Aboriginal alcohol consumption

Aboriginal people and alcohol—this combination raises a lot of misconceptions. Nearly everyone in Australia has seen Aboriginal people drinking or drunk in parks, yelling at each other. But is this representative of all Indigenous people of Australia?

Alcoholic drinks before European invasion

Indigenous people knew of and used mild alcoholic drinks before the arrival of the white people. Their use, however, was strictly controlled. They produced alcohol from a variety of plants. Some of these alcoholic drinks were made from:

• Pandanus plant (soaked and pounded cones, eastern Arnhemland)
• Purple orchid tree (Bauhinia) and honey (far eastern Queensland)
• Corkwood (Duboisia myoporoides, Sydney region, water in trunk used), also used as fish poison
• Miena Cider Gum (Eucalyptus gunnii, sap used, Tasmania)
• Bitter Quandong (Santalum murrayanum, presumably from seeds, Murray River region NSW/VIC)
• Fermented honey (southern South Australia)
• Intoxicating roots (Adelaide region, SA)
• Coconuts (Torres Strait)

Interestingly, Aboriginal words for 'alcohol' were often derived from words meaning 'dangerous', 'bad' or 'poisonous', but also 'sweet' or 'delicious' (central Australia) and 'salty', 'bitter' or 'sour'.

Use of these kinds of alcohol from natural sources was very limited for another reason: The absence of suitable containers, and climatically varying access to these resources, ensured that there was no large-scale production or consumption of alcohol.

Alcohol consumption after European invasion

Aboriginal alcohol use changed significantly after white people invaded Australia. Within weeks of the arrival of the first fleet the first pubs opened, and this would shape the way Australian society developed over the next few decades.

Many Aboriginal labourers were paid in alcohol or tobacco (if their wages were not stolen). In the early 1800s a favourite spectator sport of white people in Sydney was to ply Aboriginal men with alcohol and encourage them to fight each other, often to the death.

White settlers also gave alcohol to Aboriginal people as payment for sex. Alcohol-induced prostitution had a harmful effect on child rearing and accelerated the birth rate of mixed descent children, usually rejected by their European fathers.

Interestingly, Aboriginal people were initially denied alcohol consumption because it was feared that "natives were more adversely affected than others" when consuming alcohol.

In 1964 a majority of Legislative Council Committee members voted that, for the Northern Territory at that time, alcohol should also be made available to Aboriginal people.

It was, in fact, white people who introduced Aboriginal people to alcohol.

Aboriginal alcohol consumption at present

"Real" Australians engage in alcohol consumption. —Simone Pettigrew and Ronald Groves, Australia, Alcohol and the Aborigine: Alcohol Consumption Differences Between Non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians, 2003

Urban binge drinking 'epidemic'—by whites

You could call alcohol the glue that holds white Australian society together. If you want to "fit in", if you want to be accepted you should drink alcohol with your friends. Men drink beer, women drink wine, and the drinking rituals they share shape them into a cohesive group.

Many Aboriginal people copy white drinking behaviours hoping to be accepted into white society by doing so.

An analysis from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare revealed in 2008 that one in five people binge-drink once a month or more [11].

Media usually indulge in portraying Aboriginal alcohol consumption and the associated problems (see section 'How the media portray Aboriginal alcohol consumption' below). They forget that white Australian society shares the same problems. At least half of all assaults in Sydney in 2007 were related to alcohol [10], prompting the City of Sydney to introduce a 2am lock-out for some hot-spots.

At St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney you can see the "ugly side of Sydney's binge drinking epidemic" [12]. Within 24 hours, the medical team had to attend to 65 people under 30, 90% of which had to be treated for alcohol-related injuries. Nationwide four Australians under 25 die due to alcohol-related injuries in an average week [13].

In 2007 there were 21,000 alcohol-related assaults across the state [of NSW]. —Nathan Rees, NSW Premier [12]

Too much alcohol intake can be detrimental to one's health and this is the primary reason why alcohol rehabilitation centres are provided for people who want to get sober.

Aboriginal people drink less than white people

Many Australian health surveys have shown that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are less likely than non-Indigenous Australians to consume alcohol:

The diagram above shows that across all age groups in the low risk group fewer Aboriginal people drink alcohol than non-Indigenous people. On average, 55% of the non-Indigenous people drink at low risk while only 36% Aboriginal people do.

In the risky group more under-24-year-old Aboriginal youth drink than non-Indigenous young people. In other age groups statistically the same number of people drink alcohol. This is also true for the high risk group, except for people over 35 years of age. Here, almost twice as many Indigenous people drink alcohol. The decline in the over-55-year-olds could be attributed to the lower life expectancy of Aboriginal people who on average die before they reach 60 years of age.

According to surveys in 1993 and 1994, the percentage of Indigenous (84%) and non-Indigenous people (82%) who had tried alcohol at some stage in their life was about the same. But 72% of the non-Indigenous population actually drank alcohol, while only 62% of the Indigenous population did.

One common stereotype of Indigenous Australians is that they all drink alcohol to excess. But the reality is that a smaller percentage of Aborigines drink alcohol than do other Australians. —Mick Dodson & Toni Bauman [5]

I turn away my own siblings if they arrive intoxicated. Some would say this is a rejection of my family. I say it's a strengthening and educating of my family. I will not put my family and our plans and dreams at risk. —Mary Victor O'Reeri, Billard community, Western Australia [16]

In 2004-05 around half of all Indigenous adults (49%) reported having consumed alcohol in the week prior to another survey, of whom in turn one third (16%) reported drinking at risky/high risk levels in the long term. After adjusting for age differences, the proportion of Indigenous adults who reported drinking at risky or high risk levels is similar to that of non-Indigenous adults.

The alcohol consumption levels are based on a standard drink containing 10 grams of alcohol (equivalent to 12.5 ml of alcohol) and are defined as follows:

Low risk

Males: up to 6 on any one day, no more than 3 days per week

Females: up to 4 on any one day, no more than 3 days per week

Risky

Males: 7 to 10 on any one day

Females: 5 to 6 on any one day

High risk

Males: 11 or more on any one day

Females: 7 or more on any one day

The following are examples of standard drinks:

• 285 ml glass of beer(a middy/pot/handle)
• 100 ml glass of table wine
• 30 ml of spirits (1 nip)

Aboriginal people who drink do so at harmful levels

While Aboriginal people generally drink less than non-Indigenous people, those who do so are more likely to drink at hazardous levels. Unfortunately, many reports focus on these results rather than the fact that generally they drink less.

Most persons stressed that not all Aboriginals had alcohol problems - many didn't drink at all, or drank only very lightly, but the problem was that many of those who did drink did so very heavily. —Findings in the National Drug Strategy Household Survey, 1994

The graph shows how many drinks people consume when they drink alcohol. 45% of non-Indigenous males (the dark blue line) and almost 70% of non-Indigenous females (light blue line) only consume one to two drinks during a pub visit. The heavier the drinking the fewer white people engage in it. In fact, no female drinker consumes more than 12 drinks.

For Indigenous drinkers the pattern is reversed. Fewer Aboriginal people drink one to two drinks (10% male, 16% female), the majority are heavy drinkers: More than 40% of the Indigenous men and over 20% of the women drink more than 13 drinks when they go drinking.

These figures apply to urban groups, but research has shown that percentages for rural and remote areas are not significantly different.

The term binge drinking is often used to describe alcohol consumption by Indigenous people.

Note that the term binge drinking does not relate particularly to Aboriginal people, it is also used to describe drinking habits of non-Indigenous people.

Frequency of drinking

Knowing that Indigenous people drink less than non-Indigenous people, how often do they actually drink?

Fewer Aboriginal people drink daily or at least once a week than non-Indigenous people do. Many more Aboriginal people consume alcohol once a month or even less frequently. This is in stark contrast to the image the media tries to reinforce when reporting about "staggering quantities of alcohol" (Time Magazine) being consumed.

Consequences of Aboriginal alcohol consumption

Indigenous people who (excessively) consume alcohol often face one or more of the following consequences (in order of how Aboriginal people perceive their severity):

• Violence and fights. Women often hesitate to report violent men for fear of yet more deaths in custody.
• Health problems. Alcohol is a major risk factor for health problems such as liver disease, pancreatitis, diabetes and some types of cancer.
• Community breakdown. This can also manifest in lack of community support for the drinker.
• Social problems, e.g. low self esteem, lack of direction.
• Family breakdown
• Financial problems
• Theft or crime which is much higher for Aboriginal people than for white people.
• Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) which creates another 'Stolen Generation'. Aboriginal child removals have increased by 33% since 1997 and many still never return to their natural parents. FAS is an affliction across all cultures and not exclusive to Aboriginal people.
• Accidents and death such as from motor vehicle accidents, falls, burns and suicide.
• Unemployment

You know how you destroy a culture? ...You make sure that kids are born with alcohol foetal syndrome, they won't be able to pass on the dreamtime and the culture. —Alastair Hope, Western Australia coroner [8]

Aboriginal people are more than twice as susceptible to alcohol-induced crime. And the figures could be even higher because a lot of victims don't report an incident because they know the aggressor or don't want to see them prosecuted.

Drinking sociology and why Aboriginal people drink

Aboriginal people often drink in groups but not to socialise. Rather, a group of drinkers ensures that there is always someone who can provide money for the next purchase of drinks.

The problem of drinking is aggravated by the fact that the various pensions and allowances by the government are paid on different days. Even if a drinker spent all pension money his financial 'drought' would be broken with the next government payment. Paydays have always been the heaviest drinking days.

Against all odds, some young Aboriginal children decide to stay abstinent particularly when they want pursue a career in sport.

Aboriginal history tells us why Aboriginal people start to drink. Over the past two centuries they have been exposed to dramatic changes in their lives, and even now they have to struggle for the very basic human rights.

Indigenous alcohol abuse is motivated by

• the breakdown of traditional social control mechanisms,
• a lack of means for establishing and ritually enacting (through ceremonies) group identity,
• a lack of traditional rules for alcohol consumption behaviours (as existed before invasion),
• the culturally infused sharing ethos (Aboriginal people share resources most of the times),
• resistance to imposed controls on Aboriginal society,
• a lack of processes for reducing tensions and frustrations occurring as a result of
  • poverty
  • unemployment
  • discrimination
  • racism
  • boredom
  • dislocation.

Aboriginal men in particular suffer from the loss of their cultural status in the transition from a traditional to a welfare-based lifestyle. Many Aboriginal women, through their status as mothers, receive more welfare payments than Aboriginal men.

People have to remember there's a reason why Aboriginal people drink... Drinking is escape. Have a few drinks and you can forget everything. —Nelson Bieundurry, local resident in Fitzroy Crossing, Western Australia [17]

Do alcohol bans solve the problem?

In October 2007 the Wangkatjunka community south of Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia imposed a ban on all alcohol except light and mid-strength beer sales [1]. The ban came about after Aboriginal women lobbied desperately because of a high number of deaths that occurred in Fitzroy. After the initial five-month period the ban was extended for another year.

Another Aboriginal community, Oombulgurri, in the Kimberley in north-east Western Australia, became a dry community in November 2008 after the suicide of five Aboriginal people. The liquor ban came into effect after a Western Australian coroner found that both alcohol and sexual abuse had been factors in the suicides [7].

Alcohol bans seem to send out a mixed bag of advantages and disadvantages:

Benefits of an alcohol ban

• less incidents of domestic violence, injuries, drunkenness and anti-social behaviour,
• "elders could sleep well at night",
• families were buying food instead of alcohol,
• police callout rates and arrests dropped by about two thirds,
• there were fewer and less serious hospital admissions (the Queensland community of Woorabinda reported a drop from 11 to one hospital admission per quarter for assault when the community went dry [14]),
• fewer suicides; in Fitzroy Crossing suicides before the ban were as high as one per month [17],
• some give up alcohol completely and move back to their homelands outside of towns [17].

Elders are talking about how well they can sleep at night. —Joe Ross, community leader of Fitzroy Crossing [1]

Disadvantages of a ban

• health services had to deal with people having difficulties to detox,
• drug use might have increased based on anecdotal evidence [1,17],
• school student attendance might drop significantly [9],
• violence and fighting increases [9],
• alcohol addicts embark on grog sprints driving hundreds of kilometres to buy alcohol, increasing their risk of having an accident in the process [17],
• publicans might oppose a ban and refuse to stop selling alcohol.

Juvenile violence has increased in the community. —Barry Thomson, Queensland Teachers' Union [9]

Alcohol bans seem to be ineffective without consideration of rehabilitation, mental health support, trauma counselling, suicide prevention and safe houses.

The legacy of alcohol remains in the community even after a ban, like high rates of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), where the unborn child becomes addicted to, and often misformed by, alcohol [17].

Surprisingly the number of reported domestic violence incidents and the number of such incidents where alcohol was a factor went up significantly (23% and 20% in Fitzroy Crossing), a fact explained with Aboriginal women being more confident to report such incidents [17].

I don't care who knows

They say it's a crime, drinking beer and wine 
It's gonna lead a poor man astray.
When it comes to grog, I'm a fair dinkum hog 
I guess I was born that way.

I'm gonna drink it and roam til the cows come home 
If it gives my poor heart ease 
I don't care who knows, I work for my dough  
I'll spend it as I please.
 
I was cutting a rug; they threw me in the jug 
And as the magistrate looked down
He said, Youngie Doug, you're a wine-loving mug, 
You're a menace to this town.

I'm gonna put you away; in the cell you will stay 
Until you learn more sense.
I broke down and cried. It was a doggone lie 
For I wasn't the same he said.
 
I spent a day in jail and they paid my bail
And as they opened up the big iron door.
I shook my head as I sadly said,
I'll never get drunk no more.

I made a vow I'll give it up for now
And let the blood roll down my vein
Until a friend of mine, he had a flagon of wine
So we turned it on again.
 
People in town they just run us down
And gave us a big bad name
Say we drink and fight, but it's quite all right
Because the other is doing same

But after a while, they're gonna hang their heads
For we wasn't such a very bad guy  
I'm feeling sad and I'm gonna be mad  
If they hang around my grave and cry.  
 
They say it a crime drinking beer and wine  
It's gonna lead a poor man astray  
When it come to grog, I'm a fair dinkum hog  
I guess I was born that way.  

I'm gonna drink it and roam  til the cows come home,  
If it give my poor heart ease.
I don't care who knows, I work for my dough
I'll spend it how I please.

This song was written by Aboriginal man Dougie Young for the movie My Survival As An Aboriginal.
Read more Aboriginal poems.

Why Aboriginal alcohol management plans fail

In January 2008 Queensland media reported that 17 Alcohol Management Plan (AMP) review reports showed that the plans were failing [3]. As a consequence the Queensland government has asked Aboriginal communities to accept more responsibility.

The Alcohol Management Plans, introduced in 2002, fuelled problems such as binge drinking and the setting up of drinking camps on the outskirts of communities outside the restricted zones. Where police were not present, sly-groggers carted their alcohol through the main streets for all to see. Others risked their lives when they tried to smuggle grog into their towns through crocodile-infested swamps.

Alcohol has been behind [60 to 70%] of the major assaults, the hospital admissions, the sexual assaults, the domestic violence. —Lindy Nelson-Carr, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships Minister, Queensland [6]

But a growing body of research suggests that such programmes fail because they do not actively involve Aboriginal communities. The most successful programmes are developed in partnership with Indigenous communities [4].

The community of Umbakumba, for example, is one of the few that is winning the struggle against alcohol abuse because the community owns the programme, women are empowered and government agencies form partnerships with the community.

Many of my peers decide to break the law to go to prison to stop drinking and get help. —Nelson Bieundurry, local resident in Fitzroy Crossing, Western Australia [17]

How the media portray Aboriginal alcohol consumption

In August 2006 the Australian version of the Time Magazine published the article "The Demon Drink" where it featured a double-page image of a drinking session in the bush around Borroloola, Northern Territory:

The article calls Aboriginal drinking in this remote outback town a "drinking epidemic", claiming that "most Top End towns" share this fate and Borroloola is "just another community in the queue" for support plans from the NT government. The author mentions two examples of serious bodily harm inflicted by drunk Aboriginal people and claims that "such incidents are as common in the Top End as the crunch of green aluminium cans underfoot".

This article was part of the magazine's "Australian Journeys" special which was to "capture the spirit of the longest road in the South Pacific", the Highway No. 1. I strongly dispute that this is the true 'spirit' of this remote community.

In his book Land is Life, published in 1999, Richard Baker tells the story of the Yanyuwa people most of whom now live in or near Borroloola, located 970 kms south-east of Darwin. Baker finds an altogether different situation:

The Aboriginal drinking problem in town [Borroloola] is highly visible while the large number of people living on 'dry' outstations is invisible. As a result, tourists tend to end up having negative stereotypes of Aboriginal culture reinforced.—Richard Baker, Land is Life, p.123

It looks like the reporters of Time Magazine didn't make the effort to visit one of the outstations (or 'homelands') where Aboriginal people control aspects of their life and put up 'no grog allowed' signs on the approach roads. This control over alcohol is denied to them in the town of Borroloola:

It should be stressed how different Borroloola is from nearby 'closed' Aboriginal communities in Arnhem Land. For example, the Yanyuwa would like to control the sale of alcohol to Aboriginal people in Borroloola but are unable to do so.—Richard Baker, Land is Life, p.119

One theory claims that the conspicuous litter of beer cans and wine cartons is an expression of resistance towards white management of Aboriginal lives.

If we consider just the statistics for the remote and sparsely populated Northern Territory, around 25% of Indigenous people consume alcohol which is lower than the figure for all of Australia.

Strategies Aboriginal people use to avoid alcohol abuse are

• the declaration of 'Dry Zones' within Indigenous communities,
• prohibition and restriction in shops and supermarkets,
• community policing and licensing,
• replacing alcohol with Kava, an alternative drink from the Pacific Islands, used particularly in the Northern Territory where it was introduced into Arnhem Land during the 1980s. Made from the crushed root of a pepper plant mixed with water, Kava can cause several damaging health conditions [15].

It has to be kept in mind however, that such projects are in danger of failing until the causes of excessive drinking have been removed.

Help for Aboriginal people who want to stay sober

Indigenous Sobriety

Indigenous Sobriety has been set up to enable Indigenous people who have given up alcohol and other drugs to make contact and support each other. It offers weekly online meetings.

Indigenous Sobriety (Yahoo discussion group)
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/indigenous_sobriety/

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)

Alcoholics Anonymous holds an annual Indigenous Alcoholics Anonymous Convention in Ballina, NSW, which received good feedback from participants. Websites: www.nationalindigenousaaconvention.net, www.aa.org.au

Out of respect for Aboriginal culture I use Indigenous sources as much as possible.
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey 2004-05 (ABS); 2004-05 National Health Survey (ABS); Macquarie Atlas of Indigenous Australia, Survival - A History of Aboriginal Life in New South Wales; National Drug Strategy Household Survey - Urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Supplement 1994 (ABS); www.reachout.com.au; web.biz.uwa.edu.au, [1] Koori Mail 413 p.14 [2] National Indigenous Times 135 p.13, figure relates to the Kimberleys region 1999-2002 [3] 'Qld grog plans not working: Minister', Koori Mail 417, p.30 [4] 'Qld plan to fight grog is a lemno', NIT 12/6/2008 p.21 [5] 'Aboriginal Australia & the Torres Strait Islands', Lonely Planet, 2001, p.124 [6] 'Aborigines 'should accept more responsibility' for problems', brisbanetimes.com.au, 20/12/2007 [7] 'Liquor ban placed on WA black community', NIT 13/11/2008 p.9 [8] 'Brough weighs in on WA', NIT 13/11/2008 p.9 [9] 'Ban fuels student violence - union', Koori Mail 438 p.6 [10] 'City News' in: Wentworth Courier, 26/11/2008 p.19 [11] 'Good drop stops here', MX newspaper 18/12/2008 p.7 [12] 'Blood, regrets and beers: just a typical Saturday', Wentworth Courier 3/12/2008 pp.6-7 [13] www.australia.gov.au/drinkingnightmare 2/1/2009 [14] 'Report shows gbap still wide', Koori Mail 442 p.54 [15] 'Police swoop on kava bound for remote centre', Koori Mail 444 p.51 [16] 'A call to action', Koori Mail 458 p.6 [17] 'Fitzroy Crossing's long road ahead', Koori Mail 450 p.32