Historical information

Moritz Cohn was one of three Danish brothers (with Julius and Jacob) that arrived in Bendigo in 1853. Cohn Brothers was a brand well-known in Bendigo from the gold rush days until the 1970s. Their first venture, on arriving at the goldfields, was a pub, the Criterion Hotel. that they sold after a year. The brothers turned their hands to making drinks rather than selling them. Initially, they focused on soft drinks, cider and raspberry vinegar, but by 1856 the Cohn Brothers brewery in Bendigo’s Victoria Street was producing ale and porter. Image (Photograph??) was taken by Johnstone, O’Shannessy & Co, founded in Melbourne in 1864 by Henry James Johnstone and Emily Florence Kate O'Shaugnessy, in their photographic business. The firm exhibited photographs at the Intercolonial Exhibition in Melbourne in 1866, where the ‘special excellence’ of their work was noted by the judges.

Physical description

Drawing of Moritz Cohn by Johnstone, O'Shannassy and Co. Wooden frame, glass broken on front. Screws and string on the back for wall hanging

Inscriptions & markings

Johnstone O'Shannassy and Co.