Since the early days of colonial settlement, the pub has played an outsized role in Australian life. They have been places of frivolity and community, of violence and harm, and also, at times, of politics. For two centuries, political thought and movements have fermented in these venues — with a better Australia imagined over a beer. And pubs have been sites of political protest, both small and large, some of which have helped push the country in a different direction. "So much of the real story of how history is made is the behind-the-scenes moments, like in pubs," social historian...