Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus.) beer brewed in Australia.

1889-90		D. Sladen in Barrère & Leland Sl., Jargon and Cant I 49/1: Artesian (Australian, popular), Colonial beer. People in Gippsland, Victoria, use artesian just as Tasmanians use cascade, in the sense of ‘beer,’ because the one is manufactured from the celebrated artesian well at Sale, Gippsland, and the other from the cascade water.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1900–10		Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 3: ARTESIAN: [...] colonial beer.
1933		‘William Juniper’ True Drunkard’s Delight 228: Australian slang recognises beer in she-oak, shearer’s joy and in artesian.
1937–84		Partridge DSUE (1984) 27/2: ca. 1880–1914.