Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus.) to behave as a puritan and/or censor; thus wowsing n., prudishness, religiosity.

1906		Truth (Sydney) 24 June 1/7: Now then ye wowsers — rise up and wowse violently.
1910		Truth (Perth) 16 July 12/8: When we find such things in Sidney Which has such a pious name. / Which are wowzered out of facings, / Till it’s almost wowzed to death.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 28 Nov. 2/4: It’s cheap – that’s why lots of people Wowse.
1914		Truth (Melbourne) 3 Jan. 3/7: [headline] Holidays Are Not Holy Days. While the People Play, Kill-Joys Wowse.
1925		N. Lucas Autobiog. of a Thief 64: I hope I may be acquitted of what the Australians – in the forceful vernacular of a young country – call ‘wowsing.’ [Ibid.] 66: There was no cant, no ‘wowsing,’ just the simple faith of centuries.
1942		A.L. Haskell Waltzing Matilda 126: It is not the politician who dominates Camberra but the super-bureaucrat, the petty Jack-in-office. Here are some examples of his ‘wowsing.’.