Moving to Australia

By the late 1840s, Thomas had just six living siblings left and set out to start his own family.

He married Ann Laycock Brown in 1849, the daughter of retired innkeeper William Brown, and the pair welcomed their first son William the following year.

On 29 May 1852, Thomas, his pregnant wife Ann and their two children set sail from Plymouth aboard the SS Omega. Because he was a tradesman, Thomas paid 11 pounds for the voyage, whereas labourers paid only 1 pound under the colonial commissioners’ emigration scheme.

The passage took 86 days, and the Omega arrived in Port Adelaide on 24 August. The port was busy with ships disembarking passengers, unloading goods, and bringing news from England and other colonies for the city’s 33,000 residents.

We’re not sure why Thomas came to Adelaide, but agents of the South Australian Company were distributing pamphlets about the new colony around the same time. The company was formed in 1836 by George Fife Angas and other founders, and it was designed to buy, sell and promote a new utopia.

The very first brew

While working as a cobbler, stonemason and dairyman in Adelaide, Thomas discovered his talent as a brewer by accident when he created his first batch of beer as a tonic for his sick wife Ann.

On 13 May 1862, Thomas recorded his first brew, named 'A'. He crafted it with four bushels of English malt, eight pounds of Kent hops and 46 gallons of water. As soon as his neighbours tried it, they wanted more – and the Coopers Brewery journey began.