‘Black Douglas’: a not so dastardly bushranger?
HistoryExtra podcast
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The Role of Alcohol in the Gold Fields
Alcohol wasn't allowed on the actual gold fields themselves. The government was scared that large groups of people who were untethered would descend into crime and lawlessness if they had access to alcohol. So you had these sly grog tents or coffee shops that did not serve coffee. They served alcohol, but you also had these nefarious trades where you had liquor is the drink of the diggings. It's a lot easier to move around than beer. And so in this way, Douglas is actually really representative of the gold fields population as a whole.
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