Temples of Bacchus: temperance and protestant morality in Victoria, 1837-1908

Submission note: A thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of European & Historical Studies, La Trobe University, Bundoora.

This thesis investigates the temperance movement as an agent of religious, moral and social reform on Australian culture and society between 1837 and 1908. The colonial temperance movement developed within the framework of the transatlantic exchange of temperance ideas, organisations and strategies between the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The thesis, which uses Victoria as a case study in the development of international temperance ideology and strategies, asserts that although temperance advocates were united by a shared conviction that the culture of alcohol was primarily responsible for poverty, crime, domestic violence and other social problems, temperance ideology was underpinned by evangelical Protestant notions of morality or righteousness and commitment to evangelical ‘mission’ in the temporal world. Temperance strategies in Victoria reflected the attempt to effect the moral regeneration of individuals and of colonial society. Pursuing a temperance-led moral reformation, advocates were forced to address contemporary liberal objections to the temperance program of reform. Their response was to turn Mill’s principle of individual liberty to their own use by placing the focus of the temperance debate on the right of society to protect itself from the adverse consequences of the culture of alcohol. The ‘moral liberal-democratic’ principles they espoused anticipated ‘progressive liberalism’ promoted by Thomas H. Green and others in the United Kingdom. The thesis also examines the confluence of evangelical Protestant and liberal principles within the context of the role of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union in Victoria between 1886 and 1908, and the place of woman suffrage, social purity and Christian Citizenship in the formulation of the ‘Ethical state’. The temperance debate contributed substantially to progressive liberal notions of the moral obligations of the state and the creation of moral citizenship. The thesis informs historical understanding of the influence of evangelical Protestant morality in the development of colonial Australian society and culture during the period.