King Street, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

King Street n.

up King Street [King Street, Sydney, the site of the Supreme Court, which hears bankruptcy cases; note SE phr. in carey street]

(Aus.) in financial difficulties; thus go up King Street, to become bankrupt.

1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 1 May 4/1: ‘Going up King-street’ has hitherto meant going insolvent. A step past the Insolvent Court, towards the Oxford [hotel], now means a further calamity—marriage.
1889		Dead Bird (Sydney) 3 Aug. 1/3: But the evening after found / That her dad had gone up King-street, and her hair cost sixteen pound.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 15 June 4/2: [I]n 90 cases out of lOO they get deeper in debt, and invariably have to ‘go up King-street’.
1943		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. (2nd edn).
1945		Baker Aus. Lang.
1955		N. Pulliam I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 241/2: up king street – in financial difficulty.