Beyond the Ladies' Lounge: Australian Women Publicans

by Clare Wright

"Infamous clique of hotels run by legendary local Australian women are discussed in this study of the inaccurate of perspective that Australian pubs are a man’s domain. Archival and oral sources provide detail about how women, since colonial times, have achieved social power, autonomy, and independence by working as publicans. Folk songs, ballads, and literary representations accompany interviews and photographs that reveal the different characterizations of colorful, indomitable female hotelkeeps."

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Australia

300 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Clare Wright is an historian who has worked as a political speechwriter, university lecturer, historical consultant and radio and television broadcaster. Her first book, 'Beyond the Ladies Lounge: Australia’s Female Publicans', garnered both critical and popular acclaim and her second, 'The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka', won the 2014 Stella Prize.

She researched, wrote and presented the ABC TV documentary Utopia Girls and is the co-writer of the four-part series The War That Changed Us which screened on ABC1.

Reviews

[Liz Barr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book leaves me wanting an ABC series about a middle-aged publican in a small town in the late nineteenth century (played by Noni Hazelhurst) and a temperance crusader (Jacki Weaver) who opens a coffee palace across the road. Make it happen, universe.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some books, you can just tell they're a thesis turned into publishable form. That's not a criticism (especially not coming from me), it's just that published theses read differently to popular history. And it just makes me wonder (a little) how this got into our library collection. Because it's on an odd topic and it's not by a big publisher.

But anyway: I'm really glad I stumbled across this book. It's a history (thematic rather than narrative) of women publicans, particularly in Victoria. Wright traces the history of Australia and women publicans through legislation, social acceptance, literary portrayal, and political influence. I've got some literary theory issues with that particular chapter, and it's fairly clear that Clare Wright's feminism is not my feminism, but all the same, it's an interesting and thoroughly readable book that challenges some of the suppositions around the history of pubs in Australia.

That said, I'd now love to read a history of the Ladies Lounge and the place of women in Australia's drinking culture. Anyone know a good one?

[Janine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, republished by Text Publishing in 2014 has had a longer life than you might think. The original 2003 book was originally drawn from Clare Wright’s PhD thesis from 2002, which itself grew out of her honours thesis which utilized oral histories with female publicans and their descendants. These academic antecedents are still here in this 2014 version of the book, but Wright’s lively writing style, even more pronounced in her later books The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka and You Daughters of Freedom, ensures that the academic analysis enhances, rather than suffocates, the text....

I enjoyed this book. It is written with the same warmth and wit of Wright’s later work on Eureka and suffrage, which tie far more into the bigger historical themes of Australian history. It is not just a paean of praise to female publicans, because it has academic ‘grunt’ as well, although some readers may find this off-putting. There are enough personal vignettes for you to remember that you are reading about real people as well, and the sheer number of examples of female publicans drawn from right across Victoria reinforces that she is writing about a widespread, if overlooked, phenomenon.

For my complete review, please visit:
http://residentjudge.com/2020/07/26/b...

[Whistling Kite · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much interesting research! Not a page-turner, but a great reference work. Love these and other books that have come out more recently about Australian women's history.

[S'hi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very informative background to some family history I am researching. To say more at this time would be to undermine that research to some degree. Suffice to say that the stories we are all told (and that we tend to retell each other) have their own ends that often have little to do with the truth of the situation they purport to describe.
Very useful for checking my own gullibility.

[Maryanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating - a great read about why female publicans are a central part of Australia/ Victoria's economic and emotional history. Very interesting in that they were treated by the law in a favourable way, ie outside a gender stereotype.

[Kerryn Forsyth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A research book with great stories and statistics about female publicans in Australia. Very interesting facts and details about licensing and ownership by women in the early days of liquor licensing in Australia.

[June Thorn · Rating 3 out of 5]

For history buffs this would be great, for me there were just too many statistics and not enough stories about the women who ran our Australian pubs.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is little to complain about Clare Wright’s scholarship, which is impeccable, featuring new and innovative research into the topic of women publicans in Australia (a topic that seems unresearched and overlooked, judging from this book), nor her writing style, which is clear, emotive and accessible.

However, for all these good points, it’s worth noting that Beyond the Ladies Lounge is a more academic and scholarly work. It’s not the most scintillating of reads, probably because of Wright’s academic approach to her subject (this book is based on her honours thesis). Instead of the story of female Australian publicans, it’s more of an exploration of the concept, and as such, there’s a lot of focus on general trends and attitudes. The narrative comes alive when Wright discusses specific publicans and their experiences, but these are often lost amidst a sea of statistics and trends – I really felt this book would have been more engaging had it given a more human touch to its discussions.

These comments and the rating reflect my own interests as a reader and, perhaps, the tendency for my eyes to gloss over whenever they see a lot of figures. Beyond the Ladies Lounge is no doubt an incredibly valuable resource on female Australian publicans and on women’s roles in Australian society throughout time.