Cannabis Music in Australia and New Zealand During the 1910s
No cannabis-themed songs have been found in 1910s Australian or New Zealand commercial archives.
Cannabis music in the 1910s Anglosphere is a myth. The famous American reefer songs ('Muggles,' 'Reefer Man') came a decade later and stayed mostly American. In Australia and New Zealand, cannabis wasn't illegal yet, wasn't widely used, and had no cultural presence to inspire songs. The confusion traces to blog posts that conflate 1930s jazz with 'early 20th century' generally.
The Archive Search: What Was and Wasn't Found
Systematic searches of the National Library of Australia's Trove (digitised newspapers, sheet music, and sound recordings) and the National Library of New Zealand's Papers Past (newspapers and periodicals) for the decade 1910–1919 yield no cannabis-themed songs, sheet music, vaudeville numbers, or recorded performances Strong evidence[1][2].
Searches for 'Indian hemp,' 'hashish,' 'cannabis,' 'marihuana,' and 'reefer' across both archives return pharmacy advertisements, medical and pharmacological entries, and reports of hashish use abroad—but no song titles, composer credits, or performance reviews linked to cannabis as a recreational subject.
This is not a gap caused by incomplete digitisation. Sheet music was catalogued, vaudeville and music-hall programmes were advertised and reviewed in daily papers, and phonograph recordings were promoted in newspapers and retail guides. Both countries maintained active commercial popular-music industries in the 1910s. If a cannabis song had circulated commercially in the region, it would almost certainly appear in at least one of these sources.
Why Cannabis Had No Cultural Presence in the 1910s
Cannabis simply was not on the public radar in Australia and New Zealand during the 1910s. 'Indian hemp' appears in pharmacopoeias as a medicinal ingredient and in occasional news items about hashish use in India or Egypt, but not as a drug of concern to Australian or New Zealand authorities, media, or communities Strong evidence[3][4].
The drugs dominating moral panic, temperance campaigning, and popular-culture commentary in both regions were alcohol (the primary target of the temperance movement) and opium (heavily associated in racist press coverage with Chinese immigrant communities). Cocaine received some public attention late in the decade Strong evidence[5].
Cannabis entered the legal and regulatory orbit later. Victoria became the first Australian state to schedule Indian hemp in 1926, following Australia's participation in the 1925 Geneva Opium Convention Strong evidence[6]. New Zealand added cannabis to its poisons schedule in 1927 under the Dangerous Drugs Act Strong evidence[7].
Without legal salience, widespread media coverage, or an identifiable subculture using the drug, cannabis had no cultural presence—and therefore no cultural material—to inspire a song.
Common Confusions That Produce False Historical Claims
Three distinct confusions often generate false memories or claims of a 1910s Australasian cannabis songbook:
American reefer songs of the late 1920s and 1930s. The canonical body of cannabis-themed jazz and blues—'Muggles' (Louis Armstrong, 1928), 'Reefer Man' (Cab Calloway, 1932), 'If You're a Viper' (Stuff Smith, 1936)—originated in the United States and date from the late 1920s onward Strong evidence[8]. While some of these recordings circulated in Australia and New Zealand in later decades, they postdate the 1910s by 15–25 years. Conflating these American recordings with a supposed 1910s Anglophone tradition is the source of most online claims.
Orientalist hashish imagery in British music hall. Late-Victorian and Edwardian British music-hall material occasionally referenced 'the hashish eater' as an exotic-oriental trope, drawing on orientalist fantasy derived from Arabian Nights narratives and literary opium literature (de Quincey, etc.). A small amount of this material reached Australian stages as imported entertainment. However, this is orientalist literary fantasy, not cannabis culture or lived experience Weak / limited.
Hemp in gallows and bush ballads. 'Hemp' appears in Australian and New Zealand bush ballads and gallows songs—referring to rope used for hanging, not the cannabis plant. This wordplay has no connection to cannabis music in any meaningful sense Strong evidence.
What Australians and New Zealanders Actually Sang in the 1910s
For context: the commercial popular-music landscape in Australia and New Zealand during the 1910s was dominated by patriotic and wartime songs (especially after 1914; 'Australia Will Be There' dates to 1915), bush ballads, Henry Lawson–influenced material, imported British and American music-hall and vaudeville, and in New Zealand, Māori waiata alongside Pākehā hymns and popular song Strong evidence[9].
Where drug references appear in this repertoire, they target alcohol (temperance songs, comic drinking songs) and occasionally opium in racist novelty numbers. Nothing in the mainstream commercial catalogue addresses cannabis. The absence is complete, not partial.
How the Myth Spreads
Cannabis-culture websites and social-media posts occasionally assert a global 1910s reefer-song tradition, sometimes naming Australia or New Zealand as participants Anecdote. These claims typically originate from poorly sourced blog posts that conflate the American 1930s viper-jazz scene with 'early 20th century' generally, then extrapolate that tradition to the Anglosphere without checking local records.
The correction: cannabis music as a recognisable genre is a specific mid-20th-century American development, built on African American jazz and blues traditions of the 1920s–1930s and later exported globally from the 1960s onward. Australia and New Zealand developed their own cannabis-referencing popular music from roughly the late 1960s onward—think Australian pub rock and Kiwi reggae in the 1970s and 1980s—not the 1910s. For Australian cannabis music history, see Cannabis in 1970s Music.
How to Verify This Yourself
Both countries maintain excellent open-access digital archives. Trove (https://trove.nla.gov.au) covers Australian newspapers, sheet music, sound recordings, and more. Papers Past (https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz) covers New Zealand newspapers and periodicals. Searching for 'Indian hemp,' 'hashish,' 'cannabis,' 'marihuana,' or 'reefer' across the 1910–1919 date range will return pharmacy advertisements, medical articles, and foreign-news items, but no song titles, no lyrics, and no sheet music with cannabis imagery.
If someone claims a 1910s Australasian cannabis song exists, ask for a specific title, composer name, and date. The absence of those details is diagnostic of an unsourced claim.
Sources
- Government National Library of Australia. Trove digital archive: newspapers, sheet music, sound recordings (1910–1919 searchable collections).
- Government National Library of New Zealand. Papers Past digital archive: newspapers and periodicals (1910–1919 range).
- Peer-reviewed Manderson, D. (1988). The first loss of freedom: Early opium laws in Australia. Australian Drug and Alcohol Review, 7(4), 439–453.
- Book Manderson, D. (1993). From Mr Sin to Mr Big: A History of Australian Drug Laws. Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
- Peer-reviewed Windschuttle, K. (2004). The White Australia Policy and the Chinese: opium and moral panic in the late nineteenth century. Historical context for early 20th-century drug discourse.
- Government League of Nations (1925). International Opium Convention, Geneva. Signed by Australia and New Zealand; extended controls to Indian hemp.
- Government New Zealand Ministry of Health. History of drug regulation in New Zealand, including Dangerous Drugs Act 1927 which formalised cannabis restriction.
- Book Sloman, L. (1998). Reefer Madness: A History of Marijuana. St. Martin's Griffin, New York. Covers the American jazz-era reefer song tradition of the 1920s–1930s.
- Book Whiteoak, J. and Scott-Maxwell, A. (eds.) (2003). Currency Companion to Music and Dance in Australia. Currency House, Sydney.
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