Kalgoorlie Brewing and Ice Company
| Industry | Alcoholic beverage |
|---|---|
| Successor | Kalgoorlie Brewing Company |
| Founded | 1896 |
| Defunct | 1945 |
| Headquarters | Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Australia |
| Products | Beer |
| Owner | Swan Brewery |
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, was the last survivor of nineteen breweries that once traded in the Eastern Goldfields.
The company was floated on 24 February 1896, with capital of £12,000. The first chairman was Robert McKenzie (MLC) and his fellow directors were James Hurtle Cummins, S. Hocking and John Joseph Dwyer. The first general manager and brewer, was J. H. Shickel(a German brewer and the proprietor of the Caledonian Brewery in South Australia). The brewery was the second brewery to be established in the Western Australian goldfields, with the first beers produced in September 1896. Following the death of Shickel of pneumonia in June 1897, the company appointed William Elliott as their brewer. Alfred Deakin subsequently replaced Elliott as the company's brewer in January 1900, a position he held for over forty years. 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. 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. 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. She proceeded to learn and master all aspects of the brewing business from the technical, engineering, refrigeration through to marketing. Alice Cummins then set about re-establishing the business. In 1929 the company established a second brewery in the wheatbelt town of Merredin. Cummins made her director of the Merredin brewery. 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.
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