Selkirk, Allendale

Today, Allendale (approximately 25 km north of Ballarat) is a far cry from its peak back in the days of the gold rush of the 1850’s.  Once a thriving service centre for the mining industry, the scattered remnants tell us little of the past. In fact, once Allendale was four adjoining towns in one; Allendale, Wallace Town, Ryans Town and Ristori Town, named after Adelaide Ristori (1822-1906) a famous Italian actress in her day.  She toured Australia in 1875.  Now the demarcation between the towns, and most of the towns themselves, are long gone.  Once a thriving settlement of over 1500 people, the town boasted a variety of facilities needed to maintain a thriving and profitable mining industry.  Allendale is now greatly reduced, but back in the day, it was a centre for gold miners, having six hotels, a museum and their own fire brigade.  

Into this community came Robert Selkirk.  Born in Fife, Scotland in 1819, he migrated to Victoria in 1854 with his family, including Robert Selkirk II who was also born in Fife, in 1841. Robert Jnr worked as a stonemason for years before making bricks in 1883 by hand at Allendale, just outside Ballarat.  RS2 gave up stonemasonry for timber splitting and moved to Cherry-Tree Flat near Ross Creek.  Later, in 1883 on his return to Allendale, he took up brick laying, but saw the demand for bricks in the growing town.  He had discovered suitable clay deposits behind his house in Allendale and by 1892, he had given up bricklaying and was a full-time Brickmaker.  He and one other worker built a drying shed, a clamp and wooden moulds and began production.  Robert eventually owned three properties around Allendale, two used for brick making and one for his home in Elizabeth Street with the works nearby.  Eventually, he employed ten workers who also made roof tiles and drainage pipes.  

He first made bricks from clay in a field in Ristori Town.  This was dug from the banks of mullock heap left at the Ristori mine in the De Murza paddock.  The clamp could produce up to 6,000 bricks per week.  These bricks were too soft after firing so he moved extraction to a new location.  Even though he considered these bricks too soft, they have lasted over a century.  He then made bricks from clay behind his house in Elizabeth Street.  By 1892, Robert moved to new premises around the corner in Garfield Street Allendale and had mechanised production through two scotch kilns.  Known as “Selkirks Brick Tile and Pipe Works”,

By 1887, bricks were being sent by rail to several destinations.  The delivery waggon, still catered to the local market.  By 1900, mining in Allendale was in rapid decline but Robert still had enough money to purchase land in Howitt Street in Ballarat.  Robert had seen the clay on the hillside there during his delivery trips.  He purchased 10 acres of land known as “Heinz’s Paddock” and the business relocated there in March 1900.  Robert offered the old clay pit to the local Creswick Shire Council to use as a rubbish dump, but they declined because it was too close to the town.  It is still there today. 

He built a Hoffman kiln in Ballarat from the last of his bricks made at Allendale.  It took over 400,000 bricks to make it and it had a capacity of 6.000.000 bricks per year.  Distribution through the nearby railway enabled the company to grow.

Today, Selkirk’s make 50,000,000 bricks each year, as well as other clay products and I believe that only one Selkirk remains with the company.  But this story is about the brick works in Allendale.  Even though he made thousands of bricks there, today, only two buildings remain that were made from his original bricks.  An old bakery, next to the nursery was made from his later Allendale bricks, and a kitchen with a chimney at the back of a weatherboard house is the only building made from the first works.  His bricks are scattered everywhere though.  Little piles in people’s gardens, garden edging and the occasional driveway are all that’s left.  This one was given to me by Ben, a long time resident, who also gave me some of this information.