Rum: A Distilled History Of Colonial Australia (COSHA)
Date & Time
Event Organiser: City of Sydney Historical Association (COSHA)
Date: Saturday, 18th June 2022
Time: 2:00pm
Venue: Sydney Mechanics School of Arts, 280 Pitt Street,
Henry Carmichael Theatre, Level 1
Cost: Members $5, Visitors $10. Booking not required, contact COSHA for payment info.
**COVID-19 CONDITIONS APPLY**
CONTACT COSHA for more info.
Everyone Welcome
No bookings required
Acquittal of Ballarat rioters in 1855. Wood engraving of public celebrations following the acquittal of the Eureka rebels, 25 June 1887, State Library of Victoria, Public Domain.
Rum: A Distilled History Of Colonial Australia
Speaker: Matt Murphy
Could the Rum Rebellion have been averted if Major Johnston wasn’t hungover?
Would the Eureka Stockade have been different if the rebels weren’t pissed?
How were prisoners to get drunk if Macquarie closed the only pub in the gaol?
And why should sailors under fourteen be deprived of their sixteen shots of rum per day?
Could the Eureka Stockade have been different if the rebels weren’t pissed?
How were prisoners to get drunk if Macquarie closed the only pub in the gaol?
And why should sailors under fourteen be deprived of their sixteen shots of rum per day?
Questions like this are raised in Matt Murphy’s account of Australia’s colonial history. Brimming with detailed research and irreverent character sketches, Rum looks at not just how much was drunk in colonial Australia (a lot!), but also the lengths people went to get their hands on it, the futile efforts of the early governors to control it, and the often disastrous and/or absurd consequences of its consumption.
At school, Matt Murphy failed English and couldn’t see the point of history. He became a firie and has been serving in Sydney’s inner city for 33 years. He is now also a part time historian and teacher, tolerating the attitudes of kids towards history that he used to share.