By the nature of its beginnings, Western Australia has a very strong culture of alcohol and drinking.

Our speaker, Allen Graham, author of a trilogy of Inns and Outs of Fremantle, focused on his first book, covering the period of 1829-1929.

There was so much information to relate, that before he knew it, he had written 300,000 words – hence the need for a trilogy.

In fact, he will make a return visit to the club to discuss his second book in November. Twenty minutes is just not enough time.

Allen pointed out that the red dots on the cover of his book depicted hotels in Fremantle, and there were a lot of dots!

The second ship carrying Swan River Colony colonists, the Parmelia, arrived in what the colonists envisaged as a land of promise, and visions of snow capped mountains. Of course this couldn’t be further from the truth, and very soon they discovered that along with store keeping and hotel keeping, drinking and alcohol were the most popular occupations to deal with the harsh conditions and climate.

In a very short time, there were seven hotel licences, four in Fremantle and three in Perth, which equated to one hotel to every adult in the colony.

There was also a class structure as was the way of English settlers, with some hotels striving for a better standard of settler to grace their bars.

No matter, everyone had to order the same – “a glass of grog” and they were given whatever the innkeeper had available, usually brandy or whisky.

When the whaling industry came to town in 1833, there were complaints of much unpleasantness owing to drunken brawlers. Not to mention the smells which came from the whale processing just below the Round House which were carried across the settlement by the afternoon sea breeze. 

On the plus side, whaler seamen made a hefty contribution to the local economy and the governor of the day tolerated their rough behaviour. There were reports in the Perth Gazette of intoxicated women too.

In inter-town rivalry, it was reported that Fremantle locals despised Perth people, and vice versa. 

In 1855 then Governor Kennedy decreed there were too many hotels and reduced their number by raising taxes on imported spirits.

Hotel licensees had to be selected by local magistrates on the basis of good character. Applications by females were rejected because they were not sufficiently hardy.

The number of hotels were reduced to five, with 400 people protesting at a meeting. But if one was caught selling alcohol illegally, the opportunity to take up a land grant was revoked.

Allen is an expert on his topic and was very informative and entertaining. We will look forward to hearing him speak about his second book. He is halfway through writing his third. 

Darren has been with Every Daughter Matters since 2021.  Recently Every Daughter Matters has been “adopted” by some crazy Youtubers whose video last year attracted 24 million subscribers and is making the organisation more visible throughout the world.

Darren showed us some videos of his own where volunteers man booths at the border, and when something doesn’t look right – such as very young girls obviously not accompanied by their parents, or in the company of an older man, are asked to come to the booth to show identification and discuss their reasons for crossing into India. If they do go across the border, they disappear in India. They are unable to speak the language, and will never be able to find the way home on their own. 

Nepalese girls are for the most part, very poor, vulnerable and naïve, ready to believe anyone they “talk” to on social media that they will get a good job, have a great romance enjoy a nice life in India. The girls are lured on by being told that all costs incurred in travelling to the border will be covered, as long as they don’t tell their parents. They are sold for prostitution, labour, street begging or even organ harvesting, especially kidneys. 

It is estimated that 25,000 girls are trafficked from Nepal to India, with 2.3 per cent rescued by Every Daughter Matters and other agencies. The border between Nepal and India is the busiest human trafficking site in the world. No papers or ID are required to cross between the two countries. 

There are 13 interception booths manned by trained counsellors and supported by the police.

Every single day, traffickers with young girls are intercepted. Sometimes the girls are angry that what they see as a better life is denied to them. If their parents cannot be contacted or they cannot return home, they are taken to an emergency shelter.

After a few days, they begin to understand what kind of life may have awaited them in India. 

There are 70 front line staff. Twenty of the girls were rescued from being trafficked themselves. 

This year to May, there has been 152 total intercepts. Every Daughter Matters have performed 5000 rescues in six years. 

Applecross Rotary Club have financed 10 of those rescues. A Perth woman turning 40, asked her friends to bring along money to her birthday, and donated $17,000.

Future aims for Every Daughter Matters include upgrading booths and emergency shelters, opening another booth, a lawyer for legal support, prevention and awareness in schools and educational scholarships.

Inns and Outs of Fremantle

Having bought the first of our recent guest speaker Allen Graham's trilogy of books on the history of Fremantle, let me assure that it is a great read! 

It certainly highlights the very real problems of grog and heavy drinking, and all the social ills of the time that went with it!

This book covers the period 1829 to 1929, and concentrates on the hotels and inns of the period, and the happenings around this early, heavy drinking culture.

Of the 1500 people who arrived in August '29 to April '30 and set up Fremantle, only 600 remained in what were appalling conditions. Wind and sand, no permanent structures, a poor harbourage, poor food supply and water quality ... living in tents and lean too's ..., and one 'hotel' to gather at and grizzle!

Other arrivals set off to find land for farming, but in 1831, with now 7 hotels and the Round House/gaol completed, the population fell to 400 in the lead up to 1833 .. one hotel per 40 drinking age locals, and the problems with grog and drunkenness became a social liability.

The population in 1833 was 500, with 120 ' houses' , and in 1840, it was one female for each 1.85 men!

Publicans came and went, and came back again, and the book traces the key players in this story. Public brawling, sniping, court cases, actual duelling all received publicity and condemnation from the 'better to do!' 

Labour was expensive and always in short supply, and then, for many they could work just 3 days and have 2 off, with the grog sellers the big winners! 

For the  Government of the day, in 1835, the 'State Budget' was 93% dependant on the sale of wine, spirits and ale, and this certainly helped maintain the problems of heavy drinking.

The American Whalers were also a key source of income, and in 1839, Feb to April, 16 Whale boats stopped over in Fremantle, and whilst contributing an estimated 50 Pound per ship to the economy in purchase of fresh supplies etc, their hard drinking and brawling with the locals only exacerbated the social problems of the time.

Whilst there was strong support for the establishment of a local brewing industry, success was hard to find until the Swan Brewery set up in the second half of the 19th century. 

About half way through a great read .. well done to Allen for the truly remarkable research that went into this book, and I look forward to his second speaking engagement later this year.

Kenn.