History
Extract from Building on Firm Foundations … The Cooper family
Lorraine Dooley
Extract from Building on Firm Foundations … The Cooper family ( TT here )
Cascade Brewery, Cascades 1926–27
Whenever there is a promotion for Tasmania or, in particular, Hobart to entice
tourists to the state a photograph of the Cascade Brewery usually features. It is easily
recognised as a beautiful building, shaded by magnificent Mount Wellington. I was very
proud to know that Claude Cooper had been associated with the building. From the
photograph of the Cascade Brewery, it can be seen that there are two dates etched in
stone. The first is 1824 when the brewery was first begun and the second is 1927 when
the top three storeys were added.
The Cascade Brewery built in 1824 was beautifully situated and massively built of
granite, four stories high. The cellars were paved with blocks of stone and the beams of
the ceilings were made of Tasmanian oak, while the stone walls were built to withstand
any assault from any sort of weather.140 The additional three storeys built in 1927 were in
harmony with the original. While the term ‘colonial’ would categorise the stone façade
of the brewery, architecturally, the building owes strong allegiance to English 19th
century mill design The building exhibits window detail in keeping with the Romanesque
period, with the roof pediments and gables characteristic of the Renaissance.
The story begins with Peter Degraves, who started his business as a sawmill, then in
1832 established a brewery at the base of Mt Wellington because of the good supply
of mountain streams. This soon became known as the Cascades. Beer was a good
alternative for the drinkers of Van Diemen’s Land as the water was not very pure and
disease spread from drinking it.
In 1927 a father and son scientific team, Auguste and Francis Xavier de Bavay, arrived at
the Cascade Brewery. De Bavay’s first task was to supervise the installation of a Swissmanufactured
Nathan brewing plant. The plant was one of only three in Australia. Work
had begun in 1926 to prepare the brewery for the installation, the main objects of which
were to speed the production of lager and to safeguard the beer from contamination.
The Swiss equipment would cut production from six to eight weeks to just six days.141
The additional three storeys of the Cascade Brewery were built by Claude Cooper and
Sons in 1926. Glaskin and Ricards were the architects, the same architects who had
designed the Bursary Building in Elizabeth Street in 1926.142 This must have been a very
busy time for major constructions in Hobart.
In September 1926, Claude Cooper began building the top three storeys of the Cascade
Brewery.
On Thursday 15 December 1927, the Mercury reported on the opening of the new
brewery. The Chairman of Directors, Mr CW Grant, welcomed guests, informing them
that …
The new brewing plant had been provided at a cost of £135,000, and the product
was the most up-to-date in Australia, and the materials used the best obtainable.
The water used in the production of the beverages was obtained from the
Strickland Falls — one of the purest waters in the world.
The Mercury article continued with the comment that it was only natural on such a hot
day that the chief interest displayed was in the ‘pump’ which issued the beverage from
behind the bar. All the guests voted the new beer ‘just the thing’.
This development was undertaken at great cost and, together with the impact of
the Depression, the company’s finances had taken a battering. However, it now
possessed a new brewery both inside and out. The company’s 79th report, presented
to shareholders on 31 August 1927, outlined the difficulties in carrying out brewing
operations while the premises were being entirely remodelled and rebuilt. Mr Grant
thanked the brewer and his staff for the way in which they had carried on under the
most adverse conditions.
Construction of the top three storeys of the Cascade Brewery in 1927 Dennison Heritage Collection
However, even though times were hard, the chief brewer, Mr Jim Stonor, supplied free
beer to the unemployed of Hobart each afternoon on condition that they came armed
with their own drinking mugs. Apparently some of the mugs were quite big, including
improvised jam tins to which handles had been soldered and made by friends at the
IXL jam factory.
In August 1928 a report in the Mercury was headed:
Supreme Court, Contractor’s Claim, Cascade Brewery Company sued.
At the civil sitting of the Supreme Court before Mr. Justice Crisp, and a jury of
seven, Claude Cooper, builder and contractor, claimed £540 from the Cascade
Brewery Co. Ltd for the work of executing additions and alterations to the
brewing premises in connection with the use of steel
girders as part of the materials required.
Claude Cooper at the installation of the Nathan brewing plant, Cascades Brewery 1927
Claude had agreed to carry out this work on a ten per cent
commission basis. He said he did not see the plans until the
work was commenced and did not see the specifications
at all. The steel girders for the frame were obtained from
Melbourne for £5,400. His men erected the girders and
the work extended over several months. However he did
not receive the ten per cent commission. The company
had not quibbled over any other commission.
The next day, the headline on page 3 read:
Contractor’s Claim. Finding of the Jury full amount
awarded.
After a retirement of ten minutes the Jury returned
a unanimous verdict in favour of Claude Cooper,
awarding the claim in full.
On 7 February 1967 the brewery that had stood at the
base of Mt Wellington for 135 years was devastated by
bushfires. The blaze almost destroyed the entire complex,
but the main buildings stood up even though the roofs were destroyed. The directors
made an early decision to restore the beautiful buildings and so maintain the heritage of
Australia’s oldest brewery. The materials used and the workmanship in construction of
both the original building and the additional three storeys withstood the fire, and within
three months beer was being brewed again.