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 The law could have been rescinded at a later date and introduced into State legislation in 1974.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?
No way was it legal to drink in a hotel bar if you were under 21 in the 60's. I am certainly old enough to know.
ReplyDeleteSo am I, but thanks for your response.
ReplyDeleteThe legal drinking age in Queensland was 21 when I was called up for National Service in 1971. I distinctly remember being told by a bar attendant at the Regatta Hotel that, "you don't look like you are 21, but I will serve you because you are in uniform".
ReplyDeletei was conscripted in 1964 in Victoria and sent yo Queensland in 1965 and the laws were changed because of the nasho's going to Vietnam , i was drinking legaly in 1965 at 19 years
ReplyDeleteThanks. That's exactly as I remember it. I was living in North Queensland at the time. Perhaps it didn't apply in the southern parts of Queensland (which wouldn't make sense), but I know we all celebrated when it was announced in 1964.
DeleteI turned 18 in 1965
ReplyDeleteI went to the pub that very day and legally had a drink in Manly NSW
Yes, the legal age in NSW was already 18.
DeleteI distinctly remember the drinking age was lowered to 18 when we finished school in November-ish. I was allowed to buy a bottle of scotch. That was 1976. We all went to a friends house at 'Buds Beach' on the Nerang river. Boy did we get drunk! NOT 1974. It was 1976, we all left school an drove straight down to the Gold Coast.
ReplyDeleteI went with Brian Sharp, he had a renovated Triumph Spitfire. He had replaced the bonnet with the roof of a panel van!
Hah to keep leaning over the front side to keep the bonnet closed down. You don't forget something like that in a hurry!
I turned 18 in 1976, THAT was when the age was lowered. We had to , om occasion, at the pub show our drivers license. Pity for those of us who of us who did not yet have a license!
It would appear, then, that the lowering of the legal age in Qld was a temporary measure during the war years.
DeleteThanks for your comments, everyone. It seems that only those who were immediately affected (i.e. from 1964 until possibly 1973) by this evidently temporary measure have clear recollection of it.
ReplyDelete