The site was purchased by John Batman, one of the founders of Melbourne, in 1837 at the fledgling settlement's first Crown land sale. Batman had a home built on the site for his children, which became a schoolhouse in 1839. Warehouses were erected on the site after the schoolhouse was razed in 1853. The Princes Bridge Hotel opened there on 1 July 1861 by John P. Toohey and his brother who later went on to found the Tooheys Beer brand. The Hotel was renamed to Young and Jackson after the Irish diggers who took it over in 1875, cousins Henry Figsby Young (b. 1849 Dublin, Ireland - d. 29 September 1925) and Thomas Joshua Jackson(b. 1834 - d. 9 May 1901).