South Australian Brewing Company

The company was created in 1888 as the South Australian Brewing, Malting, and Wine and Spirit Company, from an amalgamation of the West End Brewery (in Hindley Street, Adelaide city centre), the Kent Town Brewery, and the wine and spirit merchants Rounsevell & Simms.

[5] The new company set about enlarging the brewing facilities at West End and centring the malting work at Kent Town.

[7] In 1893 they sold off their wine and spirit business to A. E. & F. Tolley Pty Ltd and Milne & Co., and the name was changed to South Australian Brewing Company, Limited.

[15] In 1941, architect F. Kenneth Milne (who was contracted to the company from 1912 until 1946[17]) was responsible for upgrading the Hindley Street building.

[citation needed] Until 1974, when the Whitlam government revised the Trade Practices Act, they were legally able to dispense only the company's beer in their pubs.

[citation needed] West End Draught was the largest selling beer in South Australia in 2007.

Artefacts in the on-site museum were catalogued and donated to the State Library of South Australia and other local institutions.

[22] The South Australian Government purchased the 8.4 hectares (21 acres) Thebarton site from Lion Nathan for $61.5 million in 2023, intending to develop it with over 1,000 homes, of which 20% would be economical residential.

[22] The tradition of painting the brewery chimney with the team colours of the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) premiership team began in 1954,[24] when a West Adelaide player and employee Clarrie Cannon[7] suggested painting the chimney in the West Adelaide Football Club colours, red and black, as the West End Brewery (then still in Hindley Street[24]) was located in their territory.

[25][26] The tradition of painting the colours of the premier and runners-up was maintained at the Hindley Street premises until its closure in 1980,[24] before transferring to the Thebarton site,[27][7] which was rebadged "West End".