Disciplining Recreation in Colonial South Australia: Constraints, Controls and Conventions
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DISCIPLINING RECREATION IN COLONIAL SOUTH AUSTRALIA: CONSTRAINTS, CONTROLS AND CONVENTIONS Denis Molyneux Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History School of History and Politics University of Adelaide May 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................. iii ABSTRACT.............................................................................................................iv DECLARATION ......................................................................................................vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... vii INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................1 1 EIGHT HOURS FOR WHAT WE WILL ...........................................................22 2 THE GROWTH OF RECREATIONAL ACTIVITY............................................39 3 LEGAL CONSTRAINTS ..................................................................................80 4 THE STRUGGLE FOR CONTROL................................................................129 5 MRS GRUNDY AND THE TYRANNY OF CONVENTIONS..........................183 6 MECHANICS, ARTISANS AND GENTLEMAN AMATEURS ........................215 CONCLUSIONS...................................................................................................235 APPENDIX 1........................................................................................................247 APPENDIX 2........................................................................................................250 APPENDIX 3........................................................................................................251 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................252 ii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1 The Beatrice Tricycle Shield .............................................................203 FIGURE 2 The North Adelaide Cycling Club with ladies’ section to the fore......206 iii ABSTRACT The last four decades of the nineteenth century witnessed a significant growth of leisure hours for a growing number of South Australians, particularly working class males; it was accompanied by an upsurge in both organised and informal recreation activity. The upsurge owed much to major advances in communication during the period – in transport by rail, steamship and late in the century, the bicycle, to the network of telegraph stations which by the mid 1870s, spanned much of the colony, the country and finally linked the colony to much of the wider world, and to the growth of local and daily newspapers and specialist journals. Industry, government and commerce drove these advances, but recreation benefited from all of them and came to be a major element of commercial activity itself, as some activities generated not only participants, but spectators and audiences. These developments in turn stimulated a demand for facilities, both indoor and outdoor, which came to be met by private groups, public authorities and commercial operators, or combinations of the three. However, not all sections of the South Australian community looked favourably on aspects of these developments. Some social, religious and political forces, both separately and later as an alliance, combined to target elements of the recreation activities which emerged within the new leisure, particularly those of the working classes. They feared a return to public disorder arising from unseemly and licentious behaviour which accompanied many of the activities of the occasional pre-industrial seasonal leisure periods. These forces drew on contemporary programs in America and Britain in their campaign to quell ‘social evils’ including intemperance, gambling and what they regarded as inappropriate behaviour on Sundays, the Lord’s Day. They advocated the uses of statutes to constrain, if not eliminate what many in the community regarded as acceptable recreational activity. Others from the reforming forces determined on ‘rationalising’ the recreation of the working classes by introducing programs which they regarded as educational and self-improving, based essentially on their own middle class iv experience. A further restraint were contemporary conventions which determined matters of dress, conduct and behavioural expectations affecting areas of recreational activities; they were particularly severe on women. Other conventions affected full participation by men in a small number of sporting activities. The thesis examines the origin, nature and conduct of these forces in South Australia each of which sought to discipline aspects of mainly working class recreation of the period. It concludes with an assessment of the outcomes as they appeared at the time of Federation. v DECLARATION I hereby declare that the thesis contains no material that has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text of the thesis. I give consent to this copy of my thesis, when deposited in the University Library, being made available for photocopying and loan. SIGNED: ________________________________________ DATE: ___________ vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my gratitude to Associate Professor Rob Foster for his support, tutoring, encouragement and stimulating supervision of my work over the years of the project. I am grateful also for the comments and observations of other members of the Department of History – Professor Robert Dare, Dr Vesna Drapac, Dr Paul Sendziuk and Dr Tom Buchanan – at different stages of the project’s development; similarly, Dr David Hilliard and Dr Michael Talbot helped clarify key issues in its early phases. I am grateful also for the assistance accorded me by the professional staff of the University library, especially the Research Librarian Margaret Hosking, and to those of the State Archives and the State Library. My thanks also to Ms Julie McMahon for her friendly assistance. The sharing of progress with fellow Post Graduates over the years has been much appreciated. Finally I wish to thank my wife, Marjorie, for her patience, encouragement and forbearance over the period of this study, and for her scrutiny of the several drafts. vii 1 INTRODUCTION At the height of the summer of 1862, C.B.L – a self-styled working man – wrote to the South Australian Register commenting on an earlier report in that newspaper which expressed surprise that the various evening classes offered by the South Australian Institute had not been better attended. Mechanics were alive to the advantages presented by the Institute, C.B.L. contended, but: after working 10 hours, and in many cases away from their homes 12-13 hours, is it to be expected that in such cases men can leave their homes to improve their minds upon any of these branches of instruction … the climate so enervates their physical constitutions as to render further exertion, even of a mental nature, irksome, being so exhausted through the many hours they have to labour.1 The letter provoked a response by way of a leading article a few days later which, among other points, directed the working man to the writings of Samuel Smiles and his philosophy of self help. ‘He must work and not dream … whether he work with his hands or his brain, or with both, some measure of success is certain. Then the relations between labour and recreation will harmonise.’2 Some two decades later, the nineteenth century Australian journal, The Victorian Review, included an article by John Wisker entitled Scientific Aspects of Recreation. Wisker argued that there ought to be a science of recreation: Its importance grows with civilisation. As man advances in knowledge … he deems it expedient to devote an ever increasing proportion of his time to the pursuit of recreation. The class for which pleasure is the business of life is constantly enlarging and existence is ceasing to be a monotonous grind for any class. That man was not born to make himself miserable, whatever his station in life, and that each individual has a right to all the legitimate enjoyment he can command, are propositions which have passed the speculative stage.3 1 South Australian Register (henceforth Register) 12 February 1862. 2 Ibid 15 February 1892. 3 Wisker, John.’ The Scientific Aspects of Recreation’. The Victorian Review. Vol. V November 1881 p. 98. 2 While Wisker appears to have been writing predominantly from a middle class viewpoint, in the colony of South Australia by 1881 substantial sections of the male workforce were enjoying new recreational experiences, both formal and informal, made possible by recently won hours of leisure.4 However, some forces in the community, drawn mainly from the middle classes and the Nonconformist churches, were greatly concerned about aspects of this recreational activity. They particularly feared that the working classes would resort to using their newly won hours of leisure in disruptive and immoral activities and determined on the need to discipline their impact. This thesis examines the measures which were developed to control what were essentially working class recreational activities. In some cases, the counter measures contained elements which were class-based; in general terms, they