The Kalgoorlie Alcohol Action Project (KAAP) is working in a remote mining town in Western Australia to reduce alcohol related harm. The baseline survey carried out at the beginning of the project has found that young women in Kalgoorlie-Boulder binge drink at almost 3 times the state average. To further investigate the contextual and social reasons for this high level of harmful drinking, KAAP has carried out semi structured in-depth interviews with young women between the ages of 18-35 from a diverse socioeconomic and ethnic background. The interviews investigated their drinking patterns, issues surrounding initiation of alcohol use, their knowledge of the effects of harmful alcohol use and the type of health promotion messages they would most likely listen to. Preliminary results show that drinking at very high risk levels for both short and long term harm is common in younger women but these begin to ease off by late 20s and early 30s when relationships and childbearing become more important. The type of drink also varied with younger drinkers favouring spirits and premixed drinks while the older ones preferring wine or settling one particular type of drink. Knowledge regarding alcohol use and its health effects was generally low and younger women in particular were not interested in hearing any health promotion messages. This study also indicates that existing anti risky drinking campaigns are targeting the wrong age group, an outcome in keeping with other research findings.