Party Prescriptions

The small volume of recipes was published in 1963, at a time when licensing laws in most Australian states forced pubs to close in the early evening. The end result was what became known as the ‘six o’clock swill’, where men fought for a place at overcrowded public bars so they could throw down as much beer as possible before heading home after work. Rather than reducing the amount of alcohol consumed as was originally intended, critics say the laws made drinking an extreme sport, and helped to entrench it as a symbol of Aussie masculinity.