Northcote Brick Company Limited

The Northcote Patent Brickworks first appear in the Sands and MacDougall Directory in 1876.  They were the forerunner of the Northcote Brick Company Limited.   It had its beginnings with hotelier John Roberts, licensee of the Carters Arms Hotel on the corner of Separation and High Streets Northcote.  In 1867, John discovered clay on his property.  This clay was assessed as being suitable for brick and pipe making and was also found to be in sufficient quantity.    John had been a farmer in the area before opening the hotel.  He later sold a large part of the property to brothers Charles and Seymour Groom who then set about raising capital to set up the Northcote Patent Brick Company on the property.  It consisted of an eight-acre property on which a 12 metre deep pit developed.  John left the hotel in 1870 but returned to again run it in 1876 until 1881.  John died in 1887.

Production began in 1873 and the first kiln produced up to 2 million bricks per annum.  The business flourished and in 1882, a consortium of local businessmen purchased the Northcote Patent Brick Company and began the Northcote Brick Company.  Pressure testing of the bricks went to 70 tons, compared to 50 tons for most other bricks.  The Northcote Brick Company was registered on the 4^th of April 1882 and floated 30,000 shares in 1883.  John Roberts invested, as did George Plant, the only locals to do so.  John moved to Arthurton Road after he sold the hotel. A mortgage for £1,000 was taken out on the 4^th of September 1884 to help keep the business going. 

From their Prospectus; “To be registered under the "Companies Statute 1864." Capital: £50,000 in 50,000 Shares of £1 each, of which it is proposed to make a First Issue of 30,000 shares, 2s. 6d, payable on application, and 2s. 6d. on allotment; calls not to exceed 2s. 6d. per share, at intervals of not less than three months. It is not anticipated that more than 10s. per share will need to be called up.  The present proprietors will take a large interest in the undertaking.”

“This company is projected to purchase the property of the Northcote Brick Company (whose bricks are so favourably known to architects and the building trade) at a cost of £9,500, inclusive of all preliminary charges, and to extend and work the same. The property- consists of nine acres (more or less) freehold, situate at Northcote, on which is erected a kiln of seven compartments, holding 11,000 bricks each, giving a weekly output of (allowing for wasters) 70,000 bricks, in addition to which there is an open kiln, from which 94,000 are turned out monthly.”

“The present improvements consist of a substantial engine-house, containing one 10-horse power engine for hauling and grinding the clay and one 24-horse power engine for working the moulding machine, and which is capable of driving another.  The brick making machinery (Bradley and Craven's Patent) was selected by Mr. Lloyd Taylor, when in England in 1877, after testing the best in use with samples of Northcote clay - which a quantity was sent home for the purpose.”

“There is also on the ground a detached brick office, a weatherboard cottage for the overseer, and extensive sheds, under which 100,000 bricks can be dried, with a black smith's shop (containing ample tools and duplicates of machinery), and other necessary out-buildings attached; the whole forming a most complete plant, in perfect order.”

Also from their prospectus…" Melbourne, 20th February, 1882. "Gentlemen,- . ". . . I can confidently assert that the whole property, of about nine acres in extent, is entirely of the same character.  The beds -being nearly vertical there is. no limit to their extension in depth, it being merely a question of profitable extraction. . . . The large excavation from which brick clay has been removed is 43 ft. deep at the south end and: 33 ft. at the north. The-surface area of the quarry is between an eighth and a ninth part of the property. 'Your obedient servant, " (Signed) "Norman TayLon, late Field Geologist, Geological Survey of Victoria."

“Melbourne, 18/2/82 "Gentlemen.-We have made an inventory of the brick making plant at Northcote as pointed out by you, and we value the same at five thousand five hundred pounds. . "(Signed) "Robinson Bros, and Co'”

“The cost of making bricks as at present, with the machinery going less than half time, is 36s. 5d. per thousand, selling in the yard at 40s.. leaving 3s 7d. profit. It is proposed at once to erect an improved kiln at an outlay of. say, £4500, and it is estimated that the cost of the bricks then produced would not exceed 30s., leaving a margin of profit of 10s. per thousand.

It may be worth while noticing that the company will take over with the property an order for the supply of 1½ million of hricks for one contract.  The output for the six months ending the 3rd September, 1881, was 2,109,950. This would be more than doubled by the erection of the additional kiln, and should show a net profit of at least 25 per cent. per annum upon the paid-up capital of the company.”

Beacause of the land boom in the 1880s, they wasted no time and constructed a Hoffman Kiln.  A second Hoffman kiln was built in 1886.  By 1889 their output was 4 million bricks a month.  They became a victim of their own success when the New Northcote Brick Company opened nearby in Dennis Street in 1887.  They were to be competitors for decades.

In 1887 the Northcote Brick Company purchased land for a railway siding.  One of the sellers was Thomas Bent, later to become Premier of Victoria and notorious land speculator.

Production ceased for two months in 1889 due to a strike by their brick carters.  They wanted an increase, but the brick works said that they could bring coal back from the rail on their return journey, thus increasing their pay.  There were 110 carters, of whom 80 were union members.  The sticking point being the cost of horse feed.  The carters insisted that contractors paid them at a higher rate than the brick works.  The depression began in 1890 compounding this problem and the works only survived by selling its stockpiles.  Demand dropped and their prices followed. 

Both works continued with greatly reduced production.  Only two kilns of their five were kept operating at the Northcote Brick Company.  The companies were major employers in the area, with over 500 staff between them and local business dependent on them were also badly affected.  Output dropped by 10.5 million bricks and the works closed periodically.  Something had to be done.

Talk of amalgamation began in 1891.  In 1896, the Co-operative Brick Company Limited was formed by agreement between the Hoffman Patent Steam Brick Co., Northcote Brick Co. Ltd., New Northcote Brick Co. Ltd., Chas. Butler & Son and Fritsch, Holzer and Co., and registered on 10 September 1896. Authorized capital was £50,000 in 50,000 shares of £1. The word ‘proprietary’ was added and registered on 11 February 1897. Authorized capital was increased to £150,000 on 17 July 1927.  During its 70 years of business the Oakleigh Brick Co., Clifton Brick Co., Blackburn Brick Co., City Brick Co., and the Standard Brick Co. (Box Hill) became associated.  (The company was taken over by Brick and Pipe Industries Pty. Ltd., William Street, Melbourne, in 1966.)

In 1900 the plant was electrified.  Additional land was purchased in 1901 and 1902.  A new Thomson steam engine was installed in 1903.  Additional boiler equipment from Babcock and Wilcox was installed in 1903 as were new brick presses from the Austral Engineering Company.  This boiler lasted until 1915 when it was replaced by another Thomson boiler.  The agreement with Victorian Railways for the use of the siding was  renegotiated in 1920.  In 1926 additional land on the west aide of Weston Street was acquired.

Most brick works suffered another downturn and loss of staff, but not at Northcote.  A new steam works was built in 1919.  By 1920, the company was enjoying record profits.  But the good time could not last and the great depression again slashed demand.  In 1931, only 12 homes were built in Northcote compared to nearly 700 in 1924/25 and staff had been cut to 37 people.  To keep going, they sold part of their land behind the Carters Arms to the Northcote Council who intended to create a park, but this never happened.  The brickworks again had to close intermittently.

By the end of the 1930s, they had started to get back on their feet but staff numbers were still low, at around 100.  Then came World War 2.  Most men enlisted and demand fell.  When the war ended, their workers did not return in sufficient numbers.  The baby boom improved sales, but by 1962, there was an amalgamation with the New Northcote Brick Company.

In 1977, the old brick pit was sold to the Northcote council to be used as a tip for the next 25 years.  In 1979 the old kilns and the rest of the buildings, including the chimneys were demolished.  The site was then sold to developers.  In 1981 Northcote Plaza was built on the site of the old brick works.  The tip took 25 years to fill and closed in 1998.  The land was rehabilitated and is now the All Nation Park, opening in 2002.

Later, the company merged with Nubrik and Clifton Bricks to form Austral Bricks.  Next time you drive through Cragieburn, look at their giant works to the side of the freeway.

Wilsmore

John Braisted Wilsmore was born on the 1^st of June 1831 at West Mersea in Essex and migrated to Victoria in 1858.  He began working as a cartage contractor, a business he continued until 1872.  In 1872 he purchased about 30 acres of land in Albert Street west Brunswick, next to Cornwell’s Pottery.  He built a brick works and employed six men who made around 25,000 bricks a week.  The land was described as “A rectangular piece of land, part of Crown portion 104 Parish of Jika Jika 86 feet to the north side of Victoria Street, a road leading from the Sydney Road to Moonee Ponds by 150 feet and commencing 210 feet from a point 297 feet south from the north-east corner of the said portion.”  He was later joined by younger brother Robert Henry Wilsmore.  Robert had been a farmer at Tylden, but John “accidentally” shot his brother in the leg in 1887. 

When he sold the brick works to the Wilsmore Brick Company in 1888, there were about thirty people working there, turning out 100,000 bricks a week.  The prospectus for the company aimed to raise 150,000 and appointed John as the Manager of the works for an initial period of six months so that “the Directors will therefore have the benefit of his valuable advice and assistance in erecting the necessary additional kilns and machinery”.  The actual works covered about 4 acres and had good rail access by way of a siding.  They made a variety of products and sold a lot of their output to country Victoria. 

“SERIOUS ACCIDENT. A painful accident happened at the Wilsmore Brick Works early Friday morning to an engine-driver named William Addis, who is a married man residing in Glenlyon-road.  Addis was on the night shift, whilst engaged in oiling the machinery, some of his clothes became entangled in the driving belt.  With tremendous force he was carried up to the shaft and hurled against the pulley.  He fortunately fell clear of the machinery, but when picked up and was found to be suffering intensely.  With all promptitude Addis was conveyed to the surgery of Dr. Hamilton, who discovered that the man was suffering from injuries to the spine, and had also one of his wrists broken.  The doctor paid every attention to him, and the sufferer was then conveyed to his home.”  Coburg Leader 28^th January 1891.

 Sadly, fhe Wilsmore Brick Company was another casualty of the crash in the 1890s.  Orders dried up and creditors were calling.  The company was placed into the hands of liquidators in 1893 and sold off.  John died in Prahran, Victoria in 1907 at the age of 76.  At least, he appears to have made his money before the crash.

Manallack, Thomas

Thomas Manallack is generally believed to be the first brick maker in Brunswick.  He was born in Sithney, Cornwall (where the name is recorded as Menallack) in 1808.  The parish of Sithney, (Cornish: Merthersydhni), is situated in the Deanery and Hundred of Kerrier,  bounded on the north by Crowan, on the east by Wendron and Helston and the Looe Pool which separates it from Gunwalloe, on the south by the sea, and on the west by Breage. It is named after the patron saint of the church, who chose to be the patron saint of mad dogs (in preference to young women).

The parish lies about three miles north west of the town of Helston in a mainly agricultural area. In the 19th century there were at least eight tin mines in the area, none of which are working today.  The Trevano mine was worked from 1840 to 1848 for copper and tin.  The mine had already been in operation in the late 18th century, yet few records exist about that working period.

Thomas arrived in Melbourne aboard the “Lysander” in January 1849, with wife Mary and their six children.  Shortly after his arrival, Thomas purchased a small parcel of land in Little Collins Street, Melbourne.  He also purchased land in the then outer suburb of Brunswick, then known as Phillipstown.  He began a pottery and brickworks there, operating for only two or three years until 1851 when he left for the goldfields with his son, also called Thomas. 

John Glew worked there for a short time in 1849.  It is mistakenly believed that Thomas taught John the skill of brick making.  This is incorrect as John was an accomplished brick maker when he arrived in Melbourne.  Gold was not as profitable as expected and Thomas returned to Brunswick where he became the licensee of the Cornish Arms Hotel.  The hotel first opened in 1854.  Thomas owned it until his death at age 82.

Thomas died in Victoria on the 9^th of January 1891 and is buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery.  Manallack Street in Brunswick was named in his honour.

Glew

Glew, John 1822-1893

 John was born in Yorkshire, England in 1822.  He arrived in Victoria as an assisted migrant on the 4^th of April 1849 on the ship “Mary Shepherd.”  A job for John was arranged on his arrival to  work with brick maker Thomas Manallack for a few weeks in his Brunswick brick yard, the first in the area.  It is said that this was where he learned brickmaking, but because he arrived as an assited migrant, I believe that he must have already a competent Brickmaker.  An earlier story about John in 1931 confirms this.

(http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/4415581?sarchTerm=john%20glew%20brick&searchLimits=l-title=13|||sortby=dateAsc|||l-category=Article )

John then purchased a small piece of land close to the Moonee Ponds Creek in Hodgson Street Phillipstown, (an early name for Brunswick) and started brickmaking and quarrying in June 1849, a business he continued for the next eleven years.  For the first six months he worked alone and then engaged two men.  In 1860 he started a second yard in Brunswick and in 1866 bought the business of Pohlmans Paddock brickmaking Company off Orrong Road which he carried on for six or seven years.  (That's POHLMAN, not POHEMAN as some others report.  Polhlman was R.W.Pohlman, an early settler and landowner in Prahran.)  When this pit was worked out he set up another in Barkly Street East.

The prefabricated iron houses from England he erected for his employees still stand in Brunswick Road.  Clay and stone were found in many parts of the district and most of Brunswick's parks, apart from Brunswick Park and Warr Park, are filled-in quarry holes.  John got an honourable mention for his bricks and tiles at the International Exhibition of 1862.

About 1871 he opened another brick yard at Essendon and at that time was carrying on the four places and employing an average of fifty hands, which number he kept up for a period of over twenty years, turning out upwards of 4,000,000 bricks a year.  Mr Glew retired from business in 1884 and paid a visit to the old country in 1886.  He has been connected with the Brunswick Council for thirteen years and was at one time Mayor of the Borough. 

While in business, Mr Glew did a great deal of Government work and supplied bricks for the Treasury, Parliament Houses, Post Office, Town Hall and many of the principal buildings of the colony.  He was the first to introduce fancy white bricks into Victoria and was awarded first prize for bricks, tiles etc. at he London Exhibition 1850-51 and at Dublin in 1865 for Terra Cotta ware.

Two years before his death, John moved to Ocean Grove, on Victoria’s west coast, now a popular seaside holiday destination.  He died aged 71 years there on Friday the 29^th of September 1893.  He is buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery.

 Glew, Samuel  

Brunswick, was born in Melbourne and after working for a number of years with his father, John Glew, took over his brick and tile making business during 1884, in Brunswick at Weston Street.  He employed on an average from sixteen to eighteen hands in the manufacture of bricks, tiles, and fancy brick-work.  All bricks from this establishement were hand made and turned out at a rate of from 20,000 to 25,000 per week.

Glew Samuel  -1879

Son of William

Glew, William 1809-1898

Arrived in Victoria aboard the “Western Empire” in August 1870 with his son, also William and after working with John Glew for two years as a brick-carter, commenced brick making on a site in Orrong Road, Armadale in 1872.  He employed an average of twelve hands, and turned out from 30,000 to 35,000 bricks per week, all of which were hand made and of the ordinary description, the clay being hoisted by horse-power.  His business was principally confined to contract works in various suburbs, especially Prahran.

The depression in Victoria was a tough time for almost everyone, brick makers included.  Rising costs and low prices forced a forerunner to the brick Co-operative.  This was formed in 1892 and was called the “Brickmasters Association.”  Comprising;

The Northcote Brick Company Limited

The Hoffman Patent Steam Brick Company Limited

The Wilmore Brick Company Limited

The South Preston P Brick & Tile Company Limited

The Builders Brick & Tile Supply Company Limited

The South Brunswick Brick Company Limited

The New Northcote Brick Company Limited

 The Walkerden F Brick & Tile Company Limited

The Upper Hawthorn Brick Company Limited

The John Glew Brick Company

The Blackburn Brick Company

Cornwell’s Pottery & Brick Works.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/printArticlePdf/8444376/3?print=n

Spear (City Bricks)

A two for one deal here, not to be confused with Speare in Tempe NSW, A Spear and Sons were a firm of brickmakers located in Victoria Road Upper Hawthorn.  Founded in 1857 by Frederick Spear, who arrived in Victoria aged 34 in 1853 on the ship “Earle Gray” as an assisted migrant.  This means that Frederick had a skill in demand in the colony.  He operated the company until his death on the 21^st of October 1884.  There were only two people working there producing between 8-10,000 per week at the beginning and around 12 when the sons took over.  His widow continued the business with her son T.H Spear and his two brothers Frederick (Jnr) and Harold.  Their bricks were all hand made in the 1800s and they produced between 30-40,000 bricks per week.

Around the turn of the century, Spears became City Bricks with Frederick Jnr as the Company Secretary.  They employed between 80 to 90 staff.  As we know, City Brick was one of the original members of the Co-operative Brick Company.  Their advertising until 1904 referred to City Bricks, late A Spear & Sons.   As well as the works in Hawthorn, they also built a works at Tooronga (Malvern).  This operated until 1963 when it moved to Scoresby.  The pit closed in 1983.

Ethell Family

Another family that had an intimate part in the making of bricks and tiles in the 19^th and early 20^th Centuries in Victoria was that of Daniel Ethell.  In the 19^th Century, the Government encouraged skilled migration to the colony and Daniel arrived in Port Phillip aboard the ship Marco Polo 6th December 1856 from Liverpool with 419 other persons on board.

The ship left Liverpool with ships Master James Clark on the 5th August 1856. This ship was previously famous for the fastest trip to and from Australia when in 1852 Captain James Nicol Forbes sailed the great southern route via the Antarctic almost halving the time to 68 days out and 76 days back. Also on the same voyage, the ship lost 53 lives, mostly children to a measles epidemic brought about by overcrowding 881 passengers. Only two adults died in what was the second worst death rate amongst the so-called Plague Ships.

Daniel began brick making immediately on his arrival, working for George Preston of Hart and Preston in Prahran for about twelve months.  (Daniel's wife was Sarah Preston, any relation?) They made bricks in 1853 immediately below the tollgate, near the Richmond Bridge in Chapel St.  This site is currently located near Malcolm St (the Como site).

The manufacture of bricks required kilns in which to burn them, and wood for the fires. The brick kilns consumed tons of wood, so Prahran not only enjoyed the profits of brick making, but also was cleared of timber. The smoke by day, the glare by night of the brick kilns, at all points of the compass, was a notable impression of early Prahran.  Daniel's wife and family joined him in Australia in 1858. The address given in his wife's departure record was Chapel St and Gardiner's Creek Road (Toorak Road). In 1859 Daniel commenced brick making for himself in Hawthorn, carrying on that business for four years. 

Like Prahran, Hawthorn's emergence as a township with established residences and locally provided services depended on its economic relationship with Melbourne. While the timber cutters moved further out in search of new forests, brick makers tapped the Hawthorn area for clay. Hawthorn was described at the time as possessing the advantages of Prahran for "brick earth", claiming the deepest beds of clay were in Red Gum Flat (Auburn), the area east of the village, and in the lower parts about Gardiners Creek.

In 1863 he moved the business to Pohlman St, (now A'Beckett St) Armadale. The business directory of the time lists Ethell: -Charles, Daniel & William as Brick makers Prahran. Council Records show he paid rates on 2 acres in Orrong Rd Prahran. The clay pit and brickworks is now Orrong Park.  At the commencement of his brick works in Armadale he produced 8 to 10,000 handmade bricks per week. Like most works at the time, the clay was hoisted and ground by horsepower.  Production went to supply principally local demand. 

Daniel Ethell died, aged 62, in 1876.  The Brick making business carried on by his widow Sarah.  His death certificate listed the cause of death as “cancer of the cheek and face/exhaustion, 3 years duration.  His son Thomas Ethell (1839-1918) began making bricks in Jasper Road, East Brighton in 1892.  His works were called the “Ardwicke Brickworks, ” (also the name of his home), later the “Ardwicke Steam Brickworks.”  There were some hard years during the depression of the 1890s and some of the family went to Western Australia to help build the overland telegraph.  Following their return to Victoria, the business was floated around 1910 and continued until the early 1920s, producing “Star” brand roofing tiles.  They also made concrete roofing tiles.

The Jasper Road pit was not as deep as that at the South rd or Brentwood Street pits, which were about 60 feet deep.  It may have been lack of depth of clay that caused the works to stop. For some time the water-filled pit contained blue and yellow coloured fish, regarded by the local boys as strange and wild looking and possibly poisonous.  This was in contrast to the Brentwood Street hole, which had golden carp and redfin and other good fish, caught for 6 pence for all day, with bait of flour dough on their hooks. One boy drowned there, but no deaths were recalled at Halley Park.

The family diversified into other areas, Thomas’ brother Henry Ethell purchased brickworks in Stamford Road Oakleigh from Edwin Wade in 1897.  Henry was born 20^th August 1842 in Manchester, England and died in Oakleigh on the 14^th of August 1909.  Henry was living in High St, Prahran at the time of his father’s death.  After taking over the old Wade and Wright brick works, he  turned it into a successful business. The machinery there took time to re-commission and an astute investment for Ethell was the purchase of wire-cutting machinery.

Baxter and Mc Kell acquired the brick works from Henry Ethell in 1908.  Abraham (Snr) bought him out with Abraham (Jnr) joining the firm some time later.  Henry did not enjoy a long retirement because he died at his home in Clyde Street Oakleigh the following year.

The Oakleigh Site in 1945

Mr. Graham Ethell told of his father, Edmund, after coming home from the Boer War, where he served in the 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles, and before joining the Police Force, helping at the Brickworks that one particular horse, when his cart was loaded, would amble three parts around the block, giving Edmund time to have a cup of tea after shifting the heavy load before driving the horse to the delivery site. 

By 1903 a dozen workers were able to produce 10,000 to 12,000 bricks per day, for delivery to metropolitan and country markets. The clay pit being worked proved to be of excellent composition for bricks and pipe clay. The extracted material was conveyed by trucks on railed track to the hopper and fed into a mill where it was ground, sieved, worked into a plug, and then forced into dies, emerging to be wire cut into bricks. These were lifted to a drying area and stacked until ready for the Kiln.  Three kilns operated with capacities to accommodate from 40,000 to 60,000 bricks.

Richard (Dick) Arthur Ethell (1873-1956) purchased the property on the corner of Dandenong and Ferntree Gully Roads from Fritz Ernest Frankenberg on the 29^th October 1914.  Richard was living at “Lara”, Davey Avenue at the time.  He owned the property until the 23^rd of December 1919 when it was sold to Harold Frank Hunt.  He later sold it to the Terracotta Roofing Tile Company on the 24^th of March 1921. 

The Site 1931

(Thanks to the Prosser and Sharman Family Tree for much of this).

Charles Butler and Son

Charles Butler was born in Hampshire, England in 1829.  He trained as a bricklayer before migrating to Victoria in 1856.  He began work as a builder and contractor and was responsible for building some of Melbourne’s best known early buildings, such as the “Victoria Coffee Palace” later the Victoria Hotel and the Methodist Ladies College, among others.

In 1886 he later opened the South Brunswick Brick Company Limited at 9 to 23 Albion Street near the corner of Albion Street and Henderson Street, at what is now Jones Park Brunswick East, Moreland City. The bricks bear the frog impressions of either "SOUTH BRUNSWICK", "S.B.B.C." or "C.BUTLER".  Charles had three sons, Charlie, Alf and Bert.  Charlie was the son who followed dad into the business.

In 1896, Charles Butler and Son became a member of the Co-operative Brick Company Limited This company was formed by agreement between the Hoffman Patent Steam Brick Co., Northcote Brick Co. Ltd., New Northcote Brick Co. Ltd., Chas. Butler & Son and Fritsch, Holzer and Co., and registered on 10 September 1896. Authorized capital was £50,000 in 50,000 shares of £1. The word ‘proprietary’ was added and registered on 11 February 1897. Authorized capital was increased to £150,000 on 17 July 1927.  During its 70 years of business the Oakleigh Brick Co., Clifton Brick Co., Blackburn Brick Co., City Brick Co., and the Standard Brick Co. (Box Hill) became associated.  The company was taken over by Brick and Pipe Industries Pty. Ltd., William Street, Melbourne, in 1966.

The brick works operated until 1972.  All that is left now are brick footings and remnants of the kilns made of bricks with the stamp "SBBC" on the long east- west wall and "C BUTLER" bricks in remnants of 1950s buildings.

Charles died at his home, 51 Fitzgibbon Street Parkville on the 11^th of December 1901.  His wife Elepsaba also died there ten tears later in April 1911.  

Thanks to http://bricksinvictoria.blogspot.com.au

State Brickworks (SCM) Wonthaggi

It only lasted a short time and is a complex story.  This is a precis and a more informative story on one of my other blogs soon.  Wonthaggi’s history really started in 1909 as a socialist experiment by a conservative government, with a need for Victoria to sever its dependence on NSW for its supply of black coal.  It then became a casualty of the vicissitudes of governments of the times.  In April 1910, the Victorian State Government refused to issue any further coal mining leases as a prelude to assuming control of coal production across the State. 

In 1901, the State Government of Victoria decided to build a State-owned and operated coal mine at Wonthaggi, an area near the east coast.  Extensive black coal deposits had been discovered throughout the region.  Later, as part of the State Coal Mine at Wonthaggi, the State Brickworks was started.  The General Manager of the coalmine, Mr George Broome decided that the expanding works should produce its own bricks.  Despite howls of protest from the private sector, the Minister of Mines Mr McBride gave approval in mid 1910 for the establishment of a State brick works at the town.

A convenient size for a Scotch kiln is about 60 feet by 11 feet internal dimensions, and 12 feet high. This will contain about 80,000 bricks. The fire-holes are 3 feet apart. These kilns are often made 12 feet wide, but 11 feet is enough to burn through properly.  The existing pictures of the Wonthaggi kiln show a much smaller kiln (or kilns) of around 20 to 30,000 bricks per firing.

The Scotch Kiln is known as an intermittent kiln.  Later, a Hoffman kiln was built.  The Hoffman kiln is known as a continuous type where bricks remain stationary and the fire moves through the kiln with assistance or help of a chimney or by a suction fan.  Most brick works in Victoria used the “Hoffman” kilns of this type.   The major benefit to brick makers was that bricks could be made up to 80% cheaper in a Hoffman kiln.

The SCM Machar wire-cutting machine could make up to 12,000 bricks per week.  These bricks were made to build a Hoffman kiln.  A second wire cutting machine was also installed.  This Hoffman kiln required 400,000 bricks in its construction. 

Poor quality of the bricks was alleged (supposedly by those associated with the Co-operative) and by 1912 the works were effectively closed.  It was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald on the 21^st of February 2012 that the total cost of construction was £9995/12/2, working expenses to date £5720/7/3; revenue to date £1000/13/3.  “The number of serviceable bricks manufactured was 1,252,000; number of bricks used in erection of buildings for coal mines 368,000; number of bricks used in the erection of public and private buildings 188,000.” 

By this time, a serious rival had emerged, in the Glen Iris Brick Tile and Terra Cotta Co started by disgruntled builders.  It had a site at Glen Iris but had to move to because the local Council and the Co-operative blocked access to the land.  An agreement was also entered into for a lease of Government land at Thornbury commencing in 1913 and to provide the State Government with bricks at a reduced price.

Mr. Robert Selkirk of Ballarat was called in to review the works. Robert had arrived in Victoria in 1854 at the age of 14 with his family and after working as a stonemason for thirty years, eventually started his own business making bricks by hand just outside Ballarat in the goldfields.  He thought the State Brick Works were incorrectly sited on almost permanently wet clay, this clay being too heavy and sticky for the machinery to handle. He subsequently supervised the making of 25,000 bricks from clay obtained from the pony paddock, but was of the opinion that the black coal was not suitable for burning the bricks.  Nevertheless, he conceded, good quality bricks could be made for as little as 32-33/- per 1000.

Despite Mr Selkirk’s expert opinion, on 20 October 1913, the State Government Cabinet decided to discontinue brick making at Wonthaggi and to dispose of the plant and its material by public tender. Initially, a by-law decreed that Wonthaggi houses should be made of brick, but on 24 October 1913, the by-law was relaxed.

There were at least two other brick works that operated in Wonthaggi.  One was owned by Edison and Utting and began in April 1911 near South Dudley. Originally a Mr Ash was reported as being their manager but another manager was Mr George.

  

One of the reasons given for the failure of the Wonthaggi Brick Works was the influence of the Co=Operative Brick Company.  Brick makers in Melbourne had complained about the Co-operative Brick Company that was established in 1896.  It was alleged that the Co operative was responsible for high prices, poor quality, refusal to supply products and various other monopolistic practices.  In 1913, the Victorian Government established a Royal Commission that eventually determined that the Co-op was not a monopoly as some of the companies outside it were. 

Remains of Brick Pits at Wonthaggi

Fritsch Holzer

 

Originally the company was known as the Upper Hawthorn Brick Company Ltd.  It was started by brothers Johann, Martin and Anton Holzer and Gustav Augustus Fritsch.  Fritsch had previously been a brick maker in Abbotsford, before moving to Hawthorn.  Each had a brick works that operated next door to each other and the two works merged in 1883 to form the largest brick making company in Victoria.  At its peak, they employed around eighty people and were making over 250,000 bricks per week.  The depression of the 1890s caused a drastic downturn in building.  Bricks were not being sold and staff laid off.  The company nearly collapsed. 

To stave off the inevitable, in 1896 a brick co-operative was formed with Hoffman Patent Steam Brick Co., Northcote Brick Co. Ltd., New Northcote Brick Co. Ltd., Chas. Butler & Son and Fritsch, Holzer and Company.  Bricks were sold throughout Victoria as the company supplied the State Government, more particularly the building of schools.  They continued making bricks until the early 1970s when the works closed.  The former site is now the “Ftritsch Holzer Park.  The local Council purchased the 14 acre site in 1972 for $1,060.000 and used it for landfill.  The site became a park in 1995. 

Corinella

Trading Name	Not known
Years of Operation	1827 1828
Company Number	No number
Address	Brick Kiln Road Corinella
Council Lot No.	11a
Coordinates	-38.411480 145.446552
Current Use	Primary production

What better way to start this blog than with the first brick makers in Victoria.  In December 1826, a party of settlers from Sydney arrived at Corinella in Westernport Bay.  They bought with them, around 10,000 bricks used as ballast in the ships.  As the settlement grew, in early 1827, they set up a clamp to make more bricks.  It is believed that around 30,000 more were made at the site.  These were reported as being better made than the Sydney bricks.  The Governor required each settlement to set up their own brick works.

Given that each cubic yard of clay makes about 200 to 250 bricks, then the brick pit would not be large.  The settlement was located at the end of Jamieson Street Corinella and a small pit is still visible in the paddock further east at the end of Brick Kiln Road.  I suspect that name may be a clue.  A large percentage of the bricks were “recycled”shortly afterwards by the Anderson brothers who built their home on the Bass River from these bricks, as well as a salt works and a flour-mill.

One of the convicts was Charles Rote, a Brick Maker.  Some of the  other convicts in the original settlement were Charles Baker, a mason and bricklayer from Bristol;  John Clark, another convict was a Bricklayers Boy; James Boland, Stonecutter;  Thomas Softly, Bricklayer and Benjamin Pearce, Bricklayer and Plasterer.

In late November 1834 Captain John Hart, Master of the whaling ship “Elizabeth” with a party of whalers from Portland to Western Port to gather wattle bark used in Tanneries during a lull in whaling. Captain Hart had traveled the coast previously in 1831.  Hart had been singing the praises of the area.  This led to John Batman settling Melbourne in 1835.  (Batman had earlier tried to obtain land at Westernport without success.)  In early December Hart landed at Red Point near the 1826 settlement with 20 Bark Strippers, a team of bullocks and a dray.  He later settled on French Island.

A "Hart" Brick Mounted in a Monument at Corinella

A John Hart later tried to establish a salt works there and as part of this process, he made bricks.  They were hand made and were impressed with a single heart motif.  People often mistake these “Hart” bricks for the original convict bricks produced in 1827.  This is not the case.  Most convict bricks were scavenged and pilfered years ago but many “Hart” bricks are in Corinella.  A house, (the Palmer Homestead) made from them burned down as late as 1999.  It was probably John Junior as the bricks were first made in 1872.  John moved to Melbourne and went into partnership with George Preston, then out on his own for a couple of years in the mid 1870s.

A single heart has been used by a number of brick makers in early settlements, usually by convict makers.  Soon after the settlement was abandoned, later arrivals pillaged the site and little now remains.  Anything around these days is likely to be one of the "Hart" bricks.

Brick Kiln Road at Corinella with the remains of the clay pit at the top of the picture.