Where "Have a Bogey" Comes From
"Bogey" — meaning a swim or a bathe — comes from Dharug (also spelled Dharuk), the Aboriginal language of the Sydney basin. Lieutenant William Dawes recorded the Dharug word "bóg'i" (to bathe or swim) in his 1790–91 word list, one of the earliest linguistic records of an Australian language. The word entered Australian English through the pidgin used between settlers and Aboriginal people from 1788, and was naturalised in mainstream Australian English by the 1840s.
Today "bogey" is particularly common in the Northern Territory and parts of regional Australia, used as a general verb and noun for swimming. Sydney's famous "Bogey Holes" at Bronte Beach and Newcastle preserve the word in geographical form. It's one of the cleaner examples of an Aboriginal loanword that crossed into everyday Australian English not to name a native animal or plant, but to describe a basic daily activity.
Source: Hunter Living Histories — "The Mysterious Origins of the Bogey Hole"
"It's stinking hot, let's go have a bogey in the creek."
How Aussies Actually Use It
"Have a bogey" simply means to go for a swim or a wash, often in a natural spot like a creek, waterhole, or the sea.
It's an old, still-used regionalism, more common in rural and northern Australia than in the big cities.
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