Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. Aus., also beardo) a bearded person; also as adj.

[1801		Sporting Mag. Apr. XVIII 39/2: We think his father’s Ram more than equals him in that sort of triumph [i.e. womanizing] only Old Beardy is not his own trumpeter].
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 9: Beardy, a person with a beard or with long hair.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 165: A bloke with a ziff went past, stopped a few yards on and looked back. ‘Keep going, beardie!’ I snarled.
1964		E. Wilson Earl Wilson’s N.Y. 148: Beardos, Weirdos and Expressos.
1973		(con. mid-1960s) J. Patrick Glasgow Gang Observed 76: Fuck off, beardie.
1989		(con. 1960s) M. Kingston Tripmaster Monkey 184: Most beardies are dirty.
1999		Observer Rev. 18 July 16: He found Ray, a mad beardie, and Patsy, a very large alligator, in bed together.
2000		Observer Rev. 2 Apr. 16: Old harpies and their dreadful beardie partners.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 719: ‘[S]he’s doing her annual penance... teaching beardies at Warwick’.

2. (Aus.) a member of a body of Southcottians (believers in the teaching of Joanna Southcott (1750–1814), who announced herself as the woman spoken of in Rev. 12), followers of the local prophet John Wroe (1782–1863), who called themselves Christian Israelites [the male wearing of beards].

1859		Freeman’s Jrnl (Sydney) 26 Nov. 4/4: Where shall you go on Sunday? Why, there's the Catholic Cathedral [...] or the Scotch Church, or the Methodist, or the Independent, or the ‘Beardie’.
1863		Bendigo Advertiser (Vic.) 3 June 3/2: [headline] The Beardies in Geelong. [...] Mr. Castair first addressed the crowd for a short time, in opposition to the revolting practices of the Beardies:- then came a Beardie to maintain and defend his creed.
1876		Naracoorte Herald (SA) 6 June 4/3: Hugs belongs to a religious sect known as the Christian Israelites, or more commonly known as the Beardies, and was for many years a preacher in Tasmania.
1893		Fitzroy City Press 2 June 3/3: The Christian Israelites, profanely known as the ‘Beardies’.
1901		Bulletin (Sydney) 23 Nov. 11/2: Re the ‘Beardies,’ or Christian Israelites, I have never seen one, male or female, who might not be called good-looking. [...] Also, every male Beardy has hair of a delicate light brown. Dye – or what?
1911		E. Dyson ‘The Rivals’ in Benno and Some of the Push 151: From the fact that all her dresses were coffee-coloured, the Beauties rashly concluded that her grandmother was a ‘Beardie,’ a brown sect closely allied to Quakers.
1914		E. Dyson Spats’ Fact’ry (1922) 93: R.C., Scotchbyterian, Wesleyan, Methody, Congregational, Baptist, Salv’army, Beardie.