Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Aus.) especially SA, the (introduced) House Sparrow, Passer domesticus.

1892		Nthn Argus (Clare, SA) 21 Oct. 2/6: ‘Can they fly way up?’ ‘Oh, yes.’ ‘Can they ’light on the teenty-teety end of a limb an’ eat worms like spoggies (sparrows)?’.
1903		E. Dyson in Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Dec. 35/1: [T]he last ‘spoggy’s’ egg was pillaged from the chimneys; and all the rubbish in the outhouses carefully prospected.
1904		Advertiser (Adelaide) 16 Nov. 4/1: ‘Spoggie.’ – Sparrow eggs are not a marketable commodity, but prices are frequently given at agricultural shows for the largest collection of eggs.
1908		Kangaroo Island Courier (SA) 19 Sept. 3/3: This is very nutritious in character and it is said one feed satisfies an ordinary ‘spog’ indefinitely.
1925		Mail (Adelaide) 21 Feb. 17/5: In a short space of time there were about a dozen or so ‘spoggies’ feasting on the crumbs.
1931		Advertiser & Register (Adelaide) 25 Apr. 14/9: Do any Australian district councils still pay for deceased ‘spoggies?’.
1941		Mail (Adelaide) 1 Nov. 6/5: In fact, while the ‘spoggy’ has been abating, starlings have been increasing rapidly.
1951		Burra Record (Adelaide) 28 Aug. 1/2: That ‘spoggy’ or his twin brother has ‘dossed’ on the light for years.
1975		M. Colwell Halfdays & Patched Pants 159: Siddy, Fred and Mike [...] sat on the limestone wall. They looked like three spoggies with broken wings.
1998		G. Dutton Out in the Open 388: I had bought Francis a little fibreglass boat. Its class had the ridiculous name of Sparrow, so he called it Spoggy, slang in South Australia for a sparrow.

2. (Aus.) as a human nickname.

1910		Western Mail (Perth) 24 Dec. 6/4: ‘Spoggy,’ Williams, writes: – I have been informed that the sparrows are following the telegraph line over from South Australia.
1913		Sport (Adelaide) 2 Aug. 9/2: They Say [...] Sparrow B. leaves Violet early so he can take the little Queenstown girl home. You looked well arm in arm Sunday night, Spoggy.
1914		Sport (Adelaide) 3 Apr. 4/2: [of a young woman] What price the spog?
1926		Sat. Jrnl (Adelaide) 25 Dec. 13/5: ‘Good,’ said Walter Magpie, ‘and you, Spog Sparrow?’.

3. used fig, to denote weakness.

2008

Whyall Times (SA) 4 June 🌐 [T]he Maggies turned to spoggies and the Demons totally smashed them in what at times was like a training drill on a Wednesday night.