Licensee
1868-1872 – Joseph Brissett1New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832-1900), Friday 20 September 1872 (No.252 [SUPPLEMENT]), p 2407.
Location
Upper Araluen, Newtown
Richard Kennedy, JP of Reidsdale2Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal (NSW : 1888-1954), Friday 3 July 1942, p 3. wrote in 1942, ‘There were about 40 hotels on the field, some of which I shall name, beginning in Upper Araluen, where Armstrong’s and Taylor’s hotels were then at the foot of the mountain where the road now runs Armstrong opened a fresh hotel, then came Brissett’s, Downey’s, later still Bennison’s store was turned into a hotel, now at present run as a hotel … by Mr. Philip Madigan, then the Nipper’s, Pepper’s and Bollard’s.‘
In the News
In 1868, Joseph Brissett is detailed as the licensee for The Rising Sun and also for the Caledonian Inn, both in Upper Araluen.3New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832-1900), Wednesday 26 August 1868 (No.208 (SUPPLEMENT)), p 2871.
‘The rains of Christmas week did considerable harm at Araluen and other gold-fields in the Braidwood district‘, reported the Empire in January 1871,4Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850-1875), Thursday 5 January 1871, p 3. noting ‘The creek bank is now nearly up to Brissett’s.’ The Goulburn Herald adds, ‘This time the main creek took another course, the body running nearly parallel with Brissett’s Hotel, sweeping away the bank, when the verandah fell down, and to save the house from total destruction I believe a portion of it was removed.’5Goulburn Herald and Chronicle (NSW : 1864-1881), Saturday 6 May 1871, p 3.
By 1873, the licensee for the [only] Rising Sun in the Braidwood area, is at Little River, and is given as Francis Brice.6New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832-1900), Tuesday 9 September 1873 (No.212 [SUPPLEMENT]), p 2459.
A conviction for Sly Grog Selling was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald in December 18737Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842-1954), Tuesday 9 December 1873, p 5. as ‘Mrs Brissett was summoned before Mr. Burns, P.M for selling spirits without a license. Mr Brissett holds a license to sell wines… Mrs Brissett,.. stated that she did not serve the boy Nicholls or any other person with brandy, as she had been very ill, confined to her bed during the whole of the day of the alleged sale of spirits, and her daughters positively deposed … His Worship found the defendant guilty, fined per case, or three months in gaol in default of payment, giving her a week to pay the fine.’
The New South Wales Police Gazette reported in January 1874 that8New South Wales Police Gazette and Weekly Record of Crime (Sydney: 1860-1930), Wednesday 28 January 1874 (No.4), p 25. ‘Joseph Brissett, summoned by Senior-constable Morphy, Araluen Police, for selling spirits without a license, has been fined £30 and costs, in default of payment three months imprisonment in Braidwood Gaol. Seven days allowed to pay the fine.’
The New South Wales Government Gazette of September 1874 reported a ‘Wine, Cider, and Perry Licenses issued, and to expire on the 30 June1875, to Joseph Brissett, of Araluen‘.9New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832-1900), Friday 18 September 1874 (No.219), p 2820.
Joseph Brissett – Innkeeper is noted in the 1875-76 Greville’s Official Post Office Directory (p 20) in Araluen Upper, at Newtown.10Greville’s Official Post Office Directory for 1875 – 1876 https://www.ihr.com.au/secure/html/greville75.html. Accessed 18 February 2023.
In April 1877, the New South Wales Police Gazette11New South Wales Police Gazette and Weekly Record of Crime (Sydney: 1860-1930), Wednesday 25 April 1877 (No.17), page 135 reported that ‘Joseph Brissett, the holder of a wine license, summoned by Senior Constable O’Brien, Araluen Police, for having in his licensed premises at Araluen, two quarts of brandy and one pint of gin, has been fined £5. The spirits confiscated. Fine paid. This being the second conviction within twelve months Brissett’s license has become void.’