Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. an attractive person, a ‘spunk’.

1990		Dolly (Sydney) Oct. 62/1: The guy you spotted at the disco who looks like a cross between Tom Cruise and Johnny Depp [...] The most popular word in [...] the NT: budju.
1999		www.sportingimages.com.au 19 Sept. 🌐 Did you get to catch up with Troy Malcolm at u/18 or should i just say Coff’s. I told you that he is one lovely budju hey!!!
2000		J. Factor Kidspeak n.p.: budju (1) n an attractive person, ‘goodlooking guy or girl’, ‘instead of girls saying that guys are cute they’d say he’s a budju.’ I reckon that guy is a real budju. Used among Darwin NT teenagers.
2003		ABC Wordmap 🌐 buju Good looking person; a babe, male or female: That person is a buju! Also, budju.
2008		J. Fallon Alice Springs Glossary 🌐 budju (noun): Someone who is attractive/hot/sexy, usually but not always a female.
2011		NT News (Darwin) 9 Apr. 37: To the sweet lil budju’s in the white car that waved to me this morning while going through the work zone near Adelaide river, you 2 lovely looking gals made my day.
2015		The Gasometer Hotel 10 Sept. 🌐 Gorsha will be supercharged from being in the tropical sun their young bodies are so very used to. Be prepared for mangrove spit, budju mating rituals and serious Territory slang.
2019		Facebook: Old Darwin 1 Aug. 🌐 My wife is a Southie and she asked why do boys call girls a budju and girls also call boys a budju? [...] Kerry Mitchell my many indigenous mates have confirmed it means both female genitalia, and but also to call someone that means you think they’re a ‘spunk’ or pretty hot lol.
2021		reddit 3 Oct. 🌐 That one budju of a croc, eh brus? [reply] That’s Darwin slang, I’d know that anywhere. Awesome haven’t heard budju in yeeeeeeears.

2. the vagina.

[1999		G. Seal Lingo 14: In current Darwin youthspeak, the term BUJU is used by both black and white people to mean that the person so-described is sexually appealing, a usage that older Aborigines generally find outrageous].
2003		ABC Wordmap 🌐 buju [...] Contributor’s comments: ‘Budju’ remains widely used in the NT as a matter-of-fact term for women’s genitalia and, from the first time I heard it in the mid-1980s, I don’t recall people using it as an insult. I assumed that it was a word from one of the Aboriginal languages of the Top End.
2003		ABC Wordmap 🌐 buju [...] Contributor’s comments: [North Coast Qld informant] The word budju is used as an insult referring to a woman’s vagina.
2003		ABC Wordmap 🌐 buju [...] Contributor’s comments: : First heard this in the mid 90s being used by friends in their 30s living in Adelaide. They told me it was from WA. It was also a negative term, once again relating to a woman’s genitalia.
2011		A. Donald Longing 2 Sept. [internet] She walked over and stroked his hair. ‘Yer know ol’ fella? Only site you’ve seen in the Territory so far is this hairy black budju.’ She said looking down. ‘And a sacred site it is too.’ He smiled, getting tear.
2019		Facebook: Old Darwin 1 Aug. 🌐 ‘Look out when she bends over you can see her budju’.
2019		Facebook: Old Darwin 1 Aug. 🌐 Woman’s role to give birth, raise children, find and cook food provide shelter and they would use it as intended as women do today re use of word vagina. Men on the other hand like today mainly used it as a form of insult ‘you smell and look like old woman’s budju.’ Became popular in Darwin by generation born in 70s, used rudely first , look at your mate and say jokingly ‘heh you bud just heh’ then it slowly went from polite insult over to mean looking good.

3. in fig uses based on cunt n.

4. sexual intercourse.

2000

Sun. Age (Melbourne) 12 Nov. 11: ‘Budju’, is an Aboriginal word used in parts of the Northern Territory. ‘For adults it seems to mean a vagina or sexual intercourse. But for kids it just means attractive’.