1928 New South Wales prohibition referendum

1928 New South Wales referendum
Prohibition with compensation Vote
Yes 29%
No 71%

A referendum concerning introducing prohibition in New South Wales was put to voters on 1 September 1928.

Background

These paragraphs are an excerpt from Six o'clock swill § Introduction of early closing.[edit]

Six o'clock closing was introduced during the First World War, 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 or 11:30 pm.[1] Support for changing hotel closing times originally came from the temperance movement, which hoped that implementing restrictions on the sale of alcohol would lead eventually to its total prohibition. Although the movement had been active since the 1870s, it had been gaining ground since the 1900s following the introduction of 6 o'clock retail trade closing, first legislated in Western Australia in 1897. The argument made by the temperance movement challenged the grounds for public houses being "kept open while bakers' shops were shut".[1] Prominent groups in this movement were the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and the Rechabites. Their agitation was augmented with the outbreak of war in 1914 where it was argued that a "well-ordered, self-disciplined and morally upright home front was a precondition for the successful prosecution of the war."[2]

The first state to introduce early closing was South Australia in March 1916 where the rationale was for supporting the war effort. The law had been approved in the previous year in a referendum held in conjunction with the state election.[1] Six o'clock closing was subsequently adopted in New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania in the same year. It was introduced in New Zealand in December 1917.[3] Western Australia adopted a 9 pm closing time, but Queensland retained the old closing times until it introduced 8 o'clock closing in 1923.[1]

The question of closing hours was put to New South Wales voters in a referendum held on 10 June 1916. The question had previously been put to the vote in December 1913 when the results of the Local Option Poll were in favour of 11 o'clock closing. The 1916 vote was influenced by a recent riot involving drunken soldiers. In February 1916, troops mutinied against conditions at the Casula Camp. They raided hotels in Liverpool before travelling by train to Sydney, where one soldier was shot dead in a riot at Central Railway station.[4]

Although 6 o'clock closing was introduced as a temporary measure, the government brought in extensions and discussed putting the matter to a referendum. In 1923, however, without testing the matter by a popular vote, the Fuller Nationalist government enacted 6 pm as the closing time.[5]

The question

The question to be voted on was whether "prohibition, with compensation, shall come into force throughout New South Wales".[6]

Results

The referendum overwhelmingly rejected the introduction of prohibition.

Result [7]
Question Votes %
Are you in favour of Prohibition  
with Compensation? 		Yes   357,684 28.74
No 896,752 71.26
Total formal votes 1,254,436 98.92
Informal votes 13,683 1.08
Turnout [8]   1,268,119     89.97

Aftermath

This was the second of 5 referendums concerning the sale of alcohol in New South Wales, 3 of which dealt with the closing hour for licensed premises and clubs while the fifth concerned Sunday trading.[9]

This table is an excerpt from 1916 New South Wales closing hour referendum § Aftermath.[edit]
Closing hour referendum results [9]
Referendum 6:00 pm 7:00 pm 8:00 pm 9:00 pm 10:00 pm 11:00 pm
(2) 1916 Licensed premises closing hour 62.18% 0.97% 3.84% 32.16% 0.29%  0.56%
(5) 1947 Licensed premises and clubs closing hour 62.44% 1.60% 35.96%
(6) 1954 Licensed premises and clubs closing hour 49.73% 50.27%

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Phillips, Walter (1980). "'Six o'clock swill': the introduction of early closing of hotel bars in Australia". Historical Studies. 19 (75): 250–266. doi:10.1080/10314618008595637.
  2. ^ Joan Beaumont, ed. (1995). Australia's War 1914-18. Sydney, Australia: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-86373-461-5., page 81.
  3. ^ "'Six o'clock swill' begins". Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 20 December 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
  4. ^ Robson, LL (1969). Australia & the Great War: 1914-1918. Australia: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-333-11921-1., pages 12 and 63-65.
  5. ^ Freeland, JM (1966). The Australian Pub. Australia: Melbourne University Press. p. 175. ISBN 9780725102371.
  6. ^ "The referendum: instructions to voters". The Sydney Morning Herald. 30 August 1928. p. 12. Retrieved 26 October 2021 – via Trove.
  7. ^ "Referendum 1 September 1928". NSW Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 18 February 2011.
  8. ^ Estimate based on a roll of 1,409,493 at the 1927 state election: Green, Antony. "1927 election totals". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Results of referendums in New South Wales". Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 25 October 2021.