Context

Historic context

Victoria has developed exponentially since European settlement. Originally timber huts housed a small but growing population. A legacy of the gold rush of the 1850s was an oversupply of underemployed miners. The extensive basalt plains of Victoria were a fertile ground for stonemasons who built the magnificent cities we see in Victoria today. These masons could not keep up with the demand as working basalt is a slow process. Brick makers then filled this gap and brick works popped up all over the colony as the population grew more affluent and wanted a better standard of housing.

This cultural and industrial heritage has largely been lost. The brick kilns are now gone. But the bricks remain. They are everywhere. Australia is now, as has been for a long time, the world’s largest per capita consumer of bricks. Nobody gives them a second thought. Many new arrivals in post-war Australia worked making bricks. Maybe one of your relatives was such a person. Almost nothing has been done in Victoria by the State Government to record this history, except a half-hearted attempt in the early 1980s by the Victoria State Archaeological Survey to record a few brick that came their way at a few sites. What ever became of them? Although some good came of it because a paper on “The Analysis of Bricks from Archaeological Sites in Australia; IAIN STUART” was produced. See it at http://www.jcis.net.au/data/23-04-Stuart.pdf


Even half the bricks we use today smash like China tea-pots if you drop them from any sort of height. Not like the old Victorian bricks. Oh no, they knew how to build houses in those days.

“Blue Collar”, P16, Danny King



What I want to do here is to show pictures of some of the bricks I have come across in my travels and give a short story about their maker. If you have anything to add, please let me know. PS: I do not collect bricks, only photographs of bricks. If you have some old bricks, let me know and I may come and photograph them and maybe find a story about them.

Monday, December 9, 2013

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. 


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13 comments:

  1. A.June 25, 2014 at 6:22 AM

    Hi,

    great info here, thank you for sharing.
    I am a science teacher and with some year 7, we are trying to understand how the landscape has evolved around our school, Auburn High. It is on the old site of Auburn quarry, or just next to itm in Hawthorn East, burgess street. Do you have any photos or more info about the quarry, the type of soil/rocks etc you are willing to share?
    please contact me on aurelie.abel.edu (at) gmail.com if you can help.

    Regards,
    Aurelie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The RamekingJune 26, 2014 at 3:54 AM

      There is not much information about the Auburn Brick Works available, but I suggest you try these sites.  I am compiling an entry on the Auburn company and hope to post it soon. 

      http://dpistore.efirst.com.au/product.asp?pID=402&cID=24
      http://www.biostats.com.au/Bonwick/geology-of-Boroondara.html
      http://theboroondarashops.com/2013/11/14/its-all-about-the-yarra/

      Good luck

      Delete
    2. AnonymousApril 6, 2021 at 4:30 AM

      Hi there, I have some old photos of the Auburn Quarry site if interested.
      An extract from another site:
      https://www.hawthornhistoricalsociety.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/SHADY-PLACES.pdf
      Auburn Quarry belonged to Cooperative Brickworks Company in 1906. It was the site of Alinant de
      Dollon's vineyard in the 1860s, later overlooked by two grand homes in Burgess Street near Auburn
      Crescent. In 1968, 130 people were still employed, producing 230,000 bricks per week, mostly from a
      100 foot deep pit of yellow Silurian mudstone on the west, with belt of sandstone and fault plane
      separating it from the east pit, and an old
      watercourse ran along the south. It is said that the
      pits were full of warm water, and local children
      could strip off and swim after school, with no
      bathers but a few rats. The pits were filled 1978,
      but geographical strata exposed by the cutting can
      still be seen. A sports centre for John Gardiner High
      School (later Hawthorn Secondary College, and
      now Auburn High School ?) opened in 1984, close
      to the 65 year old Auburn South Primary School.
      There were hockey and soccer ovals 1986, a pavilion for rugby, athletics and pigeon clubs 1990, and
      now more… Bialik College is nearby, Alia College in former Cato home just south.
      Feel free to email me for the photos:
      katcat@iinet.net.au
      Cheers Cowan

      Delete
  2. jeaneadeNovember 30, 2016 at 9:47 PM

    I just found a Fritsch Holzer stamped brick in excellent condition in my garden in Hay, NSW. I should imagine the bricks are not rare

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownJuly 15, 2018 at 4:09 AM

    Hi,as a young kid in the late 50's early 60's, I lived in Railway Parade Camberwell, the Fritsch Holzer brickworks was'part of my friends play area, ironically later on becoming a carpenter/builder, now retired. I have a couple of the bricks made there, one in particular, a pressed red with the five olympic rings and 1956 stamped into the 'frog'

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownApril 12, 2019 at 5:26 PM

    Hi
    I'm a member of the Holzer family currently working on a family tree project. Can I make direct contact with you to discuss your historical sources regarding the Fritsch Holzer Brickworks and the founding brothers
    Thanks
    Alex
    ajho61@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownSeptember 30, 2021 at 5:33 AM

      Hi Alex,
      I am a Camberwell Local working with some residents on Roseberry street to try and get the Victorian houses there protected. We need to find more history connecting the street to the brickworks.
      Would it be possible to talk to you about your family history? you may just know something that might help. For example if they owned many houses on the street and if any were built for the brick workers. Thanks Christina

      Delete
  5. UnknownOctober 18, 2019 at 2:31 AM

    Hi Rameking
    Just completed a 3 day hike up in the Victorian Alps walking around the Mt Feathertop area.
    Came across a Fritsch Holzer brick near the present-day site of Federation Hut. There have been numerous huts constructed over the years near this hut so cannot assume it originates from the original federation hut built back in 1968-69.
    Nevertheless, it was interesting to find a Fritsch Holzer brick in such a remote location. I can send you a photo of the brick if of interest?
    Cheers, Mulga Bill

    ReplyDelete
  6. The RamekingJune 20, 2020 at 4:54 AM

    As I have said elsewhere, for an inanimate object,bricks are extremely mobile. You never know where they will turn up.

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownJuly 9, 2020 at 2:36 AM

    Just discovered the bricks in my house are Fritsch Holtzer. Great to discover the historical detail here. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  8. steve keechererJuly 28, 2020 at 6:26 PM

    My great great grandmother was Eva Holzer
    We, as a family lived for a short time in a rented house in Roseberry St which was owned by one of the uncles
    i was only a toddler at the time, but my older brothers tell me of tales about playing on the slopes of the brickworks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownSeptember 30, 2021 at 5:35 AM

      Hi Steve,
      I am a Camberwell Local working with some residents on Roseberry street to try and get the Victorian houses there protected. We need to find more history connecting the street to the brickworks.
      Would it be possible to talk to you about your family history? you may just know something that might help. For example if they owned many houses on the street and if any were built for the brick workers. Thanks Christina christinabranagan@bigpond.com

      Delete
  9. UnknownNovember 20, 2020 at 6:34 PM

    My GGGrandfather , William Carter , was a bricklayer in Hawthorn between 1880 and 1907 when he passed away.An article in Sands McDougle says "He learnt his trade in Leicester and came over and built many houses here . Where could I find any information on Bricklayers. It goes on to say that in 1883 he started on his own account as a general contractor and builder..He has erected many buildings of all kinds in and parts of Melbourne and its vicinity.. Thank You
    JEN { nee Carter}

    ReplyDelete

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