'In Australia there is always the refuge of a regular booze-up with the boys. Suspicion of one's peers is thus temporarily dissolved in plenty of alcohol - Australia's national solvent.'
Ronald Conway, Author and psychologist, 1976
Alcohol has played a major, quite disproportionate, role in the history of our nation since 1769 and Jim finds that fascinating. He also finds it quite informative when we come to analyse and understand our 'national character', our social history and accepted cultural attitudes over those 250 years.
Researching and retelling the alcohol related history of Cook's voyages, the First Fleet, the Rum Rebellion, the mutiny of the 99th Regiment, the soldiers riot of 1916 and the effects of six o clock closing has been an enlightening exercise for Jim.
Exploring the impact on our alcoholic history by characters like James Cook, Joseph Banks, John MacArthur, James Squire, William Bligh, Lachlan Macquarie, Peter Degraves and others has made him develop a true admiration for some of them, a grudging admiration for others and an understanding of just how wicked and self-serving some of our founding fathers were.
Some of the stories in this collection celebrate the social gift of alcohol. Riotous evenings of complete surrender to Bacchus, or business deals sealed with booze, grave social occasions subverted by drink - and Henry Lawson's apology and justification for alcoholism.
Other stories are salutary tales that deal with the consequences of getting 'roaring drunk': the hangovers, sufferings and recriminations of the regular binge drinker, the physical and psychological results of drinking - the harsh realities. And still others represent the darker side of drinking and alcoholism; some are accounts of people finally facing some harsh alcoholic reality - either private or social.
So, here is a collection of history, anecdotes, stories, verse and literature about Australian drinking. Jim hopes it is a collection that is amusing, informative, entertaining and thought-provoking and that it will neither drive you to drink nor turn you away from the pleasures of alcohol in moderation.
