Melbourne pubs used to close at 6pm, known as the six o’clock swill

MELBOURNE is known for its thriving night-life but that wasn’t always the case. During WWI legislation was put in place to close pubs and hotels at 6pm.

Victorian hotels had to close at 6pm from 1915. It was a temporary wartime measure — and it lasted until 1966. This 'six o'clock swill' is in a city hotel in 1964.

• Australia’s drinking culture
• Drinking and partying in Melbourne in the 60s and 70s

MELBOURNE is best known for its thriving night-life but that wasn’t always the case.

Victoria was one of the last states to lift six o’clock closing on pubs and hotels in Australia after it was introduced following World War One.

Pub patrons would rush to their local hotel after a hard day’s work and drink against the clock until 6pm closing time.

It’s a far cry from today, where some establishments are open around the clock and party animals don’t even think to start hitting the town until well after 10pm.

In 1915 the Victorian Parliament legislated to change the closing times of hotels from 11.30pm to 9.30pm, and then to the earlier closing time of 6pm in 1916.

And it stayed that way for another 50 years.

Before the war, publicans were able to trade from 6am to midnight but fierce campaigning by The Temperance League of Victoria saw the issue of excessive drinking brought forward from the shadows.

In 1915 the state government decided to curtail hours of trading during the war from 6am to 9am and closing times from 11.30pm and 9.30pm.

It then flagged its intent to hold a referendum in October 1916 on whether six o’clock trading should be introduced.

Customers waiting to be served before 6.00pm closing at Melbourne hotel in what was known as 6-O'Clock Swill.

That referendum was postponed in September because of a federal referendum, on national conscription, to be held on October 28.

Premier Alexander Peacock thought it would be out of place for the liquor question to be considered alongside the conscription issue.

He introduced temporary six o’clock closing a day later — with the new laws set to last until the end of the war.

The Argus newspaper reported that despite the earlier closing times, the quantity of liquor consumed by the excessive drinker had not changed — and instead had given them reason to speed up their intake.

It was described by many at the time as the six o’clock swill or drinking against the clock.

Tasmania was the first to relax their closing times back to 10 o’clock in 1937 and New South Wales followed suit in 1955.

By the 1950s the temperance movement in Victoria had declined and attitudes against drinking had relaxed.

The temperance movement made some ground during war times but lost their strength towards the 1950s.

Winning the bid to host the 1956 Olympic Games also brought the issue of relaxing the closing laws into light — with many worried Melbourne would become the laughing stock of the world, but a referendum held in March was defeated with six out of 66 electorates voting against it.

A Royal Commission into the closing times saw opening times extended until 10pm in Victoria in 1965.

But Victorians can take solace in the knowledge that we weren’t the last to lift the ban — South Australia following suit in 1967.

Despite concerns that the longer opening times would wreak mayhem and chaos on the streets, the response in Melbourne was fairly subdued.

Hotel trading to midnight and beyond became possible in the 1980s and 1990s.

Molly Meldrum with Nick Giannopoulos and Mark Philippoussis at Heat Nightclub in the 1990s.

Heat Nightclub packed with partygoers in the 1990s.

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