Six O'clock Swill - Introduction of Early Closing

Introduction of Early Closing

Six o'clock closing was introduced during World War I. Before this reform, most hotels and public houses in Australia had closed at 11 or 11:30pm. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union and the Rechabites campaigned successfully for limits on the sale of alcohol and beer. Although the temperance movement had been active since the late 1870s, it had been gaining ground since the 1900s following the introduction of 6 o'clock retail trade closing, which was first legislated in Western Australia in 1897. The argument that the movement gave questioned the grounds for public houses being "kept open while bakers' shops were shut". This agitation was augmented with the outbreak of war in 1914 where it was reasoned that a "well-ordered, self-disciplined and morally upright home front was a precondition for the successful prosecution of the war."

The first state to introduce early closing was South Australia in 1915 where the rationale was a war austerity measure. Six o'clock closing was adopted in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania in 1916. It was introduced in New Zealand in 1917. Western Australia adopted a 9pm closing time, but Queensland retained the old closing times until it introduced eight o'clock closing in 1923.

The question of closing hours was put to New South Wales voters in 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 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.

Although it was introduced as a temporary measure, in 1919, it was made a permanent measure in Victoria and South Australia. The New South Wales Government brought in temporary extensions and discussed putting the matter to a referendum. In 1923, however, without testing the matter by a popular vote, the government enacted 6 p.m. as the closing time.

Hotels catered for a short heavy drinking period after work before the early evening closing by extending their bars and tiling walls for easy cleaning. The phenomenon changed Australian pubs as rooms in the building were converted to bar space; billiard rooms disappeared and bars were knocked together.

The law was intended to reduce drunken mayhem and alcohol consumption but it encouraged them because of the short time men had to consume alcohol between "knock off time" and 6 p.m. Men often drove home from the pub extremely drunk. Car crashes and assaults by men upon their wives and children were at their highest between 6.30 p.m. and 8 p.m.

In any case, the law was a failure; sports and cosmopolitan workingmens clubs were considered private bars and were allowed to trade alcohol until very late and patrons would usually buy alcohol from off-licences to consume at home or at parties after the six o'clock swill. Early public house closing times did not have a significant effect on reducing alcohol consumption levels.