Sandstone

Distinguished and Famous people from Sandstone

🍺 J. V. Kearney

Irishman J. V. Kearney supplied one of the goldfields' more ingenious answers to a very practical question: how do you keep beer cool here? In 1907 he built a brewery on a breakaway near Sandstone, using gravity to move liquid through its levels and a tunnel blasted into the rock as a cellar. A shaft through the cellar roof assisted cooling, while excavated material became a loading ramp. The enterprise supplied surrounding hotels, although the heritage record notes problems with beer deteriorating during transport. Railway access eventually brought competing supplies and the brewery closed. The surviving cellar recalls Kearney's unusual local business, without requiring a fictional claim to international fame.