Phoenix Brewery

For other hotels with the same or similar names see Phoenix Hotel.

Phoenix Brewery

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History
Town	Warrenheip
Opened	1857
Closed	December 1912
Known dates	1857-1912
Other names	Jamieson's Brewery

The Phoenix Brewery was a brewery at Warrenheip, Victoria, 1857-1912.

Site

The brewery was in Warrenheip.

Background

The brewery was operated by Mr. Alexander Magill and James Coghlan. Magill and Coghlan later consolidated several breweries to form the Ballarat Brewing Company

History

In 1857-1858 Magill and Coghlan purchased a small brewery at Warrenheip operated by a Mr. Jamieson. Jamieson also had a partnership with William John Gilchrist in another Warrenheip brewery, Jamieson and Gilchrist.

In December 1868, a salesman for the brewery was killed in an accident at Woodman's Hill:

A sad accident, which happened on the Woodman's Hill, Melbourne road, on Saturday night, has terminated fatally. Mr Warrell, traveller to Messrs Magill and Coghlan, of the Phoenix Brewery, was proceeding towards Warrenheip, when the horse shied and fell over an incline, rolling twice over the rider. The sufferer was removed to the hospital and died this morning. The unfortunate gentleman was thirty-seven years of age and unmarried, but has relations residing in the Western district.

The brewery was described in a newspaper article on Ballarat's breweries in November 1870:

There are two breweries near Mount Warrenheip— M’Grath and Warren’s...and Messrs Magill and Coghlan’s, one of the oldest and best known in the district...Magill and Coghlan’s brewery is a very extensive one, and lies in the valley a little westward of Mount Warrenheip. Most of the work is done by steam power, and all the latest appliances for pumping, &c., are used. The same firm has a handsome store at the corner of Dana and Doveton streets.

In December 1912, it was announced that the brewery would close:

PHOENIX BREWERY. The employees at the Phoenix Brewery at Warrenheip received rather an unwelcome shock on Saturday last, when they were informed that their services would not be required after the end of the present year. The directors have decided to close down the brewery here at the end of the year, which means that some thirty men will be out of employment. Some of the men have long service with the firm, ranging up to 20 years, and the feel the position very keenly, as prospects of employment here in other directions are very poor.

The Ballarat Brewing Company has decided to close down, within the next fortnight, its well-known Phoenix Brewery at Warrenheip, with the view of concentrating the whole of operations in the city of Ballarat. The suspension of the Warrenheip establishment, which was organised about 55 years ago, under the management of Messrs. Magill and Coghlan, will involve the discharge of between 20 and 30 hands. During the past two years the Ballarat Brewing Company has expended over £15,000 in enlarging and otherwise improving its city brewery in Armstrong-street north, preparatory to the proposed closing down of the works at Warrenheip.

The People

• Patrick Cuddy, employee, before 1896.
• Thomas Warrell, salesman, died 1868.
• Joseph H. Kinane, employee, c.1912