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.

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Historic Brick Collection


There are a couple of groups on the web chasing information about this document.  Since I subscribe to Groucho Marx' principle of not wanting to join any club that would have me as a member, I will give the details of where you can get this paper if you contact me with your contact details.
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2 comments:

  1. GaryvinesNovember 4, 2021 at 5:46 AM

    This is from a document held originally in the Heritage Victoria archaeological reports. I recognise the numbered stick on dot. It was probably written by Iain Stuart who was compiling a brick collection as type specimens in the 90s. Possibly with the idea that they could be used for dating buildings. https://www.linkedin.com/in/iain-stuart-1a38b112?originalSubdomain=au

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  2. PaulJanuary 18, 2022 at 6:09 PM

    Hey, I am wondering if I could get a copy of this as I'm very interested in reading it. My email should be attached in the comment but let me know if you need it. Thank you!

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