The story about the man drowning in a vat of beer at the brewery has made its way into folklore. However, there may just be some truth to it.
In the 1890s a brewer named Joseph Hartley was found floating in a tank of beer at the Castlemaine brewery in Victoria. He was dead, although it is not known if he had fought off any attempts to save him.
The customs officers and health authorities insisted the beer be run off down the street gutters and a broken-hearted group of spectators gathered to watch.
One paper at the time suggested that Hartley had become ‘too much absorbed in his business’.
The Bulletin magazine published a poem at the time, bemoaning the loss of the beer and Hartley. In part, it read:
For poor old Joseph Hartley,
The poet sighs, or partly,
And likewise drops a tear.
But not for Joseph only,
In the graveyard lying lonely.
Doth the poet drop a tear,
So crystal, bright and clear
He is thinking, thinking, thinking,
Of that liquor brewed for drinking.