POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Photographic postcard of Lion's Brewery, Wilcannia

Object No. 86/3219-2

This Kodak postcard depicts the Lion Brewery in the Far West former riverport town of Wilcannia, on the Darling River, 185 km east of Broken Hill, New South Wales. It shows the brewery tower in front of which is a corrugated-iron shed which would have housed the steam engine. This is indicated by a chimney poking through the roof and the pile of wood to fire it is outside. Three storey breweries like this one were often the tallest buildings in town. Production involved hoisting the raw materials up to the top storey and undertaking each stage of the process on different floors so that the finished product was delivered from the bottom floor. Gravity was used to move each part of the process between the floors. Isolation, the difficulties of transporting glass bottles overland and the problems with fermentation meant that small breweries were established in country towns to provide for the local community and surrounding district. Once transport improved, many country industries such as breweries moved into cities where they greatly expanded or were bought out by big manufacturers. They prospered with access to a large workforce, markets and the close proximity to rail, road and shipping transport links. Wilcannia's Lion Brewery was established in 1879 by Edmund and Richard Resch of the famous brewing firm. Richard left the partnership in 1885 and Edmund stayed on at the Wilcannia brewery which closed in 1930. The postcard is part of the Museum's Tooth Collection. Reference: Phillip Simpson, 'Historical Guide to New South Wales', Australian Scholarly Publishing, North Melbourne, Vic., 2020. Margaret Simpson, Curator, August 2020