-Todger Pianist’), a member of the Sydney Musicians’ Union, is to represent the Sydney 8-Hour Committee at the Grafton Demonstration.
1920		Barrier Miner (Broken Hill) 17 July 2/1: [T]he New-castle lad, dropped Jim in the first round with a bon toger right, fair on the chin.
1923		Brisbane Courier 14 May 12/3: [advert] A Bontodger new bungalow, Coorparoo, handy tram, glorious site.
1932		Macleay Chronicle (Kempsey, NSW) 13 Apr. 6/4: Mr. McBarron added that the Macleay Committee were a ‘bon-todger’ lot to exhibitors.
1941		S.J. Baker Pop. Dict. Aus. Sl. 12: BONTOGER, BONTOGERINO: As for ‘bonzer,’ of which they are elaborations.