Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also big G, gutsa, gutzer) in lit. or fig. use, a heavy fall, a collision; thus come a gutser, to trip over and fall; bring someone a gutser, to engineer someone’s downfall.

1918		Aussie (France) 4 Apr. 10/2: The wind might be blowin’ the wrong way and yer come a gutzer yerself.
1919		Sun. Times (Perth) 9 Mar. 7/4: To ‘crash’ or ‘slip’ or ‘come a gutser’ means to fail in an attempt.
1920		Advocate (Burnie, Tas.) 5 June 7/2: He went a big G that time, anyhow [...] ‘a big G,’ a severe fall.
1921		(con. WWI) E. Lynch Somme Mud 11: The officer comes the biggest gutser he ever came. [Ibid.] 175: There are some men who tried to raid one of our posts and came a gutser.
1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 113: Gutzer, To Come A: To ‘crash’ or fall badly. (Ordinarily an Air Force term with reference to an aeroplane).
1936		D. Stivens Tramp and Other Stories 98: Serve you right if you come a ‘gutzer’!
1939		Franklin & Cusack Pioneers on Parade 218: You let slip your chance to bring him a gutser!
1943		R. Llewellyn None But the Lonely Heart 110: I’ve had just about a gutser of this for one night.
1945		‘Father’s Sitting on the Cistern’ in Mess Songs & Rhymes of the RAAF 32: Father went a gutser down the drain.
1953		I. Hamilton Till Human Voices Wake Us 29: But it’s at this point that P.S. legislators almost come a Godawful gutser.
1955		D. Niland Shiralee 87: It was me that come the gutser.
1963		A.E. Farrell Vengeance 21: I’ve got a feelin’ that he’s coming a gutsa.
1963		B. Crump ‘One of Us’ in Best of Barry Crump (1974) 119: He got his clod-hoppers hooked up in the clothes-prop and came another gutser.
1968		S. Gore Holy Smoke 38: And that’s where they come such a gutzer.
1972		A. Chipper Aussie Swearers Guide 79: You’ll Come Gutser. Cassandra-like prophecy of a disaster to come.
1986		C. Bowles G’DAY 113: Shane has really come a gutzer. Enzo and Aaron have skipped bail and left Shane to be the bunny.
1990		T. Winton Human Torpedo 96: He was [...] right in the traffic, having his feet immediately run over and skaters coming a-gutser all round him.
1996		K. Lette Mad Cows 174: What the bloody hell was she doing coming a gutzer, a hemisphere from home, soggy-bra-ed and broken-hearted?
2000		Ozwords Apr. 2: It is also in First World War Australian military contexts that many Australian idioms are first recorded: his blood’s worth bottling, give it a burl, hop in for one’s chop, come a gutser, rough as bags.
2018		R. O’Neill ‘Ocker’ in The Drover’s Wives (2019) 181: Never mind the woodpile coming a gutser. Bludger’d built it half arsed.

2. (also gutzer) a disappointment, a let-down; a misfortune.

1918		Aussie (France) VII Sept. 18: [ad.] ‘What the Dinkums Did’ There are no gutzers in the movies! Cinema wars are the best!
1919		W.H. Downing Digger Dialects 27: gutzer(n.) — A disappointment; a misfortune. ‘To come a gutzer’ — suffer a reverse of fortune.
1919		C.H. Thorp Handful of Ausseys 201: The doctors are gettin’ wise an’ yer liable ter cum a gutser; yer might be landed fer tryin’ ter fake yerself.
1957		D. Niland Call Me When the Cross Turns Over (1958) 118: Is it my fault if he wants to turn a buster into a complete gutzer?
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 95: gutser Greedy person since early C20. However, if you come a gutser you have failed miserably. ANZ.