| In 1884, Charles Shand established the Caledonian Brewery on Elizabeth Street, Eastwood, leasing the property from William Fallow for four years with an option to purchase for £366. He began on a modest scale, brewing just a few gallons in a tub, but by 1886 he claimed to be producing as much as forty hogsheads a week. The brewery itself was small and simple, a stone-and-brick building housing an under-fired copper, a fermenting tun in the cellar, and a loft fitted with a cooling tray. Outside stood a stable and a few wooden sheds. Despite its modest setup, Shand’s beers were well received. One local journalist described his ale as “nectar,” and dubbed the brewer “a veritable Bacchus.” Proud of his Scottish heritage, Shand incorporated it heavily into his marketing. A page from the 1887 Jubilee Exhibition Album featured his advertisement for “Caledonian Ales,” celebrating his “new and commodious premises” and his growing reputation for quality. Yet success proved short-lived. By 1888, the small Eastwood brewery was struggling to compete against the city’s larger and more advanced operations. Facing insolvency, Shand was forced to sell. Under a Bill of Sale handled by F.J. Botting & Co., the contents of the brewery, including brewing equipment, casks, horses, drays, and even his household furniture, were auctioned off. The property was again listed for sale at £366, its original lease price. Though Shand’s Eastwood venture had ended in disappointment, he continued his brewing career, and by 1891 was working once again in the trade at Laura in South Australia’s mid-north. In 1890, McAskill left to pursue his own ventures, first establishing a bottling company and later founding the Thistle Brewery at Glen Osmond. Schickel, meanwhile, looked to expand his business, attempting to form a brewing and malting company in Queenscliffe (Kingscote) on Kangaroo Island. Although the plan was well received locally, it never progressed beyond the proposal stage. By 1893, Schickel had found a new partner in August Jaentsch. Together, they purchased the Eastwood property outright for £340 and soon after acquired the larger Hyde Park Brewery from the mortgagees of Guildford Gray for £1,700. The brewing plant was moved from Eastwood, and the Caledonian Brewery name was transferred to the new site. An 1894 report in the Adelaide Brewing Journal described the Hyde Park brewery as “a comparatively modern building of stone, built on the gravitation system,” capable of producing twenty-six hogsheads per brew. Jaentsch oversaw the brewing operations while Schickel managed distribution, with their beers, both cask and bottled, being sold across South Australia and even into New South Wales. Later that year, Schickel left South Australia for the Kalgoorlie Brewing & Ice Company in Western Australia. Tragically, he contracted typhoid fever followed by pneumonia and died there on 20 May 1897, aged just 35. Coincidentally, Charles Shand, founder of the original Caledonian Brewery, also died of typhoid in Kalgoorlie three months earlier, aged 46. Following Schickel’s death, his widow Mary Ann Denryer administered his estate, continuing brewery operations briefly under manager Albert Dusenberg. By the turn of the century, however, the Caledonian Brewery name had faded from South Australia’s brewing landscape, remembered today as one of the colony’s spirited small breweries that helped shape the state’s rich early brewing heritage. |
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Charles Shand 1881
John Schickel c1890
| Ale |
Stout |
 5.001.014.001.0010 1887 |
 5.001.014.002.0010 1887 |
5.001.014.003.0010
c1897
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