The story
In 1877, brothers Nicholas Fitzgerald and Edward Fitzgerald partnered with a Brisbane commercial firm to buy the site of a failing distillery and establish a brewery, named for the Fitzgeralds' existing Castlemaine Brewery. They began to brew beer there in the following year and the brewery continues production to this day. The first beverage was called XXX Sparkling Ale.
In 1866, Patrick Perkins started the Perkins Brewery in Toowoomba. In 1872, he later extended his operations to Brisbane with the purchase of the City Brewery in 1872.
The company restricted its operations entirely to brewing by 1916. XXXX was introduced with new advertising campaign in 1924 after the brewery employed German brewer, Alhois William Leitner. The advertising included a depiction of a little man wearing a suit with a smile, a wink and a boater hat. The so-called 'Fourex Man' soon became one of the most recognised symbols in Queensland.
In 1928 (long after the death of Patrick Perkins in 1901), the Perkins brewing company was bought by the Castlemaine Brewery with new company being known as Castlemaine Perkins Limited.
In March 1980, Castlemaine Perkins merged with Tooheys to form Castlemaine Tooheys. Bond Corporation purchased Castlemaine Tooheys in 1985. Castlemaine Tooheys was acquired in 1992 by Lion Nathan.
From Wikipedia’s article on Castlemaine Perkins, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3