In the Shadows: Sly Grog
Lieutenant-Governor Latrobe… was possessed of the idea that diggers could be better controlled, politically, morally and physically, if they were made as far as possible total abstainers. From his Moravian missionary point of view he was possibly right. Hence he caused a "prohibition" law to be issued, under which it was a penal offence to sell liquor on any goldfield. The establishment of public houses was absolutely prohibited. No man was allowed to have in his possession more than two gallons of spirituous or fermented liquors. If a man were suspected of having a greater quantity, the police had the power, which they most rigorously exercised, of entering and searching house or tent in pursuit of it. Search warrants were not required. The old British belief that "an Englishman's house is his castle" was rudely upset, and the way the prohibitory laws were carried out was cruel in the extreme.
Leader, 23 April 1887
On every flat, on every hill-side, and...