Kyogle Street

“I grew up across the road, and I used to come here with my brother-inlaw Jack on a Saturday morning”, I told the blokes standing outside “Two Mates Brewing”.

At the time Jack was working for Hensley Brothers, a local engineering firm which did a lot of work for the railways.

I don’t remember exactly what he did, but it was messy. And I remember the pink liquid he used to wash his hands with to remove the grease. Though I didn’t get so dirty mself, I vividly remember wanting to wash my hands with the pink liquid, also. It was the same colour of pink detergent they used in schools, along with sawdust, whenever someone vomited.

Though the railway line is still there, the tracks are mostly overgrown, as the trains don’t come through Lismore anymore.

But the shed is, albeit slightly changed.

“We used a lot of the outside timber on the inside, and the front was full of asbestos”, the two blokes told me. When I mentioned the asbestos to Jack (he’s now in his 80s) he was emphatic in his belief “there was no asbestos”.

Either way, the shed will soon take on a new life as a boutique brewery under the name “Two Mates Brewing. “We’ve still got a few things to work through with council, but we hope we can open in a few weeks time”, one of them told me.

Strictly speaking the new brewery is in Engine Street, on the other side of the railway track. But since the removal of the BGF (Banana Grower’s Federation) sheds (below), it’s really much of a muchness.