A Brewery Legacy

The Tooth & Co Collection, held by Powerhouse Museum and the Australian National University Archives, has been inscribed on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register, acknowledging its significance in documenting Australia’s social, cultural, and industrial history through the lens of beer brewing and pub culture.

Tooth & Co was established in 1835 by brothers-in-law John Tooth and Charles Newnham when they opened the large Kent Brewery on Broadway, Chippendale. It became one of the biggest brewing and hotel brands in Australia by acquiring several brewers along the east coast and buying up hotels, shaping not only the nation’s drinking habits but its communities and built environments. The archive offers an intimate insight into Tooth & Co’s 150-year history and its influence on Australian life — from colonial pubs to iconic Art Deco hotels.

At the heart of the collection are meticulously kept brewery ledgers from the mid-1800s, recording orders from publicans across New South Wales for its brands including KB Lager (named after the Kent Brewery), Kent Old Brown and the full range of Reschs beers. These ledgers record trends in beer consumption and pub trade throughout the state, and offer a timeline of the economic fortunes of regional and city pubs alike.

Architectural blueprints, hotel leases, valuation reports and thousands of photographs provide a vivid snapshot of evolving pub architecture, and the communities built around them.

This archive tells more than a story of beer: it’s a narrative of social change, tracking how pubs evolved from strictly gender-segregated spaces into communal hubs, illustrating shifting attitudes toward women in public life. Although women had managed many pubs since the early 1800s, archaic licensing rules that remained until the 1970s meant they weren’t allowed socialise in the main bar and could only drink in the Ladies Lounge — if their local had the designated space.

Brewing ephemera, vintage bottles, pub art and promotional materials like iconic Resch’s Lager labels highlight beer’s cultural resonance, including its constant association with sport and outdoor pursuits in Australia.

Powerhouse has previously showcased parts of the Tooth & Co Collection in creative ways, notably in the podcast Beer + Vegemite, where brewing history came to life through storytelling inspired by objects from the collection. In November 2023 the archive was brought to life in its natural setting during Powerhouse Late: Hopetoun, which celebrated the reopening of the historic Hopetoun Hotel with a pop-up bar, music and immersive storytelling.

As part of the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register, the Tooth & Co Collection is recognised as an important historical resource now protected and increasingly accessible through the digital archives managed by Powerhouse. It’s a collection that records Australia’s deep cultural connection with beer and pubs, and how they’ve reflected — and influenced — changes in culture, commerce and identity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.