Best Australian Drinking Stories

by Jim Haynes

The story of Australia's almost-250-year love affair with alcohol told with yarns, verse, anecdotes, and surprising historical narratives
"It seemed like a good idea . . . at the time." —the lament of many a morning after

Rum, beer, scotch, wine, beer, and more beer. For nearly 250 years, Australian history has been punctuated with stories of booze and boozing. From Cook's voyages and the First Fleet to the Rum Rebellion, the mutiny of the 99th Regiment, the soldiers' riot of 1916, six o'clock closing and beyond, we've been a nation that likes a drink.

With the eye of the master storyteller that he is, Jim Haynes has collected the best yarns, verses, stories, and anecdotes of our boozy history. He uncovers the good and the bad of our national character and its relationship with grog. He celebrates the social gift of alcohol and riotous moments of mateship and camaraderie, but he also offers salutary tales of its consequences—the hangovers, the suffering, the recriminations, and the grave occasions subverted by drink.

Amusing, wry, tragic, and surprising, Best Australian Drinking Stories asks you to grab a glass of your favorite beverage, get comfy and enjoy this fascinating collection of stories about Australia's love affair with booze.

Genres: Nonfiction

304 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2019

About the author

The son of British migrants, Jim attended Sydney Boys’ High and Sydney Teachers’ College. He taught in schools and universities in NSW and Britain, has two masters’ degrees in literature, from New England University and the University of Wales in the UK, and is the author of 24 books.

Jim’s book, Australia’s Best Unknown Stories, made it into the top ten best-seller list for his publishers Allen & Unwin. He was Writer in Residence at Charles Sturt University in 2011 and has also taught writing, performance skills and song-writing for The Arts Council of NSW, University of New England, SA Arts Council, Victorian Folk Council and Australian Performing Rights Association.

A professional entertainer since 1988, Jim has recorded for Festival, Sony and ABC Music and has had many songs in the Country Music Charts, including a number one with ‘Since Cheryl Went Feral’ and a national hit with ‘Don’t Call Wagga Wagga Wagga’. He won the Comedy Song of The Year award four times and toured his own show for many years.

Jim still performs as an entertainer and speaker, works in radio as the Australiana expert on 2UE.
Jim was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in the Australia Day Honour's List in 2016, 'for service to the performing arts as an entertainer, author, broadcaster and historian'.

Reviews

[Shreedevi Gurumurty · Rating 4 out of 5]

'It seemed like a good idea...at the time.' - the lament of many a morning after. Let's toast to this book. It's amusing, wry, tragic and surprising, portraying Australia's fondness of alcohol.Rum, beer, scotch, wine, beer and more beer. For nearly 250 years Australian history has been punctuated with stories of booze and boozing. From Cook's voyages and the First Fleet to the Rum Rebellion, the mutiny of the 99th Regiment, the soldiers' riot of 1916, six o'clock closing and beyond, we've been a nation that likes a drink.Uncovering the good and the bad of our national character and its relationship with grog.Jim celebrates the social gift of alcohol in riotous moments of mateship and camaraderie,but he also offers salutary tales of its consequences - the hangovers, the suffering, the recriminations and the grave occasions subverted by drink.What mostly attracts Australians to drinking is the taste of the beverages and general social acceptance.Social norms have been created as a result of communal drinking.When everyone has finished their drink,1 group member is expected to purchase the next "round" of drinks until all party members have paid 1 turn."Shouting" refers to paying for someone else's drink as a good gesture with no expectation.The six o'clock swill was an Australian and New Zealand slang term for the last-minute rush to buy drinks at a hotel bar before it closed. During a significant part of the 20th century, most Australian and NZ hotels shut their public bars at 6 pm. A culture of heavy drinking developed during the time between finishing work at 5 pm and the mandatory closing time.Six o'clock closing was introduced during the WWI, partly as an attempt to improve public morality and partly as a war austerity measure. Before this reform,most hotels and public houses in Australia had closed at 11-11:30 pm.The first state to introduce early closing was SA in March 1916,followed by NSW,VIC and TAS in 1916.NZ started in Dec 1917.WA closed at 9PM,but QLD introduced 8PM closing in 1923.TAS was the first state to abolish early closing hours in 1937,followed by NSW in 1955.The rest abolished in the late 1960s.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well I’m sure after reading this book that I should write a story of my own. I was hoping for more relatable stories to my own wild nights!