Kalgoorlie Brewing and Ice Company

The Kalgoorlie Brewing and Ice Company opened in 1896 in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia and traded successfully until 1943, when it was taken over by the Swan Brewery, and its name was simplified to Kalgoorlie Brewing Company. The Brewery, known locally as the 'Big K', located at Porter Street, Kalgoorlie,[1] was the last survivor of nineteen breweries that once traded in the Eastern Goldfields.[2][3]

Kalgoorlie Brewing and Ice Company
IndustryAlcoholic beverage
SuccessorKalgoorlie Brewing Company
Founded1896
Defunct1945
Headquarters
Kalgoorlie, Western Australia
,
Australia
ProductsBeer
OwnerSwan Brewery

History

The company was floated on 24 February 1896,[4] with capital of £12,000.[5] The first chairman was Robert McKenzie (MLC)[6] and his fellow directors were James Hurtle Cummins, S. Hocking and John Joseph Dwyer.[5][7] The first general manager and brewer, was J. H. Shickel[8](a German brewer and the proprietor of the Caledonian Brewery in South Australia).[9] The brewery was the second brewery to be established in the Western Australian goldfields,[10] with the first beers produced in September 1896.[11] Following the death of Shickel of pneumonia in June 1897,[12] the company appointed William Elliott as their brewer.[13] Alfred Deakin subsequently replaced Elliott as the company's brewer in January 1900,[14] a position he held for over forty years.[15] Cummins was subsequently appointed Managing Director in 1904. In 1912 the company purchased the Lion Brewery in Coolgardie, followed by the Langsford Brewery in 1918 and Union Brewery in 1919.[5] The headquarters of the brewery were then moved from Porter Street to the former Union Brewery's buildings in Brookman Street. In 1920 the company purchased the Boulder City Brewery.[5] By 1924 the company had taken over all the rival breweries in the goldfields area.

James Cummins' daughter, Alice Mary Cummins, although educated as a lawyer, began working at her father's Kalgoorlie Brewing and Ice Company Ltd as a cash ledgerkeeper in 1928.[16] She proceeded to learn and master all aspects of the brewing business from the technical, engineering, refrigeration through to marketing.[16] Alice Cummins then set about re-establishing the business. In 1929 the company established a second brewery in the wheatbelt town of Merredin.[17] Cummins made her director of the Merredin brewery.[18] In the early 1930s Alice urged her father to turn from the production of English-style beer and introduce the top-fermentation process of German lager.[19]

When James Cummins died in London on 19 March 1936, of acute peritonitis,[20] Alice became managing director and the major shareholder of his enterprises.[16] With support for the old-style beer flagging, rival breweries expanding and hotels being progressively 'tied' by competitors, her situation was critical. Undaunted, she installed new plant and equipment at a cost of £125,000 (increasing the brewery's output and storage capacity), and boosted the company's outlets by acquiring hotels for the company and in her own right at Kalgoorlie, Merredin, Moorine Rock, Sandstone, Boyanup, Tammin, Yellowdine, Wagin and Meckering.[3][16] She triumphed when the instant popularity of Hannan's Lager in September 1937 was reflected in its escalating consumption figures.[21] In the 1940s she repeatedly fought off numerous takeover bids by the Swan Brewery.[16]

Alice Cummins died of a heart attack on 27 June 1943.[22] In February 1945 the executors of her estate agreed to sell her 83% shareholding in the Kalgoorlie Brewing and Ice Company to the Swan Brewery for £200,000. The existing brewing operations continued in Kalgoorlie and Merredin, with the Swan Brewery being represented on the board.[2][23]

On 5 September 1981 Alan Bond, through his company, Bond Corporation, made a $150 million offer for the Swan Brewery. On 26 October 1981 Bond Corporation triumphantly declared that the take-over had succeeded. The assets of the Swan Brewery included the subsidiary ‘Kalgoorlie Brewing Co’. On 21 November 1982, just 12 months after the takeover, the Kalgoorlie Brewery ceased operations and the brewery was dismantled.[24]

Beers
  • Hannan's Lager
  • Kalgoorlie Stout
  • K Prize Ale
  • K Extra Stout
  • Westland Lager
  • King Lager
  • Kalgoorlie Bitter
  • Oatmeal Stout
  • King Lager

See also

References
  1. "Hannan's Brewery Site". Heritage Council of Western Australia. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  2. "Big Brewery Deal". Perth Gazette. National Library of Australia. 16 February 1945. p. 4. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  3. "A Goldfields' Business Romance". Sunday Times. Perth: National Library of Australia. 17 May 1936. p. 18 Section: Second Section. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  4. "Kalgoorlie Brewing and Ice Company (1896–1943)". Guide to Australian Business Records. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  5. "Progress of Kalgoorlie Brewing Company Ltd". Sunday Times. Perth: National Library of Australia. 17 December 1939. p. 31. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  6. "McKenzie's Building – Heritage Assessment". Heritage Council of Western Australia. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  7. "Park Buildings – Heritage Assessment". Heritage Council of Western Australia. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  8. "Kalgoorlie Brewery". Western Argus. Kalgoorlie: National Library of Australia. 10 September 1896. p. 5. Retrieved 5 November 2012.
  9. "Items of News". Kalgoorlie Miner. WA: National Library of Australia. 6 February 1896. p. 2. Retrieved 5 November 2012.
  10. "Kalgoorlie Brewing and Ice Company Limited". Western Argus. Kalgoorlie: National Library of Australia. 17 June 1902. p. 13. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  11. "Kalgoorlie Brewery". Western Argus. Kalgoorlie: National Library of Australia. 10 September 1896. p. 5. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  12. "The Gilded West". Barrier Miner. Broken Hill, New South Wales: National Library of Australia. 5 June 1897. p. 2. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  13. "Items of News". Kalgoorlie Miner. National Library of Australia. 5 June 1897. p. 4. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  14. "Esperance". Kalgoorlie Miner. National Library of Australia. 29 January 1900. p. 8. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  15. "Experience Is Vital To Success". The Mirror. Perth: National Library of Australia. 28 August 1937. p. 24. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  16. Birman, Wendy. "Cummins, Alice Mary (1898–1943)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  17. "Merredin Enterprise". Sunday Times. Perth: National Library of Australia. 29 August 1937. p. 31 Section: First Section. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  18. "Feminine Influence in the Brewery". Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 13 February 1939. p. 9 Supplement: Women's Supplement. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  19. "King Lager". The Mirror. Perth: National Library of Australia. 9 December 1933. p. 4. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  20. "Prominent Goldfields Man". Western Mail. Perth: National Library of Australia. 26 March 1936. p. 16. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  21. "Modern Kalgoorlie Brewery — A £100,000 Uundertaking Completed". Sunday Times. Perth: National Library of Australia. 29 August 1937. p. 30 Section: First Section. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  22. "Woman Brewer, Lawyer Dies". The Daily News. Perth: National Library of Australia. 28 June 1943. p. 4 Edition: City Final. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  23. "Brewery Purchase". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 19 February 1945. p. 2. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  24. Holden, Stephen S. (28 November 2011). "Three cheers for new beers: Marketing insights from the birth of boutique brewing in Australia". Bond University – School of Business. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  • Deutsher, Keith (1999). The Breweries of Australia: a History. Lothian. ISBN 085091986X.
  • Casey, Gavin; Mayman, Ted (1968). The Mile that Midas Touched. Rigby.
  • Walton, Kerry (March 1988). Breweries of the Swan River Colony. Wine Life. 1. p. 32. ISSN 0819-3541.
  • Kalgoorlie Brewing Company (1927). Records. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
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