Page 4 - eMuse Vol.9 No.10_Neat

its calming effect before bat- The secret ballot was intro-
tle. Hence the expression duced for the first time in
‘Dutch courage’. An indica- Australia in March 1856 un-
tion of its early popularity in der the Victorian Electoral
1663 is there were 400 dis- Act.
tillers in Amsterdam alone.
Each voter was given a print-
“Back home, the English ed ballot paper with the
quickly developed a taste for candidates’ names on it and
gin even though it was it was initiated by the returning of-
often laced with turpentine ficer. The voter crossed out
An on-going series of words and phrases no longer or sulphuric acid. By impos- the names of the candidates
in use or shifted in meaning. ing heavy duty on imported he did not want to vote for

Scrub blush: A drink made by “Gin is an alcoholic bever- gin and allowing unlicensed and then placed the ballot
mixing methylated spirits age that derives its flavour production at home, the Brit- papers in a box.
ish made it easy for gin’s rap-
with the juice from canned from juniper berries. Since The secret ballot was also
beetroot. its earliest it is made by four idly increasing popularity to introduced into South Aus-
distinctly different processes gain momentum. tralia in 1856. It was adopt-
Other equally dangerous
drinks are: for distilling grain. “Gin was blamed for increas- ed by New South Wales
“The word origin — ei- ing the nation’s death rate and Tasmania in 1858, and
“White lady” (Methylated ther ‘genièvre’ (French) and many other negative in- by Queensland in 1859.
Spirits (aka “metho”); fluences. Surviving terminol- Western Australia did not
or ‘jenever”’(Dutch). Both
“Lantana rum” (metho, boot mean ‘juniper’. ogy is an indicator: ‘gin mills’, introduce secret ballot until
polish, and, fly spray); and, ‘gin joints’, ‘gin soaked’, and, 1877.
“People have had faith in ‘mother’s ruin’.
“Knocker” (1/2 pint metho the medicinal properties of With the introduction of
+ 1/2 cup cayenne pepper + juniper berries for centuries. “In ‘Gin Lane’, the 1751 en- the secret ballot, Australia
1/2 teaspoon Indian opium + 11th Italian monks used graving below left, William was ahead of most other
2 gallons Jamaican rum + them for flavouring in crude- Hogarth shows the degrada- countries, such as England,
1 gallon hot water). ly distilled spirits. tion of the time.” where it was not used until
1872.
At the time of the First Fleet “Although it was ineffective, Seabiscuit: See “hardtack”. Because of its early adop-
Gin was a common drink this was used during the Bu-
in England and throughout bonic plague as a remedy. tion by the colonies, secret
most of Europe. The drink “British troops were intro- ballot was known overseas
and adulterated concoc- duced to gin while fight- as the ‘Australian ballot’ and
tions using it found their ing the Spanish during the the “Victorian Ballot”.
way to Colonial Australia.
Eighty Years War in Holland
As stated in eMuse May 2014: (1568–1648). They noticed
Dugong
Sea hog: Dugong.
Secret Ballot (Also “Austral-
ian Ballot” and/or “Victorian Seine Fishing
Ballot”)
Seine: A large fishing net that
Before the introduction of hangs vertically in the water
the secret ballot, bribery, by attaching weights along
corruption and intimidation the bottom edge and floats
was used to influence a vot- along the top.
er’s choice.
Voting was carried out in
public, sometimes by a show
of hands. In the first elec-
tion held in Australia in New
South Wales in 1843 the
voter’s name was read out
in public together with the Sentimental Bloke
name of the person he had
voted for. This led to wild Sentimental Bloke: According
to Alec H Chisholm’s “The
scenes and recriminations.
Making of a Sentimental
The introduction of secret Bloke”, “ . . . the original
ballot was an important step Bill was a city lad, a typical
on the road to full and effec- product of the Melbourne
“Gin Lane” by William Hogarth 1751 tive democracy in Australia. lanes, who boasted that as

4 eMuse October 2020