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Green’s Dictionary of Slang

Dally adj.

(N.Z.) Dalmatian; pertaining to Dalmatia or Dalmatians.

1961		B. Crump Hang On a Minute, Mate 77: Henry [...] got this dog off an old Dally scrub-cutter.
1965		M. Gee A Special Flower 38: ‘She knows I like my vino,’ he explained. ‘Where did you get it, Corrie? Is it dally stuff?’.
1981		G. Johnston Fish Factory 74: Jackpot shook his head. ‘Can’t figure you at all. Must be a proper Dally idea you’re working on.’.
1986		Sun. News (Auckland) 2 Nov. 19: Our society, which represents a very large percentage of Yugoslav Dalmatians, is concerned that any paper can slander our community by calling them Dally mafia [DNZE].
1991		N.Z. Geographic Apr.–June 40: There was social card playing and Dally bowls with a round bowl-not off-centre and grape wines, and dances like the kolo, done in a circle [DNZE].

In compounds

Dally plonk (n.) [plonk n.² (1)]

(N.Z.) cheap wine manufactured by Dalmatian settlers.

1950		Landfall 14 127: You can buy an awful lot of Dally plonk for four pounds [DNZE].
1965		J. Watson Stand in Rain 111: On Sunday we [...] had a barbeque on the beach with the fowls and a bottle of cheap Dally plonk [DNZE].
1973		J.K. Baxter ‘Letter to Sam Hunt’ in Coll. Poems (1979) 429: I do recall one evening, drunk / In Devonport on Dally plonk.
1984		H. Keith N.Z. Yesterdays 175: The long journey from ‘purple death’ and ‘Dally plonk’ to reputable white and red table wines had just begun.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 34/2: Dallie plonk the often rough and usually red wine sold here mid-century, when most Kiwis were beer drinkers, before the Dalmatians got their wine act together and Kiwis started drinking the grape.
2006		Vintrust 🌐 In the early 20th century, the wines were referred to as ‘Dally Plonk,’ referring to the settlers from Dalmatia (now Croatia) who came to work in the kauri-gum forests near Auckland.