LIKE Victoria’s Sam Knott, who proclaimed ‘I allus has wan at eleven’, NSW also had a famous brewery pin-up-boy by the name of Sam. He was well-known for most of the first half of last century.

Although, there’s some debate about the man behind the Sydney-based Tooheys’ Brewery blacksmith featured in the “Here’s To’ee” advertisements. Unlike Carlton & United brewery’s Sam Knott, some believe the blacksmith featured in the Tooheys’ promotions was fictional. Others say he lived most of his life in Bermagui. 

For decades, people believed that Sam Sinclair was the inspiration for Tooheys’ blacksmith. The logo features a blacksmith raising his foaming tankard of beer with the slogan ‘Here’s To’ee’.

Sam often told the story of how he was the the blacksmith in the Tooheys’ promotions. Shortly before his death in 1964, Sam posed for a photograph. He stood in front of one of the brewery’s historic glass advertising signs. The picture was later published in the classic 1977 book, Australian Pub Crawl, by Douglass Baglin and Yvonne Austin.

First, we need to explain the story of the brewery’s ‘Here’s too’ee’ branding. Only then can we reveal how a shadow hangs over Sam’s claims he was the inspiration for the Tooheys’ blacksmith.

Tooheys’ Brewery was founded in Sydney in 1869 by brothers John and James Toohey. They obtained their brewer’s license and began producing ales at the Darling Brewery at Darling Harbour. Later, they moved to the Standard Brewery in Surry Hills, which was their home for many decades.

Tooheys’ Standard Brewery on Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills was growing rapidly in the 1890s. The state’s two largest brewers, Toohey’s and Tooth’s were in fierce competition. Each had their own advertising slogans in the 1890s.

Tooth’s had for its logo the famous Kent brewery emblem of a rampant white horse. It carried the motto, ‘Invicta’. Toohey’s simply had the slogan, ‘Here’s To‘ee’.

Colloquially, ‘Here’s Too’ee’ had been around the streets of Sydney from at least 1890, describing Toohey’s ‘Sparkling Amber Ale’. The brewery first officially adopted the slogan to describe all its beers from 1894.

The earliest use of the blacksmith figure raising a frothing tankard of beer appeared in a Sydney newspaper in 1896. It was accompanied by the caption ‘Here’s To‘ee’.

The strapping moustached blacksmith would become an enduring advertising symbol for the brewery for well-over a century.

At that time, Sam Sinclair was 14 years old. He was working for his father as a blacksmith in Milton, on the NSW South Coast. So, it’s entirely possible he was the blacksmith as claimed.

The only doubt I would have is the blacksmith depicted in the 1896 advertisement below has a well developed moustache! Was this added by an enthusiastic artist? Is the picture below of a 14 year-old boy? There is some doubt, I know.

In the book, Here’s To’ee, The Story of Tooheys, published in 1997, author J. Peter Theoming throws more doubt on Sam Sinclair’s claims. He states “there’s no way” that a “prepubescent Sam” was the model for the famous blacksmith.

Theoming states that Sam was 11 or 12 when the blacksmith logo was created. Nonetheless, from our research, we’ve found the NSW birth records. They show that Sam was 14 years old when the blacksmith image first appeared in the 1896 newspaper advertisement.

Anthony Toohey casts more doubt onto Sam’s claims. He is the grandson of John Toohey, one of the founding two brothers of the brewery.

In the book, Here’s To’ee, The Story of Tooheys, Anthony Toohey is adamant. He insists that the blacksmith image was based on a George W. Lambert water colour painting he inherited, and not of Sam Sinclair.

Anthony Toohey explains to Theoming that the painting depicts a blacksmith sitting on a Tooheys’ Clydesdale. In the background, the word ‘toohe’ is visible on a keg. He also told Theoming that the blacksmith became colloquially known in the brewery as George. In fact, brewery workers continue to call the blacksmith George to this day.

The brewery’s official trademark became the stag’s head in 1902. Nevertheless, it was rarely seen in advertising for many decades afterwards. The design was inspired by the stag emblem on the facade of the Toohey brothers, John and James, favourite Sydney pub, the Bald Faced Stag Hotel at Leichardt.

With the stag head trademark, the family-owned business transitioned into a limited company. Despite the new trademark, the brewery continued to favour the blacksmith with the accompanying ‘Here’s Too’ee’ in newspaper and magazine advertising.

Why Sam Sinclair claimed he was the inspiration for Tooheys brewery’s famous blacksmith is a mystery. This claim is especially perplexing given his father’s lingering battle with alcohol. We’ve combed old newspaper reports in search of references. We looked for any association Sam may have had with the brewery. We found nothing.

Sam was a twin. He was born to Albert and Sarah Sinclair in Dalton. Dalton is a small inland country town on the NSW Southern Tablelands. His twin brother Joseph died at birth. It was a tragic year for his parents. They also lost their eight-year-old daughter Amelia. She died of “water on the brain”.

After Sam’s birth, the family relocated to Kiama on the NSW South Coast. There, his father Albert worked as a blacksmith.

Sam relocated to Milton with his five siblings and parents in the late 1880s. He attended Milton Public School. Later, he assisted his father as a blacksmith.

As a teenager, Sam fell into a “good deal of mischief”. He was lucky to have escaped prison in October 1896. He pleaded guilty to having in his possession money that was reasonably suspected to be stolen. He fronted Milton Court, pleading guilty, after £2 5s was stolen from Cardwell’s refreshment room. He gave an undertaking to refund the money. After this, the Bench imposed a fine of 5s and costs. They also gave 13-year-old Sam a reprimand and “cautioned him against evil-doing”.

This brush with the law seems to have set young Sam on the straight and narrow. He focused his efforts on blacksmithing. He also worked on keeping his father away from the bottle.

Sam’s father, while in his 40s, found himself increasingly in trouble with the law, especially for drunken behaviour.

Sam’s mother, Sarah, requested a 12-month liquor prohibition order for Albert. Milton Court imposed this order in 1900. Over the next decade several liquor prohibition orders were imposed on Sam’s father.

During one such prohibition order in 1904, Sam discovered the publican of Milton’s Star Hotel, H. Hulbert supplying grog to his 52-year-old father. Sam reported the publican to authorities. Hulbert was fined £2. He was also charged £2 2 shillings for witness expenses and 5 shillings 6 pence for costs.

Sam often told the story of how he lifted his age to allow him to serve in the Boer War. Our research, though, shows that Sam was 20. This was the legal age when he was appointed as the farrier. He served for a contingent to fight in the Boer War in April 1902.

The last Australian contingents to leave Australia for the Boer War were part of the Australian Commonwealth Horse. Various battalions sailed as late as May 1902. Some did not arrive in South Africa until after the war ended in May. Sam was among those contingents.

Sam was home at the hearth and anvil in Milton with his father by August 1902, before opening his own blacksmith shop at Bermagui South the following year.

At the age of 30, Sam married Lillian May Riley in 1912. That was the same year his 60-year-old father, Albert, died. Sam and Lillian never had any children.

Sam established himself as Blacksmith and Wheelwright on the corner of Bunga and Lamont Streets, Bermagui.

When the motor car era arrived, he quickly adapted and by 1928 had built Bermagui South’s Service Station. He advertised a sign on the door, “Just toot and we’re oot”! When you tooted out he came to fill up your tank. 

As well as running a general store and filling station with his wife, Lillian, Sam was a jack-of-all trades. He trained the strong man, Don Athaldo, built the village store and butchery, was the RSL patron, weighmaster for the Big Game Angling Club, undertaker…and he pulled teeth!

Sam died on 21 August 1964 at the age of 82. An obituary read, “He was a man of many roles, with a stout heart and tremendous resolution”.

Whether Sam was the inspiration for Tooheys’ famous blacksmith, we will probably never know for sure. I’d like to think he was.

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