The Teetotaller, and General Newspaper was a continuation of the Temperance Advocate and Australasian Commercial and Agricultural Intelligencer and maintained that newspapers emphasis on temperance and teetotalism. The Teetotaller reported colonial news that had a bearing on liquor imports, sales and consumption, including changes in government regulations and licensing arrangements.
The Teetotaller generally carried one poem per issue. These were rarely by Australians. Poetry usually came from British magazine sources or, more often, from American sources. (The American poets were frequently women.) A large majority of the poems dealt with the social evils associated with drunkenness and advocated a teetotal stance. International poets whose work appeared in the Teetotaller include Lydia Sigourney, Robert Montgomery, Thomas Campbell, Henry Francis Lyte and John Pierpont (qq.v.).
