Trent Brewery Poster, Trentham

The sparkle of gold brought the first settlers to the Trentham area in 1854 when two men, searching for lost bullocks, returned home with pockets full of gold nuggets that they had found lying in the river bed just below the mineral springs. Joseph Barnes moved into the area to set up his Trentham Brewery. He spent most of his time at his hotel, and employed a brewer to look after the daily operation of the brewery. In case of emergency, electric bells were connected from the brewery to Barnes’s bedroom so that he could be called at night if necessary.

Joseph Barnes’s wife, Annie, looked after the Cri­terion Hotel at Castlemaine, about 30 km north, and served beer that came from her husband’s brewery at Trentham. Three months after Barnes died the son, also Joseph, ran the brewery with all its complexities, and had Edgar Flanagan helping with the more difficult tasks. A year went by and Annie Barnes decided to lease the business. In 1899 the Nation brothers (James, Thomas, Alfred and Walter) were working the brewery, which they purchased in 1908.

Early in 1914 the Kyneton & Trentham Breweries Ltd was formed to take over the freehold property and brewing equipment of the Trent Brewery at Kyneton and the Trentham Brewery. The Nation brothers owned both breweries, which had recently closed, but the brewery at Trentham was never reopened.