Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Aus.) fake, counterfeit.

1950		‘No 35’ Argot in Simes DAUS 17: Bodgy, anything that is faulty, no good or sham — in the sense that it is not fair dinkum.
1965		W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags 64: Drop the bodgie two bob into his tray and shoot through real quick.
1966		P. Pinney Restless Men 69: ‘Musgrove bloody Park!’ Specs growled. ‘Hot as a bodgie fiver! Every vag and winedot in Brisbane sacks out there.’.
1972		Parramatta Jail Gloss. B. Moore (ed.) (2023) 60: bodie false.
1993		Smith & Noble Neddy (1998) 255: The reason for charging Peter was in case this guy had some cop sweet who could check whether anyone was really arrested that day, or whether it was a bodgie pinch.
2001		(con. 1945–6) P. Doyle Devil’s Jump (2008) 98: We can set up a network [...] There are some bodgie yanks up at Burt’s who might be in it.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 28: bodgie [...] something of dodgy quality or origin, such as very cheap stereo equipment in sidestreet stores.
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] [H]e recognised the car with bodgie plates.
2013		T. Peacock More You Bet 57: These ‘bodgie’ or ‘fake’ and therefore worthless notes.

2. of a job, unprofessional; thus bodgie up v.

1964		Sydney Morn. Herald 14 Nov. 2/9: ‘Bodgy’ used to mean something badly done.
1986		R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 10: Bodgie: [...] used only as part of the phrase ‘a bodgie job’ or ‘to bodgie up’, meaning that a highly specialised piece of electronic equipment has been lashed together with fencing wire or anything else that happened to be lying around the toolshed at the time.

3. (Aus.) second-rate, inferior.

2000		Star Gaz. (Elmira, NY) 11 Sept. 26/1: Australian slang [...] Bodgey: of inferior quality.
2018		R. O’Neill ‘Ocker’ in The Drover’s Wives (2019) 180: So out near Woop Woop, there’s this bodgy two-room place in the scrub.