Changes

'''Taverns''', or '''Saloons''' or '''Bats''' or '''Inns''' or (in England and Australia, '''public houses''' and '''pubs''') serving food, beer and rum, performed a major social and communications role in many countries over the last 500 years.  

'''Taverns''', or '''Saloons''' or '''Bars''' or '''Inns''' or (in England and Australia, '''public houses''' and '''pubs''') serving food, beer and rum, performed a major social and communications role in many countries over the last 500 years.  

==North America==

==North America==

==Australia==

==Australia==

"Wowser" was a negative term for Christian moralists in Australia, especially activists in temperance groups such as the the [[Woman's Christian Temperance Union]]. Historian Stuart Macintyre argues, "the achievements of the wowsers were impressive." They passed laws that restricted obscenity and juvenile smoking, raised the age of consent, limited gambling, closed down many pubs, and in 1915-16 established a 6pm closing hour for pubs, which lasted for decades.<ref> Stuart Macintyre, ''The Oxford History of Australia: vol 4: 1901-42'' (2002) p . 112-3</ref>

"Wowser" was a negative term for Christian moralists in Australia, especially activists in temperance groups such as the the [[Woman's Christian Temperance Union]]. Historian Stuart Macintyre argues, "the achievements of the wowsers were impressive." They passed laws that restricted obscenity and juvenile smoking, raised the age of consent, limited gambling, closed down many pubs, and in 1915-16 established a 6pm closing hour for pubs, which lasted for decades.<ref> Stuart Macintyre, ''The Oxford History of Australia: vol 4: 1901-42'' (2002) p . 112-3</ref>

==Further reading==

==Further reading==

===North American===

===North American===

* Conroy, David W. ''In Public Houses: Drink and the Revolution of Authority in Colonial Massachusetts'' (1995)

* Conroy, David W. ''In Public Houses: Drink and the Revolution of Authority in Colonial Massachusetts'' (1995)