Swan Brewery
Encyclopedia
The Swan Brewery is a brewery located in Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. It was founded in central Perth in 1837. From 1879, it occupied riverside premises below Mount Eliza
Mount Eliza, Western Australia
Mount Eliza is a hill which overlooks the city of Perth, Western Australia and forms part of Kings Park. It is known as Kaarta gar-up and Mooro Katta in the local Noongar dialect....
, displacing an official "Aboriginal institution" which recognised traditional use of the land by indigenous people.
The brewery operation was relocated to a large, fully automated factory at Canning Vale in the late 1970s and now produces local brands such as Swan and Emu, as well as external brands Tooheys
Tooheys
Tooheys is a brewery in the suburb of Lidcombe, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It produces beers under the Tooheys and Hahn trademarks, and is part of the New Zealand Lion Nathan beverages group.-History:...
and Hahn
Hahn Brewery
Hahn Brewery was established by Dr Charles "Chuck" Hahn in 1986 at an old factory site in the suburb of Camperdown in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
. During the mid-1980s, the company became part of the empire of the failed tycoon Alan Bond
Alan Bond (businessman)
Alan Bond is an Australian businessman noted for his criminal convictions and high-profile business dealings, including what was at the time the biggest corporate collapse in Australian history. Bond was born in the Hammersmith district of London, England, and emigrated to Australia with his...
. It has since been acquired by Lion Nathan
Lion Nathan
Lion Nathan National Foods is the parent company created in October 2009, into which Lion Nathan and National Foods were merged. It is fully owned by Kirin Holdings Company, Limited...
, a multinational brewing concern distributing many different beers in the Asia-Pacific area. Current products that were historically Swan brands include Swan Lager, Emu Bitter
Emu Bitter
Emu is a beer label currently owned by Lion Nathan. Originally brewed by the Emu Brewery, it is currently brewed by the Swan Brewery in Western Australia.-Varieties:There are three varieties:...
and Emu Export.
Old Swan Brewery site
Swan River (Western Australia)
The Swan River estuary flows through the city of Perth, in the south west of Western Australia. Its lower reaches are relatively wide and deep, with few constrictions, while the upper reaches are usually quite narrow and shallow....
foreshore beneath Mount Eliza
Mount Eliza, Western Australia
Mount Eliza is a hill which overlooks the city of Perth, Western Australia and forms part of Kings Park. It is known as Kaarta gar-up and Mooro Katta in the local Noongar dialect....
became one of Perth's dominant and favourite landmarks. It was surrounded by a complex of other buildings which have since been demolished or redeveloped. The car-park building on the opposite side of Mount's Bay Road replaced the historic stables which caught fire and were demolished in 1988. Nevertheless, the state's Heritage Council noted that, prior to redevelopment,
The place contains, albeit partially demolished, the finest connected group of late-Victorian and early 20th-century brewery buildings in Australia in a red brick and tile Federation style idiom.
1989-90 protest against redevelopment
In 1989, the West Australian state government vested the site in the building company MultiplexMultiplex (company)
Brookfield Multiplex is a global contracting and development company that designs, builds and maintains property and infrastructure assets.- History :Brookfield Multiplex was founded as Multiplex in 1962 in Perth, Western Australia by John Roberts...
for a peppercorn
Peppercorn (legal)
A peppercorn in legal parlance is a metaphor for a very small payment, a nominal consideration, used to satisfy the requirements for the creation of a legal contract. "A peppercorn does not cease to be good consideration if it is established that the promisee does not like pepper and will throw...
rental, with a view to its being redeveloped as a commercial precinct. Perth's Noongar
Noongar
The Noongar are an indigenous Australian people who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the south coast...
community reminded the state government of the site's ancient and sacred Indigenous Australian significance, and established a protest camp on the site, while challenging the issue at law and seeking to have the land reclassified as a public reserve. They were opposed by a Brewery Preservation Group which argued the indisputable heritage value of at least the 1979 industrial building. The developers argued that the brewery had been built on land reclaimed from the Swan River and, therefore, the site of Noongar heritage importance was further inland, close to the Mount Eliza escarpment and the fresh water spring known as Kennedy's Fountain. Ultimately the protest was unsuccessful and the development of the property went ahead. The on-site protest had endured for many months and culminated in a bitter but non-violent confrontation with police on 8 January 1990 at which several arrests were made. In August 1992, police had to break through picket lines to allow development work to proceed.
Current commercial operations
The renovated 1879 building contains a cafe/restaurant and function centre which re-opened in 2001. It also contains a microbreweryMicrobrewery
A microbrewery or craft brewer is a brewery which produces a limited amount of beer, and is associated by consumers with innovation and uniqueness....
which produces malt ales and lagers. There is also a display of historic photographs and artefacts.
Further reading
- Old Swan Brewery Precinct Entry in Heritage Register of Western Australia
- Whose Heritage: the contested site of the Swan Brewery by Hannah Lewi, in Fabrications, Vol 15 No 2, Dec 1955
- Brewing in the '80s Beer and Brewer magazine feature