1969 New South Wales Sunday trading referendum

A referendum concerning whether hotels should be allowed to trade on Sundays was put to voters in New South Wales on 29 November 1969 but was unsuccessful.

1969 New South Wales Sunday trading referendum
29 November 1969 (1969-11-29)
By law, resident hotel guests, bona fide travellers and club members may drink liquor on licensed premises at any hour on Sundays.

Do you favour the law being amended to permit hotels to trade generally on Sundays between the hours of 12 noon and 6.30 p.m.?
Results
Choice
 Votes  %
Yes 906,276 42.03%
No 1,249,835 57.97%
Valid votes 2,156,111 95.75%
Invalid or blank votes 95,716 4.25%
Total votes 2,251,827 100.00%
Registered voters/turnout 2,356,977 95.54%

Background

Sunday trading by public houses or hotels had been restricted in NSW since at least 1825. The Licensed Publicans Act 1849 permitted hotels to be open from 4:00 am until 10:00 pm from 1 October to 31 March and from 6:00 am to 10:00 pm from 1 April to 30 September and they could not open on Sunday, Good Friday or Christmas Day. Hotels were required to have accommodation of at least 2 bedrooms and stables for at least 6 horses and the trading restrictions did not apply to serving bona fide lodgers, inmates[lower-alpha 1] or travellers. Hotels were prohibited from serving "Aboriginal natives".[1][2]

Sunday trading was introduced in 1862, from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm and at the same time trading on the other six days was 4:00 am to midnight. Trading remained prohibited on Good Friday and Christmas. The accommodation requirements and the exception for serving lodgers, inmates and travellers remained. Music or dancing was not permitted without special permission.[1][3]

Licensing laws were substantially changed in 1882 and 1883, requiring hotels not to open before 6:00 am, to close by 11:00 pm, Monday to Saturday closed on Sunday. Music and dancing remained banned without special permission and women who were not married or widowed were expressly prohibited from obtaining a licence. A new restriction on hotel licences was that any proposal to increase their number required approval from the majority of ratepayers in the municipality, referred to as the "local option". A related change was to accommodation, increasing the requirement to at least 4 bedrooms, with 9 foot (2.7 m) ceilings and 1,200 cubic feet (34 m3) of airspace.[lower-alpha 2] If the hotel had an extra 20 bedrooms it could be granted a licence despite the result of any local option.[1][4][5]

Six o'clock closing, leading to the six o'clock swill, had been introduced in NSW as a temporary measure following the 1916 referendum and was not abolished until the 1954 referendum.[6]

On 2 October 1947 the Supreme Court held that the members of a registered club, the Royal Sydney Golf Club, were inmates within the meaning of s. 57 of the Liquor Act 1912, and consequently were exempt from the ban on Sunday trading.[7]

The question

The voting paper contained the following directions to the elector:[8]

By law, resident hotel guests, bona fide travellers and club members may drink liquor on licensed premises at any hour on Sundays.

Do you favour the law being amended to permit hotels to trade generally on Sundays between the hours of 12 noon and 6.30 p.m.?

1. If in favour place the figure "1" in the square opposite "Yes" and the figure "2" in the square opposite "No".

2. If not in favour place the figure "1" in the square opposite "No" and the figure "2" in the square opposite "Yes".

Results

The referendum rejected Sunday trading.

Result [9][10]
QuestionVotes %
Sunday trading Yes 906,276 42.03
No 1,249,835 57.97
Total Formal 2,156,111 95.75
Informal 95,716 4.25
Turnout [11] 2,251,827 95.54

Alcohol referendums

This was fifth referendum concerning the sale of alcohol in New South Wales, 3 of which dealt with the closing hour for licensed premises and clubs while the other concerned prohibition.[6]

These tables are an excerpt from 1916 New South Wales closing hour referendum § Aftermath.[edit]
Closing hour referendum results [6]
Referendum 6:00 pm 7:00 pm 8:00 pm 9:00 pm 10:00 pm 11:00 pm
(2) 1916 Licensed premises closing hour 62.18% 0.97% 3.84% 32.16% 0.29%  0.56%
(5) 1947 Licensed premises and clubs closing hour 62.44% 1.60% 35.96%
(6) 1954 Licensed premises and clubs closing hour 49.73% 50.27%

See also

Notes
  1. In the sense of "club member", not "patient" or "prisoner".
  2. A room that was 11 feet (3.4 m) wide with 9 foot (2.7 m) ceilings would need to be 12 feet 1 inch (3.68 m) long to have the required airspace.

References
  1. "NSW Licensing Laws". Time gents: Australian pub project. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  2. "Licensed Publicans Act 1849 No 29" (PDF), (NSW) – via NSW Legislation
  3. "Licensed Publicans Act 1862 No 4" (PDF), (NSW) s40. – via NSW Legislation
  4. "Licensing Act of 1882 No 26a" (PDF), (NSW) – via NSW Legislation
  5. "Licensing Act of 1883 No 16a" (PDF), (NSW) – via NSW Legislation
  6. "Results of referendums in New South Wales". Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  7. Ex parte Coulson; Re Jones [1947] NSWStRp 51 at by Davidson and Herron JJ, Roper J dissenting, (1947) 48 SR (NSW) 178 (2 October 1947).
  8. Liquor (Referendum) Act 1969 No 47 (NSW).
  9. "Liquor (Amendment) Act, 1954". No. 201. 10 December 1954. p. 3763. Retrieved 25 October 2021 – via Trove.
  10. "Referendum 29 November 1969". NSW Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 18 February 2011.
  11. Based on a roll of 2,356,977 at the 1968 state election: Green, Antony. "1968 election totals". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
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