Dead tell tales
Edward Carroll Cussen 1847? - 1919
With the summer months finally upon us, many of us will be reaching for a cold beer – an appropriate time to remember one of the Waikato’s first brewers, Edward Cussen. Cussen had a brewery in Cambridge in 1886 and the Three Star Brewery in Hamilton from 1910 to 1918, but in-between these he worked at or owned other breweries in the upper North Island.
Cussen arrived in New Zealand in 1864 as a 17-year-old with his parents and siblings, from Limerick, Ireland. His parents, John and Catherine Cussen, settled in Auckland. Edward was articled to Whitson and Company at the Albert Brewery in Auckland, and learnt the brewing trade. From there he went to Coromandel and went into partnership with John Uncles to run the Coromandel Brewery. A correspondent for the Daily Southern Cross chose the summer for a breweries tour and gave a good report (January 20, 1873) of the Coromandel Brewery, which was capable of brewing at least 60 casks a week. Cussen was credited with a thorough knowledge of the brewing business.
Just how long Cussen remained in Coromandel is uncertain, but by the end of 1876 he was in Opotiki, working as a brewer and racing his horse ‘‘Cockburn’’. Cussen owned several racehorses over the years, with some success, particularly with ‘‘Parnell’’. He was known as a good huntsman too ‘‘like the genial Irishman he is, he was always to be found on a good ‘‘lepper’’ [a horse that jumps well]’’.
Edward’s brothers Laurence and William, both surveyors, were based in Hamilton and perhaps it was through them and the small Catholic community that Edward Cussen met his bride-to-be, Kate de Vere Hunt. In 1882 they married at the Catholic church in Hamilton East. The union was blessed with six daughters and one son.
By the end of 1886 Cussen was leasing Hally’s brewery in Cambridge. The family stayed there a few years, during which time Cussen donated a pair of black swans to the Cambridge Domain Board, for the lake. His draught ale, in quantities of two gallons and upwards, was on sale at the National Hotel in 1888, and in 1890 he prepared a special brew for the Christmas season. The Waikato
Times (December 11 1890) added its mite to the seasonal cheer: ‘‘All those who wish to enjoy their Christmas should not fail to give Mr Cussen a turn’’.
Next step after Cambridge was a brief stint in Auckland, where he opened his own cordial manufactory in December
1897. A few months later he was appointed head brewer for Campbell Ehrenfried brewery. He sold the Auckland Aerated business and moved on again – was he restless or being headhunted? This shift was in 1899, to Gisborne as head brewer with ‘‘excellent credentials’’ for DJ Barry’s Gisborne Brewery and Aerated Water Works.
Ten years later he was back in the Waikato, having purchased Andre Chocqueel’s Three Star Brewery in Hamilton in 1910. The brewery was in Old Farm Road. Cussen operated the brewery until ill-health forced him to retire towards the end of 1918. He died in March 1919, having made a name for himself as a brewer of fine ale and stout.
After Edward’s death Kate stayed on in Hamilton until 1929 when she moved to Auckland. She died in Auckland in
1932 and was brought back to be buried with Edward. Her parents Mathew and Mary de Vere Hunt, who had farmed at Ormond, Hukanui, and some of Kate’s siblings are buried close by the Cussen graves in Hamilton East Cemetery.