Do you know most Australians drink with a meal, to be sociable, or to celebrate? (Roy Morgan Research 2010, commissioned by The Salvation Army)
BUT there are also large numbers of people who 'drink to get drunk' or to 'feel normal', this is pretty disturbing. But I bet you all know what I'm talking about.
A lot of people have drunk to 'escape' pretty much since the First Fleet arrived in Australia. There wasn't much else to do in the early colonial life and those days were harsh. Britain was just developing their alcohol industry at that time and they had just come up with distilled spirits like gin, rum, whiskey etc. This was the fastest, cheapest way to escape from reality and as a result on average people drank 13-14 litres per person per year! (Fitzgerald and Jordan 2009)
(Photo sourced from Salvation Army IHQ here taken by Ewan Arnolda)
Drinking was central to life in the early days of Australia, there weren't many laws around it and they kept changing all the time depending on how the alcohol trade was going. Over time, the harsh Australian environment created aspects of our Aussie Culture which most of us would value such as 'mateship' and a belief in a 'fair go'. The place of alcohol was almost 'compulsory' for relaxing and celebrating and has become cemented in our way of life. I'm sure you all see it yourselves in your family and friends, it's the Aussie culture to get home from work and crack open a beer or to have a few drinks at a birthday party or wedding. You might have even heard some people say it's un-Australian not to drink! Not to mention it's also created a very large and powerful alcohol industry which makes a lot of people a lot of money.
As our country has become more urban and suburban our alcohol consumption has toned down a bit, there are now a lot of other options for leisure and relaxation other than drinking. Drinking in Australia was at its lowest in the 1930s at about two or three litres consumed each year per person. This also however happened to be around the time of the Great Depression where average people did not have much spare money to spend on luxuries such as alcohol, they were just trying to feed their children. Christians were also prominent at that time in what was called the 'temperance movement', Google it to find out what that was all about. There were a lot of moral arguments occurring at that time and people were accused of 'wowerism'. It sounds like a pretty pathetic thing to call someone these days but back in those days a poet called C.J. Denis coined the term and it stuck. A 'wowser' was pretty much someone who was against other people having fun, probably what we would call a 'killjoy' these days.
(Photo sourced from The Salvation Army here)
Since World War II alcohol consumption has steadily risen yet again and today Australians drink an average of 8.5-9 litres of pure alcohol a year. This number isn't any higher than most other countries but the difference is Australians like to see ourselves as hard drinkers. I'm sure if you haven't encountered this yourself than you've seen it on TV, Aussies love to compete against other nations in drinking competitions claiming to have 'drunk them under the table' for example. Also there are negative habits developing in Australia around who drinks (such as children, youth, boys vs. girls) and how we drink, specifically to get drunk. Also about one in ten drinkers drink at dangerous levels that have both short and long-term consequences and damage. About 60% of all alcohol consumed in Australia is done at higher levels than National Health guidelines recommend (National Health and Medical Research Council).
Those that are particularly affected are young people, the addicted and Indigenous Communities so if you are a young Indigenous person with a history of alcohol addiction in your family the picture looks pretty grim.
The Salvation Army in Australia would probably identify these groups as amongst the 'least, lowest and lost' (like William Booth talks about) in this country. These groups don't have much power and are 'at-risk' but our alcohol industry is rich and powerful and still powers on promoting alcoholic products as attractive, no matter what the harm.
At the beginning of Australia's history alcohol harm was seen as a moral issue, it has since transitioned into being a medical issue and even a public health issue. However even more recently there has been a discovery that Australia's thirst for alcohol is even bigger again, it's now considered a problem with society. This means that drinking is encouraged through family and social settings in workplaces and on roads, the problem is far bigger than the individual drinkers themselves, it's now something called 'social harm'. Alcohol abuse is now a part of our very culture.
Think about the word 'culture', what springs to mind when you think about it?
Now think about the Aussie way, what are some things that make us uniquely 'Australian' compared to other countries.
Does alcohol and drinking make up a large part of that?
How do you think the average Australian feels about alcohol in this country?
How do you feel about alcohol?
Hmm... Think about it, Pray about it...***
(Information sourced for this post is sourced from The Salvation Army Alcohol Culture Initiative Learning Module)
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