| The Unicorn brewery started construction in 1873 in Kooringa just a mile from the existing Burra Brewery. The town
was in decline and new country breweries being started after 1870 was very rare, but the new brewery was built to
use the most modern technology like steam engines and gravity feeds to assist the brewers. The brewery was built by
Mr Frederick Jones and operated as F T Jones and Co. and there was no reference to the brewery being know as the
Unicorn Brewery until early 1875. Mr Jones took on William Henry Banks as a business partner in early 1875, only for Mr Jones to leave the brewery in December 1875. The Burra Brewery in Kooringa had closed its doors by the end of 1875, due the popularity of the Unicron Brewery, but in 1877 the Monster Mine in Burra closed and a great percentage of the towns population left to find employment elsewhere. Mr Banks fell ill of Pneumonia in 1878 and died several days later, Mr Banks widow continued the brewery for a year before selling it to Mr George H Catchlove and his business partners Mr Lawrence, W H Roseman from the Burra Bank and Edward C Lockyer. Mr Catchlove continued to brew beer, along with head brewery William J Jacka, up until Georges death in 1892 when Edward Lockyer took control of the brewery. By the 1890's the brewery was becoming outdated, and business was slowing down, and with Edwards death in 1900 and his brother and son ran the brewery. The Unicorn brewery was sold to the Walkerville Co-Operative Brewing Co. Ltd in 1903 and the site was put up for auction in 1905 though there was no interest in the site. The main brewery buildings were demolished soon after the auction though the cellars still remain today. |
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