Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (mid-19C) excl. indicating emotion, usu. distress.

1816		‘Quiz’ Grand Master 162: By chance this same unlucky wight, / Stumbled upon the self-same place, / And fell direct in Qui Hi’s face. / ‘Oh bobbery!’ exclaim’d the man.
[1823		Asiatic Jrnl & Mthly Register Mar. 291/2: Immediately after they heard a man (supposed to be the deceased) exclaim ‘O Bapre, Bapre!’ (Alas, alas!)].
1830		N. Ames Mariner’s Sketches 172: He walked about the decks, holding the lame hand in the well one, and constantly repeating, ‘O! bobbery, bobbery, bobbery!’.
1871		E. Balfour Cyclopædia of India I 332: BAP. Hind. father. BAP-RE, the British say Bobbery, an exclamation of pained surprise.
1884		Sth Aus. Register (Adelaide) 5 Feb. 1/1: Thus the British and Colonial Courts are comparatively empty compared with the Indian Court and jewellery room, which are invariably crowded [...] they stare at gaudy pictures and glittering jewellery and at the gold brocades and brilliant silks and cloths of their own country and cry ‘Bapré’ or, as it is generally known, ‘Bobbery,’ in admiration.
1908		Eve. Jrnl (Adelaide) 5 Sept. 6/2: ‘Hullo!’ said Col. Wingate, [...] By Jove, it isn’t Carr-Jones; it’s Polhill and Ulmun! Oh! bobbery: here, I’ll lay a hundred to one in gold mohurs against the griffs!’ .

2. as excl. of reproof.

1918

Age (Melbourne) 16 Feb. 6/5: One heard him talking and crowing to himself apparently, until one morning, to my horror, I saw him tapping the head of a cobra gently with his spoon, saying, `Bobbery, bobbery' (naughty, naughty). The snake was quietly drinking the milk out of the bowl, paying no heed to the child's play.