An early reference comes from the Hobart Town Gazette of 18 March 1825: "We therefore felt convinced that in the sequel they would altogether decline applying for licenses, whilst many of them would become sly grog-men to the manifest injury of Government".
[3] Sly-grog shops eventually expanded from their urban context and increased in numbers in rural areas during the period of progressive establishment of farms and pastoral runs in south-east Australia (generally distant from police and bureaucratic control).
After hearing all the evidence very patiently, together with the remarks that were offered by Sub-Inspector Creaghe, with a view of sustaining the conviction, in which the inspector pointed out to their Worships in forcible terms and eloquent language how rife this system of sly-grog selling was becoming, and the many ways that there were of evading the law, and how necessary it was for the protection of the public that these proceedings should be nipped in the bud, he clearly proved that this was a case in which it was attempted to evade the law by placing false tickets upon the cases under the pretence that the grog was intended for private use, instead of for illegal sale; and called their Worships’ attention to the fact that part at least of the spirits was intended for parties who were in the habit of selling spirits without license, and one of whom had been convicted for such an offence – the Bench retired for consultation, and on returning expressed their conviction that the prisoner had failed to prove that he was not carrying the grog for the purpose of sale, and that therefore the whole of the spirits, together with the cart, horse, and harness, were confiscated to the Crown.
At these places will be found congregated the known thieves and blackguards of a district; there they inveigle the unthinking, induce the habit of rum-drinking, and at last lead them from one illegal act to another, until the scholar becomes as proficient as the master in the practice of robbery and stealing the property of others.
Sly-grog shops are worse than nuisances; they are gangrenes eating away the morality and religion of the denizens of the bush, they are deadly fountains, diffusing poison and death around the neighbourhoods where they are found.
These wretched sly-grog sellers are the pests of society, they are the secret underminers of its pillars, and if they are not shortly eradicated, our Quarter Sessions and our Circuit Courts will be the revelation of their accursed doings.
[6] Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara in South Australia is another example where restrictions have been imposed in consultation with local Aboriginal elders, in order to combat alcohol abuse and alcohol-related crime.