European settlement of Australia began at Sydney Cove in 1788. No doubt there were attempts to brew beer from the early days of the colony but the first recorded details of brewing were by a Mr John Boston, a free settler who arrived in Sydney in 1794. It must have been an interesting brew if reports of its main ingredients are correct - Indian corn (maize), and for bittering, the leaves and stalks of the Cape Gooseberry plant. It was a poor product and production soon ceased. In the same year, the first commercial brewery was established at Kissing Point.
Successive Governors encouraged both the establishment of breweries and attempts to produce the basic raw materials of malt and hops. Their aim was to break the prevailing habit of drinking rum and the "Rum currency" which dominated the economy.
The first - and last - Government brewery, established in Parramatta in 1804 and operated by experienced brewers, marked the start of the industry in Australia. However, this was also a financial failure and was bought by the Government brewer, Thomas Rushton, in 1806.
By the time John Tooth and Charles Newman opened their Kent Brewery with the trademark of the White Horse of Kent in October 1835, there were nine other breweries in Sydney plus local breweries in the surrounding country areas.
Breweries were also established very early in the life of the other states with Tasmania having the distinction of being the home of Australia's oldest brewery - Cascade in Hobart, which was established in 1824. South Australia's first brewer was John Warren, who built a small brewery in Adelaide soon after the founding of the colony in 1836. Western Australia's first brewery was established in Perth in the following year, while Melbourne's first brewery was established in 1838 by Mr John Moss at the back of the Ship Inn in Flinders Street. The brew was known as "She-oaks Tops" because she-oaks grew abundantly on the crest of nearby Batman's Hill. The first brewery in Queensland was established in 1860.
Early production in Australia was based on English methods of top fermentation where the yeast rises to the surface of the beer at the end of fermentation, is skimmed from the top and the beer sold without any maturation or storage. However, gradually the English methods of top fermentation were to a large extent replaced by the Continental-style bottom fermentation, pioneered in Australia by the Foster Brewing Company (established in 1888) and the New South Wales Lager Beer Company (established in 1896 at Waverley and taken over by Edmund Resch in 1900). In this system, the yeast settles to the bottom of the vessel at the end of the fermentation period, and the beer then undergoes a storage period. The product is lager (derived from the German word for storage).
The (Commonwealth) Beer Excise Act of 1901 had a dramatic effect on Australia's brewing industry, with its stringent conditions forcing many breweries to close. Those that survived started acquiring or building hotels to be assured of an outlet for their products, especially with the hard economic times of the 1920s.
During the Depression an understanding developed between interstate brewers which established market boundaries. These were also largely reinforced by the fact that bulk beer accounted for most of the production and the climate was not suited to transporting the barrels.
Bulk beer was delivered in wooden casks which ranged in size from pins (5 gallons) to butts (120 gallons) transported on horse-drawn drays (usually pulled by Clydesdales). Each brewery had its own cooperage where casks were made from oak or blackwood staves. The advent of demand for a cold draught beer brought about the demise of the wooden barrel in 1950 and the rise of the stainless steel cask. The wooden cask could not withstand the additional pressure required to hold the carbonation level needed in cold draught beer and to deliver the beer through the small-bore pipes of the cooling units. Also it was not possible to sterilise the wooden cask and this increased the risk of the beer reaching the consumer in an unfit condition.
The Foster Brewing Company was largely responsible for the development of packaged beers, having been established in 1888 with a German head brewer and ice-making machinery from the USA. Early deliveries of bottled beer were in wicker baskets with individual dividers; the bottles were sealed with corks, glass balls or glass plugs with rubber rings held with a wire clip. The wicker basket gave way to the wooden crate and currently the cardboard carton.
Canned beer had been developed in the USA just prior to the Second World War and was first produced in Australia in the early 1950s.
Developments since have included improved engineering techniques and the use of stainless steel which has led to larger vessels and improved productivity. Better instrumentation, the introduction of computers and improved microbiological methods have all combined to give the brewer a greater level of control.