After a day of getting marinated at a ‘Stubbies and Singlets’ party and busting a thong, champions James Ross-Munro and Kane Wiblen derailed an attempted robbery at their local Oporto. This got us thinking. Who are the greatest Aussie drinking greats that have completed significant acts?
Bob Hawke
The former Australian Prime Minister “achieved notoriety” back in his uni days after setting one of Australia’s proudest drinking records at University College, Oxford. He drank 2.5 pints (1.18 litres) of beer in 11 seconds in order to avoid a fine for “coming to dinner without a gown”. This feat earned him a bit of a reputation, a reputation that may have coasted him through to Australia’s top office. Hawke backed this up by skulling a beer at the SCG in 2012. The man was 82 years old at the time.
Nathan Hope
So Hopey, or the bloke who popularised the term ‘selfie’ for the modern generation, is a bit of a character even if he won’t admit it himself. In 2002 Nathan posted a picture of himself onto an ABC forum with an injured lip after he “tripped… and landed lip first on a set of steps,” whilst he was “drunk at a mates 21st”. He coined the term in the forum post but says he was just using it because it was popular at the time, classic modesty from the lad. On ya Hopey.
David Boon
If you ever wondered why they used to give those little Boonie statues out with a slab of VB during the 2005 cricket season, this is why. On a flight to London David Boon famously, or infamously, downed 52 cans of Victoria’s own and then went on to average 55 with the bat for that 1989 tour.
“You have to hand it to him. He looked like your average backyard cricketer, drank more than the average backyard cricketer and achieved far more than the average backyard cricketer. The whole team back then were a bunch of legends,” – fuzzyfurbum said on a Reddit post.
Jimmy Barnes
The raspy voiced Aussie rock hero has a storied past with the drink, known to alternate the microphone with a bottle of vodka during his stage shows. He has settled it down now, preferring a quirky mocktail of his own creation to hard liquor but he was known to have drank two bottles of vodka a day during his most alcoholically active period.
Barnesy Mocktail Recipe:
- Hot water
- Honey
- Apple cider vinegar
- Squeeze of lemon
Leo Williams AO
Not many people know that Queensland’s Leo Williams squashed Bob Hawke’s record six years after it was set whilst he was studying law at the University of Queensland. Williams, whilst representing his faculty at a beer skulling competition, put down 2.6 pints in a blazing 7.9 seconds. He went on to play Rugby Union for his state, built up a successful legal career and helped form SANZAR the ‘South Africa, New Zealand and Australia Rugby’ body. Nelson Mandela himself thanked Leo Williams for bringing rugby union back to South Africa.
Dishonourable Mentions:
- Tony Abbott – Another Australian Prime Minister who doesn’t mind a chug-a-lug
- Brendan Fevola – A few too many Crownies got Fev in trouble during the 2009 Brownlow award ceremony at Crown
- CrownMel Gibson – The honorary Aussie is known to get a bit rowdy… “It’s not a question of how drunk you are”
- Molly Meldrum – He’s been on Sunrise and slurred his words together and been charged with drunk and disorderly conduct. Rock star moves by the music critic.
Having said all this, the list of high achieving Aussies without an excessive drinking record is much longer. If you have a problem with binge drinking you can find the nearest AA meeting to you here.
Harrison Johnstone 