South Australia - Social Matters
- Censorship
- Charity
- Children and Youths
- Dancing and Other Sins
- Domestic Servants
- Early Closing
- Marriage and Divorce
- Men
- Old Age Pensions, etc
- Smoking
- Village Settlements
Gambling
- Card "Sharping"
- Horse Racing
- Miscellany
- State Lotteries
- Totalizator
Temperance and Allied Matters
- Alcoholism and Drunkenness
- Barmaids
- Local Options
- Miscellany
- Shouting
- Sunday Drinking
- Teetotalism and Prohibition
- Treatment of Inebriates
- Miscellany
Temperance and Allied Matters
Alcoholism and Drunkenness
A history of liquor laws is in the Observer,1 April 1916, page 41a.
A novel suggestion as to sentences for drunkenness is in the Observer,
23 January 1847, page 5a.
A correspondent to the Register on 24 July 1858, page 3a expresses concern at:
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The dangerous but seductive practice of nobbler-drinking during the forenoon [which] has reached to an extent in this province fearful to behold, and although its baneful results cross our path in every direction, seldom is any voice heard in its reprehension. The pulpit is silent upon it, the press reports the daily - almost hourly - fearful accidents and loss of life caused by it, but it stops there...
"Treatment of Habitual Drunkards" is in the Observer,
1 October 1859, page 1h (supp.).
Under the heading "A Goolwa Tragedy" a correspondent to the Advertiser
on 10 and 23 January 1861 says:
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Drunkenness is mournfully prevalent at this neighbourhood. There are too many hotels here... some of them are conducted in a respectable manner, in others every art is used to induce men to drink... Our young men are being hurried to destruction at a railway speed...
I am well assured that in this place there will not be another such disgusting scene enacted as a man being drunk, drowned and buried in a day.
"Excessive Drinking in the Bush" is in the Advertiser,
15 December 1864, page 3b.
A proposal for an Inebriates Asylum is discussed in the Register,
30 November 1868, pages 2d-3c,
18 and 19 January 1869, pages 2g and 3b,
11 April 1873, page 4f,
2 December 1873, page 5a,
6 January 1874, page 5a,
18 February 1874, page 5a; also see
25 April 1874, page 6f,
18 July 1874, page 4g,
6 August 1874, page 7c,
8, 11 and 29 January 1875, pages 5b, 5b and 6d,
15 January 1876, page 5a-c,
Express,
29 November 1873, page 2b,
13 January 1874, page 2c,
14, 19 and 21 February 1874, pages 3b, 3e and 2e,
7 and 23 March 1874, pages 2c and 3g.
See Belair.
Information on an Inebriates' Asylum is in the Observer,
2 January 1869, page 11a,
6 February 1869, page 13b,
Register,
18 January 1869, page 3g,
Observer,
28 December 1872, page 4b,
10 January 1874, page 13d,
14, 21 and 28 January 1874, pages 6e, 12b and 5e-13e,
4 and 25 July 1874, pages 10c and 13f,
26 December 1874, page 4g,
23 January 1875, page 13g,
22 January 1876, page 13b.
A proposed almshouse at Lower North Adelaide is discussed in the Observer,
14 September 1872, page 13f,
29 March 1873, page 11f.
Inebriate asylums are discussed in the Observer,
12 April 1873, page 2f,
24 February 1876, pages 1a (supp.).
Information on the Inebriates' Retreat is in the Chronicle,
21 February 1874, page 12e,
Express,
9 and 30 January 1875, pages 2f and 2g.
"Inebriates Bill" is in the Register,
18 July 1874, page 4g,
2 September 1874, page 4e,
Chronicle,
25 July 1874, page 11d,
Register, 7 November 1881, page 4d,
The Herald,
2 November 1907, page 9a.
"Bush Public Houses and Wine Shops" is in the Register,
7 November 1871, page 5e,
"Wine Shops and Drunkenness" is in the Chronicle,
4 and 11 December 1875, pages 5c and 18c,
"Wineshops in Outlying Districts" in the Observer,
27 July 1878, page 21e,
"The Evils of Wineshops" is in the
Express,
1 August 1878, page 2b; also see
25 April 1879, page 2d,
Observer,
31 August 1878, page 11d,
7, 14 and 21 September 1878, pages 19f, 10g and 20f.
"Statistics on Drunkenness" is in the Observer,
7 October 1876, page 13b,
"A Cure for Drunkenness" on
19 April 1879, page 12a,
"Death From Excessive Drinking" on
4 October 1879, page 13e.
"Drunkenness" is in the Register,
21 March 1877, page 5d.
"New Cure for Drunkenness" is in the Chronicle,
23 August 1879, page 1d (supp.).
"Supplying Drink to the Drunken" is in the Observer,
25 October 1879, page 12d.
"Drunkenness in the North" is in the Observer,
2 July 1881, page 12d.
"The Inebriates Act" is in the Express,
18 November 1881, page 3d.
"Poisoned by Alcohol" is in the Register,
14 May 1884, page 4h.
"Drunken Orgies in the Bush" is in the Observer,
9 October 1886, page 13d.
"Drunkenness in Adelaide" is in the Chronicle,
6 April 1889, page 5c.
"Drunkenness and Hypnotism" is in the Register,
29 December 1891, page 4e,
Observer,
2 January 1892, page 25b.
Also see Hypnotism.
"What Shall be Done With Habitual Drunkards" is in the Register,
24 March 1898, page 4d,
7 April 1898, page 4e,
13 May 1898, page 4e,
"The Drunkard" on
24 November 1898, page 4f.
An editorial on drunkenness is in the Advertiser,
5 August 1892, page 4e:
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It is gradually being recognised that there is a close connection between inebriety and insanity, and that if the former is to be successfully dealt with it must be treated on somewhat similar lines to the latter.
"Death From Alcoholism" is in the Register,
22 December 1893, page 4h.
"Drunkenness and the Licensing Laws" is in the Register,
20 March 1896, page 4f:
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The jingle of glasses and the maudlin songs of topers which are heard issuing from some so-called hotels every Saturday night serve just as well the purpose of attracting those who are incapable of resisting the attractions of strong drink.
"Incurable Drunkenness" is in the Observer,
5 June 1897, page 41a,
"What Shall Be Done With Habitual Drunkards" on
2 and 16 April 1898, pages 13a and 41e,
"Drink as a Disease" in the Advertiser,
7 December 1897, page 4f.
"The Drunkard" is in the Register,
24 November 1898, page 4f.
"The Drunkard" is in the Register on
4 December 1902, page 4d,
"Drunkenness and Lawful Indulgence" on
16 June 1904, page 8h,
"Dealing With Drunkenness" in the Observer,
13 May 1905, page 33c.
"Defence of Alcohol" is in the Register,
30 April 1903, page 4d,
8 and 25 May 1903, pages 2h and 3f.
"Drunkenness and Temperance" is in the Register,
10 March 1906, page 6d:
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The habitual drunkard of either sex is a chronic nuisance - a curse to the house and a pest to the public house - One of the essentials of successful temperance work is to provide some attractive other drink instead of that displaced. The story of Orpheus and the Sirens ought never to be forgotten by earnest reformers.
"Cure for Drunkenness - Homes Recommended" is in the Express,
10 July 1906, page 1g,
"Habitual Drunkenness" in the Advertiser,
9 October 1907, page 6d,
"The Craving for Drink" on
4 March 1911, page 18f.
"Drunks Rounded Up" is in the Express,
27 November 1911, page 1f.
"Treatment of Inebriates" is in the Register,
11 July 1906, page 10a,
"Treatment of Inebriates - The Government Scheme"on
9 July 1915, page 4g,
Observer,
17 July 1915, page 49c.
"Saving Drunkards From Themselves" is in the Register,
9 October 1907, page 4c.
"Drunkenness, Drugs and Hypnotism" is in the Register,
3 February 1908, page 4d.
"Drunkards" is in the Register,
3 March 1909, page 4c.
"Drunkards" is in the Register on
25 April 1912, page 6c,
"Drunkenness - What Has Caused the Increase?" in the Advertiser,
1 February 1913, page 7e,
"Treatment of Drunkards" on
22 August 1913, page 8c.
"Habitual Drunkards" is in the Register,
22 August 1913, page 6c.
"Women Inebriates" is in the Register,
31 October 1913, page 6c,
3 November 1913, page 3g,
Express,
7 September 1917, page 4e,
Register,
12 and 20 August 1919, pages 6f and 5f.
"Women and Alcoholism" is in the Register,
15 January 1916, page 8d.
"Helping the Drunkards" is in the Register,
23 January 1914, page 6g.
"Methylated Spirit Drunkards" is in the Register,
24 February 1915, page 6e.
A change in punishment meted out to first offenders for drunkenness is discussed in an editorial in the Advertiser, 1 April 1914, page 14d under the heading "The First Fall".
"Women and Alcoholism" is in the Register,
15 January 1916, page 8d,
"Convicted Inebriates" in the Advertiser,
20 August 1924, page 8g.
"Inebriates' Home - Land Purchased for Site" is in the Register,
8 May 1914, page 7d.
"The Reform of Inebriates" is in the Register,
7, 8 and 14 November 1922, pages 6h, 10d and 4a.
"Convicted Inebriates" in the Register,
7 July 1916, page 7c,
Advertiser,
20 August 1924, page 8g.
"Gaoled Inebriates" is in The Mail,
18 August 1923, page 2e.
"When is a Man Drunk? - Strange Police Tests" is in The Mail,
31 July 1926, page 14a,
"Tests for Drunkenness" in the Advertiser,
7 April 1927, page 13a.
"When is a Man Drunk" is in the Register,
21 May 1927, page 5f,
"When the Law Considers a Man is Drunk" in The News,
15 February 1932, page 4d,
"Drunk or Sober? - Dividing Line Hard to Determine" in the Advertiser,
21 October 1933, page 20d.
When is a Man Drunk?
(Taken from the Reminiscences of an Unlikely Detective [A.R. Calvesbert], edited by Geoffrey H. Manning - copy in the State Library.)
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Drunk or Not Drunk? Before the days of the breathalyser, which was introduced in South Australia on 11 October 1965, this question was raised in police courts throughout the world. At the Adelaide police station the police officer relied upon his eyes, ears and nose to answer the question. An allegedly drunken man was taken to the watchhouse and appeared before the officer in charge who took the final decision. Dilated eye pupils, thickness of speech, alcoholic odour and absence of control of the body were generally enough to tell the sergeant whether a man was drunk or not. In one case out of a thousand, if there was doubt, the captive was asked to walk a chalk line or stand on one leg and these were looked upon in Adelaide as unfailing and sufficient test of sobriety.
One man, representative of his class, said that he could not possibly be drunk as he had only had 20 pints of beer from the time of getting out of bed until he was arrested some time before noon, while another declared that he had only three drinks on the day of his downfall. Cross examination, however, showed him to be a poor mathematician, another half-dozen drinks being unearthed by a clever lawyer.
It was often the case that persons who had most stoutly maintained their sobriety on the night of their arrest, pleaded guilty in different light of the 'morning after' which brings to mind an old verse:
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If I were drunk and knew I were drunk,
Why, then I was not drunk.
But if I were drunk and did not know I was drunk,
Why, then I was drunk, indeed.
Returning to the watchhouse he recounted the story of his thrilling chase, his discourse being interrupted by much puffing and blowing. 'And what were you going to arrest him for?', a fellow policeman asked. 'Mit drunkenness, of course,' came the reply, 'but I could not him catch!'
"The Drunk and The Motor Car" is in The News,
15 August 1935, page 10c.
Also see Transport - Motor Cars.
"Blood Tests for Drunkenness" is in The News,
28 October 1935, page 4f.
