Official records state that the drinking age in Queensland was reduced from 21 to 18 in 1974. However, while I was working in regional Queensland in 1964-66, I remember how pleased I was when the drinking age was lowered from 21 to 18 in 1964 (possibly 1965), perhaps to accommodate National Service conscription. So, when I was conscripted in 1966 at age 20, I had already been drinking legally for at least 18 months in public bars in Queensland. I often had to produce my driver’s licence to prove my age, as I looked younger than 18. Therefore, it’s most unlikely that I would have been permitted to drink in public bars if the minimum age had been 21.
Some of my army mates dispute this ‘interesting’ piece of history and claim that when they were conscripted in Queensland, they were still below the legal drinking age of 21. Official sources support them: the reduction to 18 was legislated in 1974. An earlier change doesn't get a mention in official records.
Can anyone support my recollection of this event? It’s possible that the 1964 legislation was Commonwealth rather than State and was related to the Vietnam War, as teenagers were being sent overseas. The law could have been rescinded at a later date and introduced into State legislation in 1974.
Are there any Queenslanders out there who remember a change in the mid-sixties?
