THEY travelled the country preaching the evils of drink; colourful characters with the gift of the gab and usually with a tale of their remarkable transformation from drunkard to teetotaler - they were the temperance lecturers.
Larger temperance societies, like the Independent Order of Good Templars and the Sons of Temperance, employed men and women to tour colonial settlements, recruiting new members, preaching their message of the demon drink, and persuading tipplers to sign a pledge to denounce alcohol.
The teetotalling orators' efforts resulted in the reformation of many drunkards, with some becoming missionaries, and joining the lecturing circuits touring colonial Australia and New Zealand.
The two most successful temperance organisations were The Sons and Daughters of Temperance, and the Independent Order of Good Templars.
The Sons and Daughters of Temperance plan of organisation embraced three distinct branches: a local division, a state division, and a national division.
The Sons of Temperance organisation was first formed in the United States of America in 1842 and assumed a prominent place among the fraternal and benevolent anti-liquor societies. Their motto was "to shield themselves from the evils of intemperance, to afford mutual assistance in case of sickness and to elevate their character as men".
The organisation had a highly restricted membership. In order to become a member a person had to be nominated by an existing 'brother' or 'sister'. Three other brothers or sisters would then investigate his or her life to determine if they thought they were worthy of membership.
The Sons and Daughters of Temperance required an initiation fee, an amount equal to a week's wages of an ordinary worker.
Its constitution required members to pay a cover charge to cover the burial costs of any brother who died. It also required the payment for the funeral costs of a member's dead wife.
A bylaw required fellow brothers to visit any sick brother at least once a day, and one of the orders of business at each meeting was to identify any brothers who were ill.
In NSW a man aged from 45 to 50 years could join the division for the sum of 7 shillings and 6 pence, plus a monthly contribution of 2 shillings and 6 pence. On the death of a 'brother' his wife received £20, while if the wife died, a survivor would be paid £10. Medical insurance was afforded to every member, their wives, and families.
There were secret rituals, passwords and handshakes, with members wearing regalia. The book, Temperance in Australia (1889) states: "This organisation exercises a very powerful political influence, and it is ever ready to use it in support of candidates for parliamentary honours who are prepared to favour temperance legislation".
The Southern Cross Division of the Sons of Temperance was formed at Kiama in February 1868 - a month before a National Division was created. The Hope of Illawarra was established at Wollongong in May 1868 and the Illawarra divisions grew to be a dominant force in the fight against drunkenness over the following decades.
The Sydney Sons of Temperance Brass Band headed over 60 marchers decked-out in the movement's regalia carrying banners in a parade of strength from the Wollongong School of Arts, down Smith Street, to Harbour Street, Market Square, Corrimal Street and onto "Mr Fraser's Temperance Hotel" in Crown Street in January 1869.
Twenty members of the Daughters of Temperance joined the march before over 200 gathered for a picnic and entertainments at Sunny Bank near the corner of Dapto Road and Mt Keira Road west of Wollongong.
The march was careful orchestrated to pass-by most of Wollongong's pubs and was obviously designed to send a clear message to the town's publicans.
Meanwhile the Independent order of Good Templars - the only temperance organisation that has survived to the present day (although not in Australia) - was founded in New York in 1851. It used a three-degree system, collars and aprons like in Freemasonry. However, regalia are no longer worn by the modern counterpart, which has expanded their abstinence message to other drugs.
The Good Templars never sold life insurance to their membership, something their predecessors encouraged.
In 1865 the order had 60,000 members and by 1869 over 400,000 was on their books. The Templars would grow to become the world's largest temperance society.
The Good Templars came to Wollongong in 1879. The Queen Victoria Lodge made their first public appearance at the Wollongong Temperance Hall in August where they staged a concert.
By the end of the 19th century the Templars were rapidly increasing in numbers "and usefulness". The Illawarra Mercury reported on 30 April 1892:
Six months ago there were only two lodges in the district, viz., those at Bulli [Nil Desperandum] and Wollongong [Beacon Light], with a membership of about 80. There are now five lodges, with a membership of 285. Three juvenile Temples have also been established numbering over 90 members, making a total strength of 375 enrolled under the flag of state prohibition. The latest addition to the ranks was made last Thursday night, when a large number of the local (Beacon Light) lodge proceeded by coach to Balgownie in compliance with an invitation from some friends in that locality to resuscitate the Miners Friend Lodge, which has been in abeyance for some considerable time. A large number of the Pride of Bellambi members were also present to assist in the opening ceremony…
Showing off their strength, temperance groups held grand demonstrations and marches up and down Crown Street from time to time to show their solidarity for prohibition.  Led by town bands, the Salvation Army joined the various lodges of the Good Templars, Sons and Daughters of Temperance, Rachabites and junior temperance groups such as Bands of Hope, wearing their full regalia and bearing colourful banners, could number in the hundreds before gathering at the Wollongong Protestant Hall to preach to the converted for total liquor prohibition.
Of all the temperance lecturers touring the colonies, the Good Templars' Richard Crabb was one of the most notorious. He was described in the New Zealand press in 1895 as the "versatile Sydney Domain stump orator", who was said to have a vicious tongue.
Crabb stirred-up the debate on liquor prohibition and abstinence everywhere he spoke. He was often heckled, harassed, spat at and had eggs thrown at him for inciting rage among those who enjoyed a drink. However, he also had a strong following of devoted teetotallers, who filled the lecture halls where he spoke and were quick to defend his unconventional method of preaching liquor abstinence.
The Illawarra Good Templars employed the services of the "apt and entertaining speaker", who dealt "heavy blows at alcohol and the liquor traffic" to tour the region in the late 1880s.
A correspondent reported in the Illawarra Mercury on 11 February 1888 that Crabb made over 60 new members of the IOGT at Bulli, and whilst there, a publican's wife spat at Mr Crabb as he walked up the street.
These temperance lecturers were often savage in their relentless attacks on the liquor industry - particularly publicans, who were accused of being "unchristian" and raised the ire of many in the trade.
An example of the heat that existed between landlords and temperance spin doctors is revealed in the following Bulli correspondents report in the Illawarra Mercury on 21 February 1888:
Mr Crabb, the total abstinence lecturer, and Mr Orvad, of the Denmark Hotel, crossed swords a day or two ago on the main road or street in front of the hotel. Peter [Orvad] was 'crabbed' so much that 'he went for' the lecturer by insinuating that he must be in the habit of taking something stronger than cordials to make him as fat and podgy as he is. And to merely look at the two men one would be inclined to believe, if they knew no better, that spare Mr Orvad was the teetotal man and the stout Mr Crabb 'mine host'.
Crabb also made his way to Kiama in 1888, when the Kiama Good Templars engaged him to lecture in the village. The Kiama Independent reported "he roused up numbers… both in a financial and numerical way" for the lodge while in town.
As the 1880s drew to a close the popularity of the Templars began to wain in certain parts of the region. The cause of the disinterest was "the suicidal influence of our local hop beer" and "additional attractions in the pubs", the newspapers reported at the time.
The services of Crabb were again summoned and he made a second assault on the Illawarra in December 1891.
In a letter to the editor of the Illawarra Mercury on 12 December 1891, a writer signing off as Delta, explained to readers how "sorely disappointed" he was after attending one of Crabb's lectures.
Does Mr Crabb think that the community of Wollongong are as full of ignorance as himself? If so, he is mistaken. I will admit he has the gift of manufacturing funny little sarcastic stories of very questionable truth. In a portion of his oration he went through dramatic performance imitating a poor unfortunate suffering the toothache. A man in the audience hearing him ask for a cure promptly suggested a drop of rum as medicine. No one had just reason sir to doubt that it was an honest conviction, but this insulting gab-gifted reformer instantly called the man a fool!... Mr Crabb gave us some astonishing figures concerning the drink traffic, but he omitted to give us an estimate of what it took to keep the likes of him stumping about the country. I do not wish to be misunderstood. I am an advocate of temperance, and have been for the last seven years, but I have, as you see, no sympathy with such a ranter as Mr Crabb… I believe Sir that such lectures as Mr Crabb's do as much good as a poultice on a wooden leg.
The Illawarra Mercury reported on 19 December 1891 Mr Crabb's temperance mission began at the Bulli Primitive Methodist Church. He "had a good following at his various places of meeting, and loudly denounced the drunkards and drink sellers". The Mercury reported that he "bitterly attacked district aldermen, magistrates and church officers who were patrons of public houses and addicted to drunkenness".
Funded again by the Good Templars, Crabb headed across the Tasman Sea in 1894 where he went on temperance mission in New Zealand for at least three years. His sojourn in that colony was just as controversial as in NSW. While in New Zealand he was sued by a publican for slander, he and his followers were often assaulted during lectures, and he was awarded 50 pounds damages for slander after an article in the New Zealand Times.