Australian soldiers gathering in a circle to play the coin-flipping game two-up, 1942. Source: Northern Territory Library
The act of gambling plays a subliminal, yet fundamental role in the Australian subconscious as an act of patriotic commemoration and as a recreation. Reaching its peak in 1999, The Productivity Commission National Gambling Survey, conducted by the Victorian Gambling Regulation Association, noted how 82 per cent of the eligible population participated in some form of gambling, including: buying raffle tickets, lotto, bingo, casino games, scratch cards, sporting events, and participating in the Anzac day tradition of playing two-up – a coin game where the outcome of flipping two coins is wagered upon.[1] The tradition of playing two-up, which is only legal on Anzac day – with the exception of Broken Hill where it is legal all year round – stems from the Australian soldiers’ tradition of playing the game as a pastime on the journey to Gallipoli during World War One. It functions as an expression of gratitude for Australians who served their country in its infancy when the influence of colonisation triumphed notions of Australian national identity.[2]
Early colonial gaming
The origins of gambling in colonial Australia can be linked to the Irish diaspora through government records. Lieutenant-governor David Collins, a prominent British official that arrived on one of the earliest expeditions to Australia, observed (in reports returned to Westminster) how Irish convicts participated in gambling activities, and contributed to its growing popularity in the settlements surrounding Port Jackson (modern-day Sydney). Contemporary newspaper reports reveal that attempts to preserve the existence of gambling during its prohibition can be attributed to the Irish diaspora. Archbishop Michael Kelly, a prominent Irish figure in the Catholic Church in Australia in the late nineteenth century, for example, endorsed the selling of raffle tickets in a speech in 1903 at a sale of work in Grafton, New South Wales, to generate funds for worthy causes. The emergence of ‘unofficial’ or illegal gambling workshops known as ‘totalisators’ provided willing gamblers with an outlet to place wagers. Such institutions were run by Irish immigrants, and contributed to the preservation of gambling as well as its image of obstinacy and defiance that make it central to Australian patriotic commemoration and culture.[3]
The Irish diaspora, directly and indirectly, contributed to the creation of colonial Australia’s gambling culture, creating situations where gambling, as a leisure activity, was not only prominent, but became a patriotic tradition on Anzac Day through the form of a coin-tossing game known as ‘two-up’. The Catholic Church, as evident in the case of Michael Kelly, played a central role in justifying gambling as a recreational activity. It encouraged church followers to be dismissive of gaming laws, and gives an example of how an anti-establishment stereotype was cultivated around descendants of the Irish diaspora. Unofficial gambling became a demonstration of defiance and autonomy for Australians when creating a distinctive culture in opposition to Australia’s early colonial past, with the norms and traits of a marginalised subculture like that of Irish immigrants being appealing and more fitting when finding inspiration for defining a patriotic Australian identity.
Lieutenant-Colonel David Collins (1756– 1810). Source: National Archives of Australia’s Trove.
‘Some have been known, after losing provisions, money, and all their spare clothing, to have staked and lost the very clothes on their wretched backs, standing in the midst of their associates as naked, and as indifferent about it.’
– Lieutenant-Colonel David Collins, 1792 [4]
Evidence of gambling in early colonial Australia is sporadic, but it can be traced to Irish convicts that landed during the earliest expeditions in Port Jackson. The quote above, dated to December 1792, is a governmental report that was sent back to Westminster by David Collins. Collins, a British colonial administrator whose maternal family lived in King’s County (Offaly), sailed in the Sirius with the First Fleet, arriving at Botany Bay on 20 January 1788. He observed how the Irish convicts, once they landed in Port Jackson, were willing to gamble with anything they possessed. Collins’ account of the Irish convicts is indicative of their desperation, and their willingness to gamble to make material gain. Collins made the observation that cribbage, all-fours and two-up were among the most popular games that the Irish brought with them to Australia.[5] It is a clear demonstration of how the Irish diaspora directly contributed to the emergence and popularity of gambling in the settlements.
Gambling legislation
The first form of gambling that was institutionalised in colonial Australia was horse racing. By the 1850s, major cities including Melbourne and Sydney had exclusive turf clubs that were only accessible to men with property and status so it was viewed as being a quintessentially British norm by Australia’s working classes. Horse racing was also set on fixed dates to keep the working classes in check about their work responsibilities. John O’Hara claims that this was introduced because gambling might have violated the required ‘work ethic’ needed among the work force that assisted Australia’s economic transition during and after the Gold Rush of the 1850s.[6] The Brisbane Courier, a newspaper that supported the emerging labour movement, noted the introduction of gaming legislation on 28 June 1895, claiming that the selling or promoting of lotto or raffle tickets would induce a £100 fine or six months imprisonment. It provided an exemption for the selling of tickets that raised funds for charitable institutions, however, and led to blurred distinctions between what was regarded as a charitable institution or not.[7]
The introduction of gambling legislation in Queensland contributed to what was perceived by the Australian proletariat as the prioritisation of upper class moral objections over working class demands. The sanctions introduced to counteract the economic difficulties that Australia experienced in the 1890s was viewed as a suppression of the already limited extra-curricular activities that the working classes were already entitled to. Immigrants and working class Australians struggled to identify with official forms of gambling like placing wagers on horse racing that were viewed as quintessentially British grandiose affairs. The defiance of working class Irish-Australians when these laws were enforced is evident in the case of Archbishop Michael Kelly. Born in Waterford in 1850, he became coadjutor of Sydney in 1901, with the right of succession to Cardinal Patrick Moran.
- Archbishop Michael Kelly, 1920. Source: National Library of Australia’s Trove.
The Clarence and Richmond Examiner (a Grafton newspaper that began in 1859 and was heavily funded from its inception by a member of the New South Wales Assembly named Clark Irving) noted on 6 October 1903 how Kelly, at a sale of work in aid of St Martha’s Industrial Home, endorsed the selling of raffle tickets if it supported a worthy cause, without specifying that it should only be available to charitable organisations. The 1903 article explained how one of the ticket sellers confessed that the profit being generated from the ticket sales was not going directly to the industrial home, but to the church itself, and that the whole event was open to an investigation as it violated the established laws on the sale of tickets.[8] Kelly’s interpretation of the illegal selling of tickets is indicative of the lenient Irish attitude towards the new laws. Despite being a prominent figure in the Catholic Church hierarchy in colonial Australia, Kelly displayed a willingness to deviate from newly established laws. It encouraged church followers to be even more dismissive of the laws, and gives an example of how an anti-establishment stereotype was cultivated around Irish immigrants and descendants of Irish convicts – a stereotype that appealed to Australians in future generations as it resisted the authority of the dominant colonial settler.
The appeal of ‘two-up’
The preservation of an Irish stereotype over the quintessentially British image endeared middle and working class colonial Australians because the stigmatisation, that the Irish working classes were subject to, did not erode the longevity of the Irish identity in Australia. Evident in the implementation of legislation, introducing sanctions on gambling was viewed as a suppression of the working classes, and an attempt to reinforce patronising values of morality and discipline for the greater good of the colony. Gambling was a daring action that was viewed by many as the essence of Australian identity, and a recreation that could be exercised through totalisators and two-up schools.[9]
Two-up was particularly appealing because it was based on the idea of equality of opportunity due to the 50/50 chance of winning or losing. It provided the gamesters with an opportunity to ‘thumb their noses’ at the nation’s legislators who were responsible for the imposition of upper class values on the lower classes.[10] In relation to the lenient Irish attitude that appealed to Australians, John O’ Hara emphasises the point that Catholicism, stereotypically viewed as being Irish, offered a vindication from wrongdoing that viewed drinking and gambling lightly. The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express newspaper (that became known as ‘The Cockney’s Bible’ because it advocated the cause of free settlers) dismissed the emerging gambling culture in Australia, believing that it impaired ‘the Commonwealth’ in a broader sense.
‘Gambling is a spirit that tinges the Commonwealth’
– Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, 23 June 1905 [11]
The correspondent suggested that the broad popularity of legal and illegal gambling would still exist as long as economic disparities between the most frequent gamblers remain intact. The 1906 Gaming and Betting Act compounded the disparity between official and unofficial gambling. It was implemented to completely remove systematic loopholes that enabled street betting, gambling houses and totalisator shops. It strengthened the resolve of unofficial gamblers – leading to the growing popularity of gambling warehouses that embodied the oppressed yet obstinate spirit of the Australian working class which will be identified and elucidated further near the conclusion.
Gambling, a unifier?
Following World War One (1914-18), attempts to formalise a unique Australian identity were inspired by the celebration of the peculiarities of settler culture, society and memory. Tim Soutphommasane refers to a ‘national unifying myth’ that created a hybrid identity inspired by various aspects of nineteenth century immigrant culture and tradition.[12] The resolve of Irish immigrants by the early twentieth century to preserve the existence of illegal gambling fits with this ‘unifying myth’ idea. During the war, the popularity of two-up among soldiers had stemmed from the fact that while they were well-paid in comparison with their allies and adversaries, they could demonstrate their ability to maintain their composure in leisure-time despite the adversity that they had to face – and it was perceived as an expression of their working class identity that forced them into the conflict.[13] It was a demonstration of the soldiers’ resilience in the face of participation in a conflict that was more relevant to Australia’s colonial past. As such, unofficial gambling became symbolic of a generation that were responsible for Australia’s transition from a colonial settlement with divided identity to a modern unified country.
- Different types of tickets used on all totalisator courses, 1914-1940. Source: Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences.
Despite the new sanctions imposed in 1906, gambling warehouses continued to maintain their popularity. As late as 1944, the Williamstown Chronicle (a newspaper known to be closely associated with the Labour Party) reported a police raid on a gambling warehouse in Spotswood, Melbourne, that was run by Australians of Irish and Italian ancestry. Those charged under anti-gambling legislaiton defended their actions by making the argument that they were ‘breaking even, and trying to win a few bob.’[14] They emphasised the point that it was a better form of gambling than legitimate horse racing as the odds were even and the stakes were modest, making the case that Australia’s disenfranchised classes were deprived of extra-curricular activities as a result of the strain of excessive working hours and war. The Irish were central in preserving the working man’s gambling ethos, and its presence in the Australian psyche as a manifestation of anti-establishment immigrant culture.
Australia’s gambling culture grew out of a willingness to defy the demands of centralised power. It thrived as an aspect of Irish immigrant culture that was assimilated into the new hybrid Australian culture of working class resilience. Its defiant image stems from its longevity, despite the introduction of oppressive legislation. The popularity of card games and two-up contributed to the formation of a more distinct Australian identity after World War One. The game two-up functioned as a sense of gratitude in tribute to the soldiers who paved the way for modern Australia. It sought inspiration from immigrant culture that existed on the fringes of the hegemonic colonial culture that the government attempted to assert. It is a reflection today of multicultural Australia, and the product of a unifying myth that defined an emerging nation coming to terms with its colonial history.
REFERENCES:
[1] Productivity Commission 1999, Australia’s gambling industries, (Canberra, 1999), p. 24.
[2] John O’Hara, A mug’s game: a history of gaming and betting in Australia (Kensington, 1988), pp 7-10.
[3] O’ Hara, A mug’s game, p. 15.
[4] Brian H. Fletcher (ed.), David Collins: an account of the English Colony in New South Wales (Sydney, 1975), p. 282; ‘Collins, David (1756–1810)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University (http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/collins-david-1912/text2269) (20 March 2017).
[5] Alan Atkinson, The Europeans in Australia: a history (Melbourne, 1997), p. 207.
[6] John O’ Hara, ‘The Melbourne Cup and Two-up: egalitarianism and gambling’ in Sporting Traditions, 5 (November 1988), pp 63-69.
[7] ‘Suppression of gambling,’ Brisbane Courier, 28 Jun. 1895, p. 4. National Archives of Australia’s Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3604926searchTerm=Australian%20gambling%20culture&searchLimits=l-availability=y|||l-australian=y) (20 March 2017).
[8] ‘Archbishop Kelly on gambling,’ Clarence and Richmond Examiner, 6 Oct. 1903, p. 8 National Archives of Australia’s Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/61397701?searchTerm=gambling%20Ireland&searchLimits=l-availability=y|||l-australian=y) (19 March 19 2017).
[9] Beverley Kingston, The Oxford History of Australia: glad, confident morning 1860-1900 (Melbourne, 1993), p. 186.
[10] John O’ Hara, ‘The Melbourne Cup and Two-up,’ p. 69.
[11] ‘Gambling in Australia,’ Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, 23 June 1905, p. 25. National Archives of Australia’s Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/100658596?searchTerm=gambling%20in%20Australia&searchLimits=l-availability=y|||l-australian=y) (18 March 2017).
[12] Tim Soutphommasane, ‘Why can’t patriots be multicultural?’ in Australian Quarterly, 77 (July 2005), p. 10.
[13] Peter H. Hoffenberg, ‘Landscape, memory and the Australian war experience 1915-18’ in Journal of Contemporary History, 36 (Jan. 2001), p. 130.
[14] ‘Spotswood Two-Up school, story of police raid,’ Williamstown Chronicle, 10 March. 1944, p. 1. National Archives of Australia’s Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/70680035?searchTerm=Two-up%20coin%20game%20Ireland&searchLimits=l-availability=y|||l-australian=y) (19 March 2017).
Irish Aussies: historical perspectives 