Here are some fantastic vintage photos dated between 1863 and 1868. Photographer Charles Percy Pickering was commissioned by a New South Wales temperance group. Watch as a (1) perfectly respectable gentleman is reduced to (2) somewhat slumped, intimidating, bow-tie-less bruised-eyed brawl starter, (3) further slumped and less intimidating brawl starter, (4) accidentally wheelbarrow-bound male pin-up and (5) dead?
The set coincides with the 1866 “Drunkard’s Punishment Bill” of New South Wales introducing fines for public drunkenness and disorderliness, making it “lawful for any constable to apprehend and confine in any watchhouse… any person whom he may find drunk, or drunk and disorderly, in any highway, street, road, or public place.” (Photos: Charles Percy Pickering via Dangerous Minds)
