The Breweries of Hay, NSW
Photograph courtesy of Mal Kulper.
By Krista Schade
In its heyday Hay was a bustling regional centre and boasted a variety of long gone industries that serviced the district. Breweries and malt houses were established in the late 1800s and by all accounts were in fierce competition with each other.
In 1868, nine years after the founding of the township of Hay, the partnership of Albert Elliott and John Mennon began a business known as the Excelsior Brewery. Mennon sold his share in the brewery to Thomas Simpson in 1870, and about three years later the partnership of Albert Elliott and Henry L. Lindsay became the proprietors.
Elliott was the youngest of a family of nineteen children, and the cousin of George Elliott who had previously owned the London Brewery in Bendigo, Victoria.
“Red Lion Brewery, (Late Excelsior Brewery), Hay Messrs. ELLIOTT & LINDSAY beg respectfully to inform the inhabitants of Hay and District, that they have this day purchased from MR. THOMAS SIMPSON, the brewery and business known as the Excelsior Brewery. E. & L. trust, by turning out a first class Article, and making Cordials and Aerated Waters of Superior Quality, to merit a large Share of the Public Patronage”
The Riverine Grazier, December 1, 1873.
The partnership soon dissolved and in 1876 Henry Lindsay became the sole proprietor of the Red Lion brewery. Lindsay was not content to restrict his manufacturing operations to Hay. More Red Lion breweries were built in towns in the southwest of New South Wales, including Bourke, Hillston and Cobar. But life soured for Lindsay and after his marriage faltered he left Hay for Melbourne and his story ended tragically.
On Cup Day in 1895, he fell into a vat of beer and drowned.
The Hay brewery was subsequently sold to McIntyre Lincoln & Co., who operated a competing brewery in the town, The Black Horse. They continued to produce Red Lion beers until 1928, while the production of soft drinks continued until the 1970s.
The Black Horse Brewery was built in 1878 at South Hay, opposite Sandy Point Reserve. It ceased working around 1910 and on March 3, 1916 the following article appeared in The Grazier.
“An advertisement appears in our 'wanted' columns to-day offering for sale 'well-seasoned second hand timber, also a quantity of old iron.'
The material referred to is the dismantled Black Horse Brewery, at South Hay, now the property of Messrs. Lincoln and Co., but at one time a formidable rival to the Red Lion Brewery.
The old brewery was one of the landmarks of Hay, and its abandonment is an indication that, so far at least as this district is concerned, the consumption of ale has fallen off. This is largely attributed to the passing of most of the roadside hotels, and the general reduction in the number of licenses in the town of Hay and the district townships.
The building at South Hay was constructed by Mr. Thomas Simpson, and afterwards passed to Mr. Allen Lakeman, then to Mclntyre, Lincoln and Co. During the Boer war, Mr. George Miller, the then manager of Mclntyre, Lincoln and Co.'s business, was Mayor of the town for some time, and his zeal in the patriotic movements of the day will not soon be forgotten by those who were here then.
With the sale of the material, the last of what was a pioneer building, and the scene of much activity — business, municipal, and political — will pass away. The manager's residence at the old brewery was burned down over a year ago. We regret to learn, in the same connection, that Hay is shortly to lose Mr. Harry Lincoln as a town’s man, the exigencies of the business necessitating his transfer to Narrandera.”
Tragic irony
Henry Lindsay and Allen Lakeman were fierce rivals and reportedly squabbled over customers and grew to dislike each other as rivals.
In 1875 Allen and Ellan Lakeman lost both their young children and 12 months later H.L Lindsay lost his infant son. Despite the bitter rivalry all their children are buried side by side in the Hay Cemetery
Originally published in The Riverine Grazier, March30, 2023
