The SACS Heritage Trail - Brewery Astro

A SOUTH AFRICAN TRADITON

What is now the site of the Brewery Astro where many an intense game of hockey is played, is actually steeped in more South African history than school boy sport. There is a saying amongst locals: "Newlands' gold is in its spring beer". The famous, and still flowing, Newlands Spring, which runs next to the Astro provided the finest quality water in the area. Naturally, it meant that Newlands was going to become the headquarters of beer production in the Cape.

In the 1800s, four breweries were set up in the Newlands area, all of which used water from the Spring and all of whom competed with the others in the area at various times. The first, Mariendahl Brewery, was established in 1840 by Jacob Letterstedt. It was connected to the famous Josephine Mill. The second, Newlands Brewery, was established in 1866 by Daniel Cloete. The third, Cannon Brewery, was established by Jonas Michael Hiddingh. Dr Hiddingh bought out various public houses and canteens to remove the competition. However, try as he might, he could not remove Anders Ohlsson from the picture.

AFTER OHLSSON

In 1920, part of Ohlsson's Papenboom Estate was purchased by Sir Max Michaelis - an Anglo-German Randlord - and was renamed Montebello (or Beautiful Mountain). The Montebello Estate comprised roughly of the modern SACS campus and the Montebello Design Centre next door.

The Michaelis family resided on the Estate until the end of the 1950s until the main house and much of the grounds were expropriated in order to provide a campus for SACS. Cecil Michaelis (Sir Max's son) continued to own the stables and some of the outbuildings until 1988 when he donated them to the University of Cape Town who then established the Montebello Design Centre on that part of the property.

ENTER ANDERS OHLSSON AND OHLSSON'S CAPE BREWERIES

Anders Ohlsson was a Swedish immigrant who established the forth brewery in the Newlands area. He bought the Anneberg Mill from David Ireland and established the Anneberg Brewery. This was the start of what would become a brewing empire.

By 1888, Ohlsson had firmly established himself in the brewery business. He had leased - with rights to purchase - both Josephine Mill and Mariendahl Brewery, and received water access rights to the Newlands Spring (essential in beer production). He also purchased Newlands Brewery and Forrester's Arms (popularly known as "Forries") from David Mausen.

THE MODERN BREWERY ASTRO

The modern Brewery Astro has come a long way since the days of shards of glass and marbles on the Brewery Field , and an even longer way since the days of the Anneberg Brewery. It has recently undergone a multi-million Rand upgrading process, and has been resurfaced and has had additional top-of-the-range floodlighting installed.

Our new world-class Astro ensures that Hockey can be played throughout the year, and has given rise to the extremely popular "Nite Series" matches with other local schools. It is the perfect environment in which competitive, skillful, and dedicated hockey players, with a real passion for the game, can be produced.

SACS is proud to be one of the foremost hockey-playing schools in the country. This would not be possible without the incredible facility that is the Brewery Astro.

THE BREWERY FIELD

Over the years during the Michaelis' occupancy, the last buildings of the brewery were demolished. When SACS took over the property, they turned the land on which the Brewery once stood into a field on which boys could play rugby. However, although the Brewery was gone - remnants of it remained. Glass shards from the old beer bottles remained buried in the soil and boys used to get cut whilst playing rugby on the field.

Some years ago, a decision was taken to construct an astro on the site of the Brewery Field so that there was a facility where hockey could be played on campus. Construction on the Astro was completed in 2004, and play began almost immediately.

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