The Pirie Street Brewery was a

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

situated on Pirie and Wyatt Streets,

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, in the early days of the British

colony of South Australia In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

. It was succeeded on the same site after a few years by the Adelaide Brewery. Its original address was 50-62 Wyatt Street; today the buildings at 54–60 are

heritage-listed This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many ...

in the

South Australian Heritage Register The South Australian Heritage Register, also known as the SA Heritage Register, is a statutory register of historic places in South Australia. It extends legal protection regarding demolition and development under the ''Heritage Places Act 1993'' ...

, and there is a remaining building at 113 Pirie Street now occupied by the Hill Smith Gallery. This Adelaide Brewery is not to be confused with the Adelaide Brewery founded by

Charles Mallen Charles Edward Mallen (23 December 1819 – 26 October 1909) was a carpenter and brewer in the early days of the colony of South Australia. History Charles was born at Euston Square, London, and was apprenticed to the Edwards company, cabinetma ...

for W. K. Simms in

Waverley, New South Wales Waverley is a suburb in the Eastern suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Waverley is located 7 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council. Waverley Counci ...

History of the company

Pirie Street Brewery was operated by James Walsh (1847 to 1851), Simms & Hayter (1851 to July 1853) then Simms & Humble (July 1853 to August 1855), followed by E. J. F. Crawford. Walsh founded the Pirie Street Brewery in 1847 or earlier. It was not popular with those living nearby. In 1851 he sold the business to William Knox Simms and John Hayter, who operated the business as Simms & Hayter. Samuel Humble joined in 1853, and they traded as Simms & Humble until 1854, when the partnership (which by then included James Chambers) was dissolved. and the business disposed of to E. J. F. Crawford, who ran it until at least 1859. Simms & Co., took over William Clark's Halifax Street Brewery in 1856. In 1861 J. T. Syme and F. S. Sison formed a partnership Syme & Sison, and established the Adelaide Brewery on the same Pirie Street site. Syme & Sison were also associated with several hotels in Adelaide: the Queen's Arms in Wright Street, the Somerset at the corner of Pulteney and

Flinders Flinders may refer to: Places Antarctica * Flinders Peak, near the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula Australia New South Wales * Flinders County, New South Wales * Shellharbour Junction railway station, Shellharbour * Flinders, New South Wa ...

Streets, and the White Conduit House Hotel in North Street. In June 1882 they sold the business to Andrew McIntyre, William Wicksteed and Henry Anthony, none of them with any brewing experience, who continued trading as Syme & Sison. while the originals left for England. Wicksteed and Anthony were found insolvent July 1886. The Adelaide Brewery was acquired "on very advantageous terms" by the

South Australian Brewing Company The South Australian Brewing Company, Limited is a brewery located in Thebarton, an inner-west suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is a subsidiary of Lion, which in turn is owned by Kirin, a Japan-based beverage company. It manufactures ...

around 1900.

The people

*James Walsh (1811 – 25 April 1873) arrived in South Australia aboard ''City of London'' March 1840. He married Mary (?) Nicholson shortly after. they left for England in 1851, but returned to Adelaide in 1854, when he opened a shop in Clark's Buildings,

Hindley Street Hindley Street is located in the north-west quarter of the centre of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. It runs between King William Street and West Terrace. The street was named after Charles Hindley, a British parliamentarian and soc ...

selling English beers. He was later "a large shareholder in the Kadina and

Wallaroo Wallaroo is a common name for several species of moderately large macropods, intermediate in size between the kangaroos and the wallabies. The word "wallaroo" is from the Dharug ''walaru'', and not a portmanteau of the words "kangaroo" and "wal ...

Railway Company". *Samuel Waller Humble (c. 1805 – 23 December 1893) arrived in South Australia from London aboard ''City of Adelaide'' in July 1839 *John Hayter ( – ) arrived in South Australia in August 1840 aboard ''William Mitchell'' and managed a few hotels including the John Bull Hotel on

Currie Street Currie Street is a main street in the Adelaide city centre, South Australia.Map
of the

James Chambers' mail coach business for around £14,000. In April 1855, Hayter disposed of his share in the business, and by mid-1859 was insolvent. He had a home in Unley, block 111 and part of 112, which he disposed of in 1859 and 1860. He had a daughter Sarah, who married John Marshall on 16 October 1855. Further information is lacking. *James Thomson Syme (c. 1819 – 1 April 1883), a Scotsman, arrived in Adelaide in 1857 and worked for Primrose's Union Brewery until 1863 when he joined in partnership with F. S. Sison. He returned to Scotland in 1882, died of

gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of a red, tender, hot and swollen joint, caused by deposition of monosodium urate monohydrate crystals. Pain typically comes on rapidly, reaching maximal intensit ...

in Edinburgh, His estate was not cleared for probate until 1911. *Frederick Samuel Sison (c. 1831 – 29 December 1891), an Englishman, was a traveller for E. J. F. Crawford before joining with Syme. He married (Amelia) Lucy Bartlett (1840 – 6 October 1914), a sister of Harry Bartlett. He accompanied Syme to Britain, but after the latter's death returned to South Australia, and settled in

Port Lincoln Port Lincoln is a town on the Lower Eyre Peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia. It is situated on the shore of Boston Bay, which opens eastward into Spencer Gulf. It is the largest city in the West Coast region, and is located a ...

, where he built a mansion, "Boston House", which still stands. Sison and Bartlett were great mates, went fishing together. *Dr. Andrew McIntyre ( – 26 October 1883) married Mary Kell (arrived ''Rajasthan'' 1838 with parents, large family; died 16 March 1882) on 18 June 1857; had residence in Brougham Place, died in Glasgow. Mary's sister Emma Kell married Frederic Wicksteed (c. 1813 – 1877) in 1847. She had a brother Frederick Polhill Kell (c. 1834 – 22 February 1854). *William Polhill Wicksteed (1853 – 26 September 1913) was born in North Adelaide, son of Frederic Wicksteed and Emma Wicksteed, née Kell, and educated at Whinham College and St Peter's College. He was involved in the Commercial Travellers' Association. A daughter married a son of

William Randell William Richard Randell "Captain Randell" (2 May 1824 – 4 March 1911), was an Australian politician and pioneer born in Devon, England, who emigrated to the newly founded colony of South Australia in 1837 with his family. He was a pioneer ...

. *Henry Strype Anthony (20 October 1850 – 15 November 1907) was son of Frank Anthony (died 1885) and Mary May Anthony, née Strype (died 1890). He subdivided the suburbs now known as

Henley Beach Henley Beach is a coastal suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Charles Sturt. History Henley Beach was named for the English town of Henley-on-Thames, the home town of Sir Charles Cooper, South Australia's first judge. Cooper ha ...

and College Park

The buildings

The original land grant was made to

William Wyatt William Wyatt may refer to: * William Wyatt (cricketer) (1842–1908), English cricketer * William Wyatt (scholar) (1616–1685), English scholar *William Wyatt (settler) (1804–1886), Australian settler * William Wyatt (weightlifter) (1893–1989 ...

on 23 December 1837 by the

Resident Commissioner Resident commissioner was or is an official title of several different types of commissioners, who were or are representatives of any level of government. Historically, they were appointed by the British Crown in overseas protectorates (such ...

of the

James Hurtle Fisher Sir James Hurtle Fisher (1 May 1790 – 28 January 1875) was a lawyer and prominent South Australian pioneer. He was the first Resident Commissioner of the colony of South Australia, the first Mayor of Adelaide and the first resident Sout ...

. In 1862, James Walsh owned the property, in April 1864 leasing it to Syme and Sison, who were "brewers at the adjacent brewery". In 1871 Syme and Sison bought a small section of the buildings, continuing to lease the rest of the premises until purchasing it in November 1873. In June 1882 William Wicksteed, Henry Anthony and Andrew McIntyre bought the property, with the title transferred in November 1886 to Mary Jane Syme (widow) and James Russell. The original part of the 113 Pirie Street building (on the corner) was built as a warehouse for the Pirie Street Brewery around 1864, when Syme and Sison acquired it and renamed it the Adelaide Brewery. As brewing expanded in the 1870s, so did the building, with a second storey being added to the warehouse in the 1880s, and much of the site extensively rebuilt.

Daniel Garlick Daniel Garlick (20 January 1818 – 28 September 1902) was an architect in the early days of South Australia. During his lifetime, his architectural practice names were Garlick & Son and Jackman & Garlick. After his death his name was perpetuated ...

designed several new extensions: in 1871 new stables and offices were built; in 1872 a

malt house A malt house, malt barn, or maltings, is a building where cereal grain is converted into malt by soaking it in water, allowing it to sprout and then drying it to stop further growth. The malt is used in brewing beer, whisky and in certain food ...

and cellar; and in 1876, further rooms for storage and equipment. It was possibly the biggest and most well-equipped brewery in Adelaide at the time. After the brewery was closed in 1902, the buildings were used as commercial warehouses, with an extension and new frontage on Pirie Street around 1910. The printers Hunkin, Ellis & King occupied the premises from June 1924 to April 1974. In 1982 the well-regarded firm Kenneth Milne Architects refurbished the building, with Samuel Hill Smith, purchasing the property for use as an

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

known as the Hill Smith Gallery in July 1983, still in existence in 2020.

Heritage status

The old brewery buildings with the present address of 54-60 Wyatt Street were heritage-listed on the state register in 1986. The building now occupied by the Hill Smith Gallery at 113 Pirie Street, once part of the brewery, was recommended for

heritage listing This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many ...

in 2008 by

Adelaide City Council The City of Adelaide, also known as the Corporation of the City of Adelaide and Adelaide City Council is a local government area in the metropolitan area of greater Adelaide, South Australia and is legally defined as the capital city of Sout ...

, described in its report as "A prominent early commercial building, clearly expressing in its materials, form and detailing a long history, first as a warehouse for the associated Adelaide Brewery, and subsequently as a well-detailed shop/office presenting an Edwardian classical frontage to Pirie Street. It is one of the very few surviving brewery buildings in the city, and was a significant part of the adjacent (heritage-listed) Adelaide Brewery". However it is not listed.

Other breweries

Other breweries operating in the late 1860s included: *

Kent Town Brewery Kent Town Brewery was a brewery in Kent Town, a suburb adjacent to the city of Adelaide on its eastern side, in South Australia. Its original name was Logue's Brewery, after its first proprietor. History The brewery was founded on King Wil ...

; * Union Brewery: *

Hindmarsh Brewery The Hindmarsh Brewery was a brewery founded 1844 in Hindmarsh, in the then colony of South Australia, by E. J. F. "Fred" Crawford. Crawford lost possession of the business in 1859, then re-established it on a different site before becoming bankru ...

; * West End Brewery; *

Morphett Street Brewery The Morphett Street Brewery was a brewer of beer in Adelaide, South Australia. History John Reid ( – c. 24 November 1863) and Isaiah Reid (c. 1832 – 9 April 1877) had a licensed grocery shop on a half acre of land on Morphett Street near No ...

; and *

Walkerville Brewery Walkerville Brewery was a brewer of beer in Adelaide, South Australia, originally founded in the 1840s. The company became a co-operative, and grew by admitting hotel owners as shareholders, and absorbed smaller breweries. After several amalgamat ...

Footnotes

References

{{portalbar, Australia, Beer, History Defunct breweries of Australia Beer brewing companies based in South Australia Food and drink companies established in 1847 Australian companies established in 1847