Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also go bong) to die.

[1847		J.D. Lang Cooksland 430: A place called Umpie bung, or the dead houses [It is now a suburb of Brisbane, Humpy-bong]].
1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 2 Oct. 9/2: Back ‘Member of Parliament,’ or else ‘ Our Willie.’ ‘B . . . e’ is scratched, and ‘Fitz-sparagus,’ ‘Merryfeather,’ and ‘ Macspavin’ have gone bung!
1882		A.J. Boyd Old Colonials 73: But just before you hands ’im [i.e. a horse] over and gets the money, he goes bong on you.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 23 May 13/2: We know this is feeble appreciation, and we turn with pleasure to the farewell address delivered at Gunnedah to the local brewer, Mr. N. O. Funnell – may he never go bung!
1894		Truth (Sydney) 11 Feb. 1/7: Queensland Deposit Bank has gone bung as every unborn fool might have known it would.
1895		Age (Melbourne) 21 Dec. 13/6: ‘Suppose you go bong,’ pursued Ning reflectively, ‘then you go to Heaven.’.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Aug. 14/1: Because you kill whitefellow, God says you go bung.
1906		N.Z. Truth 4 Aug. 5/7: [heading] A Boom That Went Bung.
1936		L. Pound ‘Amer. Euphemisms for Dying’ in AS XI:3 198: Went bung.
1955		N. Pulliam I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 233/2: go bung – die; go bankrupt.

2. to become bankrupt.

1886		S. Bourke & Mornington Jrnl (Richmond, Vic.) 9 June 1s/6: ‘He’s gone bung,’ remarked the butcher; / Flat broke.
1893		H. Lawson ‘Here’s Luck!’ in Roderick (1967–9) I 258: The world might wobble round the sun, an’ all the banks go bung.
1901		‘Miles Franklin’ My Brilliant Career 207: The recent ‘going bung’ of a building society.
1911		L. Stone Jonah 146: Not likely either, when the firm’s gone bung.
1919		Sun. Times (Perth) 14 Sept. 25/4: He has gone financially bung seven times.
1926		J. Doone Timely Tips For New Australians 22: TO ‘GO BUNG.’—To collapse financially as in the case of a bank.
1936		Sydney Morn. Herald 25 July 13/6: ‘To go bung’ [is] derived from an aborginal word for ‘dead’.
1951		Cusack & James Come in Spinner (1960) 352: What’s wrong with ’er? The bank gone bung?
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 23/1: bung ruined or bankrupt, often in phr. to go bung.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

3. to collapse, to break down, to fail.

1878		J.H. Nicholson ‘Bunkum in Parvo’ in Opal Fever 100: The great Clan-Alpine had gone bung!
1881		Bulletin (Sydney) 29 Jan. 4/1: Freethought has gone carefully ‘bung.’.
1890		Bulletin (Sydney) 26 July 8/1: [He] deposed that he remembered the land boom before it went bung. Couldn’t say for certain why it went bung, but thought the banks were responsible.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 23 Jun. 11/3: Poor little Turner tried to finish his speech, but his eloquence had gone bung.
1914		Truth (Melbourne) 3 Jan. 2/5: The timekeeper had to use a bell, the electric gong having gone bung.
1920		Sun (Sydney) 26 Feb. 6/5: Vimy seemed, to ’ang in the tapes. Somethin’ was bung in the pressure valve— so I ’eard her rider say.
1934		T. Wood Cobbers 25: What with newspapers a week old and wool going bung you’d be stung for conversation nowadays.
1946		D. Stivens Courtship of Uncle Henry 109: The radio’s gone bung again and I’m just fixing it.
1959		D. Niland Big Smoke 114: What’s the time? My ticker’s gone bung.
1965		W. Dick Bunch of Ratbags 283: With all the numbers connected to the pills, I felt like an adding-machine gone bung.
1992		K. Lette Llama Parlour 9: I should never, ever have come to Hollywood. Everything had gone bung since the day I first got here.
1996		Penguin Bk of More Aus. Jokes 112: He gets to the crest of the bridge across the island when, snap, bang, kerplunk, the car goes bung.