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Green’s Dictionary of Slang

whacker n.⁵

also wacker

[whacky adj. but note whack off v., i.e. the mythical links of masturbation and insanity]

1. (Aus.) a fool.

1965		W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags 42: I don’t care about them honkoes over at the Mont, they’re only wackers.
1986		R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 7: Barbie [...] Regarded with universal scorn by those who slaver over bistecca alla Fiorentina, which is exactly the same thing apart from the fact that it is done indoors and served by some whacker wearing a dinner jacket.
1996		Penguin Bk of More Aus. Jokes 342: We call him Whacker the Australian, or Whack for short.

2. a person who is seriously mentally unstable.

1965		W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags 67: I was still scared stiff of this wacker. He seemed a bit crazy.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 77: A person described as whacko (not to be confused with the now largely obsolete exclamation whacko!) does not usually imply the same level of dangerous unpredictability as a whacker.