page_title: Smoking in Australia
section_title: History of smoking in Australia
hierarchical_section_title: Smoking in Australia / History of smoking in Australia
caption_attribution_description: English: A conjectural painting of tobacco farming in Virginia, cira 1650. Based on research by J. Paul Hudson
context_page_description: Smoking in Australia is restricted in enclosed public places, workplaces, in areas of public transport and near underage events, except NSW's new laws which state that smoking is banned within 10 metres of children play spaces.
  The smoking population of Australia is 14.5%. Within Australia, individual's between 25–29 years and 40–49 years had a higher prevalence of smoking that all the other age brackets. It also established that individuals 70 years and over were 6% less likely to smoke than all other age groups.
  In particular, the most common form of smoking in Australia is tobacco smoking which is practised in a myriad of types. Data collected by the Cancer Council of Victoria and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's National Drug Strategy Household Surveys, explicate that the majority form of tobacco in Australia that was smoked, was factory made cigarettes. Likewise, a study conducted by the International Tobacco Control established the prevalence of "Roll your own tobacco", was being utilised by 9% of the population, constituting mostly of males having a demographics of a lower level of income, and poor education.
context_section_description: In the early 1700s, tobacco smoking was introduced to the north dwelling indigenous communities through the visitation of the Indonesian fishermen. However, the British customs and behaviour of the utilisation of tobacco was introduced into the Australian culture in 1788, due to the colonisation of Australia by the Europeans, and evidently, these tobacco related behaviours rapidly spread throughout the Aboriginal community, the free settlers and the convicts from Britain. When first introduced within Australia, the supply of tobacco was restricted within the Australian community, however by the 1800s tobacco was a fundamental item being used as a reward for a servants labour, or antagonistically used as a punishment for convicts, due to its addictive side effects. Eventually, by 1819, 80 to 90 percent of the labour force were smokers.
  By the 1880s the production of cigarettes were completely mechanised, however was often chosen over dandies. More importantly, the cheapness and ease of accessibility of these manufactured cigarettes, revolutionised the way Australian's smoke tobacco. This cigarette was prevalent in the World War 1, as 60% of the tobacco rations donated to the trenches, were in the cigarette form. Cigarette use also rapidly increased up to 70% during World War 1,in contrast to the usage before the war.
  In the 1920s, societal views began to transition of women partaking in smoking behaviours and thus over the next several decades companies began to advertise smoking to women. The introduction of women in the workforce, led to greater freedom of women, and hence smoking rates within Australia increased.
  By the 1930s the Australian Government began assisting the tobacco industry by introducing the Local Leaf Content Scheme, which required local tobacco to be used up in the manufacturing of cigarettes in Australia. However, in the 1990s the Industry Commission Inquiry found that tobacco had the greatest subsidisation in agriculture within Australia, and thus the Local Leaf Content Scheme was abolished. As a result, the tobacco industry within Australia declined to the oncoming threat of international competition. Currently, no commercial farming of tobacco occurs within Australia, and all tobacco products are imported from overseas.
caption: Tobacco Farming
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