Summary

Registered in New South Wales in 1902.

Details

In 1841 Matthew Toohey arrived in Melbourne with his family, from Ireland. After several years raising beef in the Victorian cattle country, Matthew Toohey became the landlord of the Limerick Arms hotel in South Melbourne.
Two of Matthew's sons, John and James, move north to Sydney and on 7 September 1869 John Thomas Toohey obtained his brewers license. Three years later John and his younger brother, James Matthew, bought the Darling Brewery, located in Cockle Creek - later renamed Darling Harbour. The brothers began trading as J.T. & J. Toohey.
In 1902 the firm went public, trading as Tooheys Limited. In 1930 the brewery produced its first lager beer. In 1955 the company purchased land in Auburn, building the Standard Brewery.
In November 1979 the company merged with Castlemaine Perkins of Brisbane; it was a $215 million union. Castlemaine claimed 75% of the Queensland market and Toohey's claimed 43% of the NSW market. Because of the sensitivities of the Queensland Government to the takeovers of Queensland companies by companies from other states, the new company had five representatives from each of the former companies on the new company's board, although it was reported that former Toohey's shareholders owned 54.5% of the shares in the new company. The new company is called Castlemaine Tooheys.
In 1985, Castlemaine Tooheys Limited and Swan Brewery were bought by the Bond Corporation.
In 1992 Tooheys became an independent brewery under the Lion Nathan umbrella, together with Castlemaine Perkins and Swan. In the same year a Tooheys brewery was established in Victoria. Under the Lion Nathan umbrella Tooheys NSW and Tooheys Victoria were run as two separate companies with each company having its own managing director.
Tooheys purchased the Hahn Brewery in February 1993 and Chuck Hahn continued to operate the brewery, in addition to his new role as Chief Brewer for Lion Nathan. The marketing/sales and production roles were shifted back to the Tooheys management during the later part of the year.
In 1994 Tooheys NSW moved to its new brewhouse in Auburn; within two years it achieved Class A world accreditation - only one of two companies to do so.
In 1999/2000 Toohey Victoria actively acquired Hotels and venues throughout Victoria, enabling Lion Nathan to negotiated on-premise agreements for distribution rights for its beers. In 2000 the company announced that it sponsored 31 country racetracks in Victoria.

Related entries

Timeline

 1872 - 1899 J.T. & J. Toohey
       1899 - 1902 J.T. & J. Toohey Limited
             1902 - Tooheys Limited

Archival resources

Noel Butlin Archives Centre, Australian National University, (formerly Archives of Business and Labour)

• Tooheys Limited records, 1895 - 1970; Noel Butlin Archives Centre, Australian National University, (formerly Archives of Business and Labour). Details
• Tooheys Limited records, 1906 - 1979, Z203 & Z223 (part); Noel Butlin Archives Centre, Australian National University, (formerly Archives of Business and Labour). Details

Published resources

Books

• Thoeming, J.P., Here's Too'ee: the history of Tooheys, Crawford House Publishing, Bathurst, New South Wales, 1997. Details