Benjamin Jackson Bartley started a cordial manufacturing business at Chiltern in 1859 on the banks of the Black Dog Creek. He also built the Telegraph Hotel in the same year. In 1861 he moved the factory to a site on the Howlong Road. 1871 he built a brewery on the same site and started brewing beer. He died in 1899 and his son Theodore carried on the business until 1913, when it closed
(for photos of Bartley's Chiltern bottles click here)
The Cootamundra Brewery (renamed Excelsior Brewery) in Olney Street was purchased in September 1894 by Benjamin Bartley from McIntyre, Lincoln & C. He quickly established a refreshment stall at the Cootamundra Railway Station.
Bartley also owned Breweries at Chiltern and Maryborough in Victoria, and with shrewd business sense he had McIntyre, Lincoln & Co. execute a bond whereby they agreed not to carry on trade as brewers, cordial or aerated water manufacturers within 30 miles of Cootamundra except at Junee Junction) for a period of five years.
Later Benjamin's sons, Edmund Charles and Alfred E., ran the brewery until it closed in 1913. Bartley & Co then continued as a cordial factory.
The following Cootamundra Bartley & Co bottles are known to exist:
Dark green blob top - 'Bartley & Co Brewers Cootamundra'
Clear glass blob top -- 'Bartley & Co Brewers Cootamundra'
13 oz Lamont - 'Bartley & Co Brewers Cootamundra' - Lamonts Patent trademark on the rear. This is believed to be Bartley's earliest Lamont.
13 oz Marble - 'Bartley & Co Brewers Cootamundra'
13 oz Lamont - 'Bartley & Co Brewers Cootamundra'
Soda Syphon in clear glass
7 oz Lamont - 'Bartley & Co Cootamundra & Temora' Vertical script. Botany Glass Works around the base.
7 oz crown seal 'Bartley & Co Cootamundra' AGM on base
10 oz crown seal 'Bartley & Co Cootamundra' AGM on base
Recent information indicates Bartley also used a blob top skittle (one known in amethyst) CONFIRMED! SEE PIC BELOW
