Since colonial times, Australia has been a country soaked in booze. But it's slowly changing — thanks to one demographic.
The first governor of the NSW colony, Arthur Phillip, insisted on bringing two years' worth of carefully rationed food for the new settlement, in case conditions were inhospitable for agriculture."The marines, who came to escort the First Fleet, insisted and insisted and finally got their way — to have four years' worth of rum on board … [But] it didn't last close to four years," says Mr Murphy, who wrote the book 'Rum: A Distilled History of Colonial Australia'.
"Rum [became] a generic term … People were making 'rum' from potatoes and making 'rum' out of peaches. There was hooch, backyard rubbish. People died on the spot drinking some of this, they went blind. It was pretty nasty stuff," Mr Murphy says.Alcohol and drunkenness became firmly entrenched in the lives of colonial Australians, which has had an impact to this day.
"It partly came about because of the temperance movement, because they were wanting to cut down on alcohol consumption," says Richard Midford, an adjunct professor at Curtin University's National Drug Research Institute and a clinical psychologist. According to Mr Murphy, the fact that Australia's first prime minister was "an outright drunk" isn't even the most outrageous example. Not even close.
An inebriated Kerr rambled on in front of the racetrack audience, noting "life is wonderful for all of us", before presenting the cup."[Bob Hawke] said himself that his most endearing attribute to all Australians was his world record for drinking a yard glass," Mr Murphy adds. She says parliament and other workplaces need to become spaces where "we do think about women; and people from culturally diverse backgrounds; and people who don't want to drink; and people who don't want to be around people who are drunk at work".Experts say the centuries of heavy drinking have meant booze is now closely interwoven with Australian culture.
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