Edward Fitzgerald (
c. 1824 – 19 March 1890) was an Australian brewer and solicitor. He was the founder of the
Castlemaine Brewery, which went on to have significant operations in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.[1]
Fitzgerald was born in
Ireland, the son of a brewer, was educated at
Trinity College, Dublin and became a solicitor in
Ireland. He migrated to Victoria as a result of the
Victorian gold rush, had an unsuccessful stint as a miner at
Moonlight Flat, near
Castlemaine, and then practised as a solicitor in Castlemaine. While practicing as a solicitor there, he established the Castlemaine Brewery in 1857. His brother,
Nicholas Fitzgerald, followed him to Victoria and joined him in the business in 1859. The Castlemaine Brewery became highly successful, opening breweries in
Melbourne,
Newcastle,
Sydney and
Brisbane, each of which was later floated as a separate company, as well as breweries at
Daylesford and
Newbridge. He continued to hold interests in the various breweries, invested in mining companies, and was a
Borough of Castlemaine councillor and trustee of St Mary's Orphanage.[2][3][1][4][5][6][7]
Fitzgerald died on 19 March 1890 at his home, Ardmore, at
Brighton. He had been severely injured some time before when he tripped on the staircase at the
Athenaeum Club in Melbourne and fell twenty feet, never recovering from his injuries.[1][8] A large funeral was held at Castlemaine and he was buried at the cemetery at
Campbells Creek.[9][10] A stained glass window in his memory was erected in St Mary's Catholic Church, Castlemaine.[11]
^"CASTLEMAINE". Bendigo Advertiser. Vol. XXXVIII, no. 10, 764. Victoria, Australia. 19 March 1890. p. 3. Retrieved 14 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Catholic Intelligence". Advocate. Vol. XXII, no. 1141. Victoria, Australia. 6 December 1890. p. 15. Retrieved 14 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
This Australian biography article is a
stub. You can help Wikipedia by
expanding it.