Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus.) from start to finish.

1928		Morn. Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld) 6 Mar. 9/3: He [i.e. a racehorse] accounted for the Plate at the Albion meeting from go to whoa.
1935		Central Qld Herald (Rockhampton, Qld) 5 Sept. 8/2: Good ones win ‘from go to whoa’, and often by a street!`.
1944		Army News 19 Sept. 4/1: Both boys ignored science and traded punches from ‘go to whoa’.
1951		Sun. Times (Perth) 1 July 18/1: [headline] Beau Glory Led From Go To Whoa.
1957		F.J. Thwaites Husky Be My Guide 262: It is nothing but mud from go to whoa! Been three days coming from Eucla, I have.
1962		Pacific Islands Mthly vol. 32 158/2: The three native boys were trained from ‘go to whoa’ with RW & C and now as coded welders.
1968		Aus. Women’s Wkly 6 Nov. 15/3: There is no time for verbiage or character building — it is zap! pow! and ker-plunk! from go to whoa.
1978		G. Tucker Thoroughbreds Are My Life 111: The whole thing is a non-stop, businesslike operation from go to whoa.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 52/1: go to whoa, from from beginning to end; eg ‘I’d like to hear all the sordid details. Everything – from go to whoa.’.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 92: from go to woe means from beginning to end.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].
2008		P. Fedries Microsoft Windows Vista Unleashed cap. 2: This chapter takes you through the entire startup process, from go to whoa.
2011		B. Walker Bernadette, It’s Me 69: We were busy from go to whoa.