The depiction of the absinthe imbiber as a figure of satire and ridicule is increasingly apparent in period newspapers and publication of the late 1800’s to early 1900’s, riding shotgun to more formal prohibitionist sentimentality.

A curious piece reproduced in the New Zealand Taranaki Herald (Volume XLVIII, Issue 11755, 23 February 1900) effectively borrows a Boer War propaganda poem & song by Rudyard Kipling of 1899 ‘The Absent Minded Beggar’, making social commentary on the then state of Anglo-French relations by changing it to ‘The Absinthe Minded Beggar’.

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Another snippet of Australian absinthe history for you all, this time from the Adelaide Advertiser, published on the 11 November 1909. It also demonstrates that the phenomenon of drunken Irish backpackers exhibiting their ‘wee folk’ is a problem over 100 years old, to be sure.

The Advertiser (Adelaide) 11 November 1909

A SERIOUS OFFENCE. ABSINTHE DRINKER IN TROUBLE

A shocking case, which counsel described as the outcome of the demoralising effects of drinking absinthe, was heard at the Adelaide Police Court on Wednesday. Neal McNamara, an respectably-dressed youth, was placed in the dock to answer a charge of indecent exposure at North Adelaide. The offence was alleged to have been committed on October 22 near a public school, and at an hour when children were proceeding along the road towards that institution. Six little girls, ranging in age from 12 to 15 years, appeared in court to support the charge. Inspector Burchell, who prosecuted, said the gravity of the offense was increased by the fact that the practices complained of had been going on for some time. He could call four witnesses to substantiate the charge, while the statement of the arresting constable was equally conclusive. The accused, who pleaded guilty, was defended by Mr. F. V. Smith.

Constable Quirke, who made the arrest, stated that, when he accosted the accused and told him the charge he said, “For God’s sake, don’t arrest me. I am a respectable Irish lad. I have a couple of sovereigns in my pocket and you can have them if you let me go.” He took the accused to the police-station. On the way there McNamara made a determined attempt to escape, but his efforts were frustrated.

Mr. Smith said the accused’s lapse was due entirely to the effects of drinking absinthe, of which habit he had become an unfortunate victim. The defendant enjoyed the confidence of a reputable city firm, by whom he was employed, and they were willing to take him back if released. In view of this he asked the bench to extend to his client the benefit of the First Offenders Act.

The court declined to do this, Mr. J. Gordon, S.M. remarking that the offence was a disgusting one that had been wilfully persisted in. The accused would be sentenced to three months imprisonment. A second information against McNamara was withdrawn.

And now dear fellow Libertine, a tale of absinthe’s infamous past. First published in the “Boston Herald” in 1888, then reprinted in New Zealands “Bruce Herald” the same year, it reveals that a novel kind of ’speak easy’ bar for possibly illicit and unlicensed consumption of alcohol was a favourite of the socialite set and certain ladies of distinction (as was the local Chinese Opium den!).

Pour a glass, relax and read on….

Bruce Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 1925, 20 January 1888, Page 5

I used to discredit the sensational stories that the patrons of the fashionable modistes repaired to those places so frequently, under the pretence of trying on a dress, because of the attraction of the buffet offering the choicest liquors and wines, writes a New York correspondent, until one day a lady friend confirmed the reports by narrating her experience, frankly confessing that at several modistes she named it was customary to serve drinks to the regular or recognised patrons.  The dressmaking, like the fruit store in front of the sample room, was merely part of the business carried on, and there was a regular charge for the liquors, covered in the bill by ‘trimmings’ and “attentions.”

And I know from personal knowledge that some very well known ladies used to resort to the better class of uptown opium joints several years ago, when such were not subject to police raids for the purpose of ‘hitting the pipe’ in the most approved style, because I once assisted a husband in rescuing his wife from one of these places within an easy walk of Madison Square.  And the doctor will or can tell you that the morphine habit – by hypodermic injection, easily administered after practice –has ruined many a previously domestic circle by claiming the mistress as a victim and condemning her to a dream-life, all the more miserable because of the terrible awakening, resulting in insanity and death.

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As some of you are aware, when I am not waxing lyrically about the subtleties and intricacies of our most beloved beverage, I am usually up to my waist in a hole somewhere, looking through 200 year-old garbage; part and parcel of my day job as a historical archaeologist here in Sydney.

The vast majority of our work deals with the period 1788 - 1900, however I am part of a growing number of archaeologists, heritage specialists and historians who are now casting an eye to our most recent material legacies - those of the 20th and early 21st centuries. This has become known as contemporary archaeology, or the archaeologies of the contemporary past. Just as we may say one thing whilst doing something completely contradictory, the material record of the recent past offers us a separate and oft-times divergent account of human behaviour in the recent past. Moreover, the material remains of the recent past are subject to hyper-depletion; because it is ‘new’ or ‘mundane’ or ‘every-day’ we value it less than a piece of material culture of which we have fewer examples,  or are of greater antiquity. Academics are beginning to realise that the designation of ‘archaeology’ as a discipline which deals solely with the ‘old’ or ‘rare’ is problematic at best, and entirely fallacious at worst.

With this in mind - we are now asking an intriguing series of questions regarding our most recent tracks in the sand. What is it about the late-20th century that speaks to us? What is it about the modern period which we must conserve for future generations? The answers to these questions may be more surprising than you would expect (for instance, the case may be made that a 1970s car-park is more worthy of conservation than a church of the same period, as the former is a far more diagnostic entity, indicative of technological and social change in the late-20th century).

I am currently writing a thesis on the archaeological and heritage values of an architectural style which became known as The New Brutalism - a form which, whilst initially highly popular amongst architects and civic planners, would later be widely decried as ugly, obnoxious and a blight on the landscape. This, however, was also said of ‘Art Deco’ buildings during the 1980s, High Victorian buildings during the 1950s, and so on… judgments made almost solely on the basis of subjective aesthetics and perceived social ‘value’. Whilst some Brutalist buildings do look out-of-place and could be construed as unattractive - this cannot be said for every building, just as it cannot be said of all Postmodernist, Constructivist, Functionalist or Millennial Minimalist buildings. We require a more sophisticated approach to the archaeology and heritage of Modernism in Australia, and the Powerhouse Museum is currently hosting an exhibition which beautifully showcases the scope, scale and power of Modernist architecture and design in Australia.

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We would like to wish all of our subscribers and fellow absintheurs in Australia and around the globe a happy 2009. May the absinthe flow freely!

Absinthe Duplais Blanche 72°

Matter-Luginbühl Distillery

Reviewed 8 Dec 2008

sans sucre

Quite simply, Absinthe Duplais Blanche is beautiful. It is smooth, alpine, refreshing and altogether bloody good.

What, that’s not long enough? OK, it is also delicate and refined, and certainly not the sort of thing you’d splash about on newbies or reach for halfway through a well-lubricated party. This one of those absinthes you keep at the front of the cabinet, but only get out when you’re feeling reeeeally generous. Or want to show off. Or are flush this month. Or have a craving.

Actually, I’m having one now.

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Australia’s first Absinthe?

And while we have much respect to Michael and Alla Ward & the fine people at Tamborine Mountain Distillery - it isn’t the one manufactured by them.

Although curiously it is an absinthe produced in Queensland. In 1878 to be exact.

In an article in The Brisbane Courier, Thursday 22 August 1878, a competition report of the Queensland Intercolonial Exhibition is provided. It was a busy day, with between eight and nine thousand attendees, with over 400 pounds taken at the gate. Many new an interesting wonders are being exhibited - the inner workings of torpedos, the unbeatable strength of the diamond drill that could power through the hardest stone, explosive demonstrations of ordinance mines the local park, cattle, sheep, fine arts, Hibernian bands, and that new fang-dangled invention called electricity, which to the crowds astonishment could power lighting!

Perhaps most importantly for antipodean absintheurs…

Spirits of wine and colonial rum were shown by the Milton Distillery Co. and there was a sample of rum from Hewitt & Co of Mackay; the only other exhibits in this class were absinthe from Bertheau of Bundaberg and white spirit from Quinlan, Gray and Co.

Who was Bertheau?

Here we need to refer to the 1878 Edition of Pugh’s Queensland Alamanac, Law Calender, Directory, Coast Guide and Gazetteer.

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It is true to say that absinthe has never been nationally banned in Australia under federal law. That is not to say however that absinthe has never been banned in Australia in any capacity.

A recent review of government gazette notices published in 1922 in the Northern Territory has revealed that a specific prohibition to the possession of absinthe was in fact enacted. Curiously however, the prohibition was legislated under South Australian law in context to its application in the Northern Territory only.

While this might appear confusing, it is important to understand that up until 1911, the Northern Territory was part of the jurisdiction of South Australia, when it then came under Commonwealth control.  However, all South Australian laws remained in continued effect until specifically amended by the Commonwealth, such as in the following gazette notice presented to us.

Northern Territory Times and Gazette, Saturday 21 January, 1922 (page 5).

GN1122 THE NORTHERN TERRITORY OF AUSTRALIA.

No: l6 of 1921.  AN ORDINANCE.

To amend “The Food and Drugs Act, 1908 of the State of South Australia in its application to the Northern Territory, and for other purposes.”

BE it ordained by the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, with the advice of the Federal (Executive Council, in pursuance of the powers conferred by the Northern Territory Acceptance Act 1910-1919 and the Northern Territory (Administration) Act 1910 as follows :

Short Title.

1.         This Ordinance may be cited as the Food and Drugs Ordinance, 1921.

Dilution of Spirits Amendment of Act 968 of 1908, sec. 22, S.A. (No. 1252, s. 3)

2.         Section twenty-two of the Food and Drugs Act 1908 of the State of South Australia, in its application to the Northern Territory, is amended by omitting paragraph (5) of the proviso thereto and inserting in it’s stead the following paragraph:

(5) “Where spirit’s are not adulterated otherwise than by being diluted’ with water, and such dilution being estimated by Sykes’ hydrometer has not reduced the spirits more than thirty-five degrees under proof for brandy, whisky, rum, schnapps, unsweetened gin, or other unsweetened spirits, or forty five degrees under proof for sweetened gin or other sweetened spirits.”

Dealing in Absinthe Prohibited.

3 (1.) Any person who sells, or in any manner disposes of, delivers, or supplies, to any other person, or deals or trafficks in, or has in his possession, order, or disposition, any of the liquor known as absinthe shall be liable to a penalty for the first offence of not more than Twenty pounds, and for a second or any subsequent offence, of not more than Fifty pounds.

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We at Absinthe.com.au are on a particular journey to uncover the hidden history of our Green Muse in early Australian history, and show that it was not just a Continental phenomenon, but that the importation and consumption of absinthe was an established part of society down under.

One part of the detective tale is establishing the trade routes, and given the predominant French presence in the South Pacific, it is not unreasonable to have assumed that the Franco-governed islands would be be a reasonable jumping off point.

Our suspicions have recently been vindicated by the below cutting of ’shipping intelligence’ reported in the Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser, as reported on the 23 February 1848.

25 cases of absinthe from Tahiti aboard the Sarah Ann, imported into New South Wales on the 17th February 1848.

Needless to say this opens a new chapter of absinthe history to be explored.  What were the main brands consumed in Australia?  Who were the purveyours? What establishments stocked absinthe? How was absinthe framed in context to the temperance movement in Australia?

Stay with us dear reader as we turn back the musty pages of history over the coming months, yea verily, maybe even years as we piece together what should be a veritable jigsaw puzzle of revelatory proportions.

This has been a bit of a nostalgic journey for me.

About 9 months ago I left Sydney and moved to Adelaide, yet now here I am, tracing paths in the back streets of Newtown on a Sunday afternoon, much like I used to do on a regular basis. Strong emotion stirs from the familiarity of footsteps on these same roads, the same stray cats, the same eccentric individuals perched in coffee shops or begging in a doorway, passing by the old 19th century houses that I have often thought ‘I’d like to live in that’, thinking about a parallel life that maybe is happening in another time and space.

The popular inner Sydney suburbs of Newtown, Camperdown, Erskineville and surrounds are an appropriate place to reflect on history, particularly the era when absinthe was in its heyday.  In these gracefully decaying streets are the lingering ghosts of previous centuries… the ’Murdering Makins of MacDonaldtown’ who mercilessly did away with at least 13 babies while running a faux-child care operation out of labyrinthine lane ways; the blackened dusty workmen who laboured at the Eveleigh railyards or St Peters Brickworks; the juvenile delinquents of the  ’Glebe Push’ and ‘Forty Thieves’ street gangs, notorious for their trail of theft and assault…

I spy with my little eye….

It is fitting, then, that we invoke these phantoms, that we grasp at the sounds and sights of another time, for on this afternoon both Robert and I journey to the house of our good friend Daniel to partake in something almost 100 years old, our own little time-travel experience….

- a sample of pre-ban Pernod Fils Absinthe, circa 1910.

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