George Marks (Ballarat Pottery Pty Ltd)

This is the first part of a three part story of a business that continues today, first as the "Ballarat Pottery Works Pty Ltd" run by George Marks.  The second was Martins Stoneware Pipes, and finally, the third incarnation, Vitclay. 

This photograph of the Ballarat Pottery Works was taken shortly after Martin's takeover in 1921.  The buildings in the picture were destroyed by fire in 1922.  You can just make out Martins sign to the left of the door.

George Marks was one of the early potters in Ballarat.  Unlike so many others, he had not made his way to the goldfields in search of riches.  He arrived in Victoria aboard the SS Norfolk in 1858 from London.  Like so many others, fortune did not happen, although he did become a shareholder in the Windsor Gold Mining Company in August 1864 and the Nairnshire Gold Mining Company in 1871.  He had accepted an offer to work at a works in Brunswick, Victoria as a potter.  Although a Londoner, George had trained at the Doulton and Sons pottery in Staffordshire.

In 1861, George Marks established his first Ballarat Pottery Works on Creswick Road in Ballarat, near the Old Cemetery. There with the help of four boys he produced salt-glazed drain pipes, chimney pots and tiles for Ballarat builders as well as a quantity of wheel-thrown jars, flower pots and saucers, water monkeys, bread pans, butter pots, ginger beer bottles, etc. The business flourished and the building of the railway through his property gave him the opportunity to relocate closer to town at 306 Creswick Road.    Principally, the reason was that he could not obtain title to the land near the cemetery.  Clay was obtained from a number of sites around Ballarat.   

The first building on the new site was a two-storey timber framed construction of 47 feet by 90 feet.  The triple fronted timber building with the square chimney was later built.  (Square chimneys are usually of Welsh manufacture whereas circular chimneys are usually Cornish.)  Another chimney was built on top of a circular two-storey kiln containing three furnaces.  This wood and coal kiln was used to fire flower pots and chimney ornaments.  A second coal only fired kiln nearby was lined with firebricks made by Taylors Brickworks at Black Hill.

A ten horsepower horizontal steam engine was also installed to operate the machinery at the plant.   The initial processing of the clay was carried out at the rear of the property by a horse drawn pug mill.  Different products required different grades of clay.   The pug mill worked the clay to a proper consistency that was then moved in large lumps into sheds ready to be converted into various articles.  The clay that is now pretty solid and “stiff” is then placed in a small press with a perforated bottom.  The press was worked by hand, and after the clay had passed through the perforated bottom it was almost free from stones and fit to be made into the rougher articles, such as flower-pots and tiles.  The clay from which ginger-beer bottles, water monkeys, preserve pots etcetera, were made was all carefully washed in tubs and worked up by hand before it was put upon the potter’s lathe.

The following comes from a newspaper article from “The Star”.  “but by far the most interesting of the work is that done by Mr Marks on the potters lathe or wheel.  The potter’s wheel is a small iron table made to revolve by means of cog-wheels upon a handle like that of a windlass being turned.  Upon this wheel, or revolving table, the potter makes flower pots and saucers, water monkeys, bread pans, butter pots, ginger beer bottles, and various other things.  The potter from practice knows the size of the piece of clay he will require for any particular article.  He takes this lump of clay, puts it on the wheel, dips his hands in water, and the boy in attendance sets the table revolving rapidly.  In a few seconds the operator, using only his hands and a small piece of tin for a scraper will turn out such small articles such as ginger-beer bottles, blacking pots, and small jars of all shapes and so quickly does he do it that the operation appears like a sort of magic to one who knows nothing of the work.

 The larger articles, such as 6 and 7 gallon butter jars, or large bread pans capable of holding five or six loaves, are more difficult and take longer to make, but Mr Marks turns out any of these out, perfectly formed, in less than five minutes.  The trueness of curve and shape generally in all these things seems wonderful, for the potter does his work with great speed and has only his hands and eyes to guide him.  Chimney pots of all sizes and shapes are made by Mr Marks.  The plain round ones are made with the press in the same manner as the pipes, but the octagonal pots, moulded in the ordinary way with wooded moulds, and the sectional pieces are afterwards joined together.  Some of the designs here for chimney pots are very pretty, and there were all kinds of wonderful inventions for doing away with the smoky chimneys.  Some of the Ballarat builders deal largely with Mr Marks for chimney pots, and he turns out a large number weekly. 

The clay for the manufacture of the rougher kinds of wares, such as pipes and chimney pots does not need to be very fine, and after a very slight preparation it is ready for use.  Great care, however, has to be taken in the preparation of the clay for the manufacture of such things as preserve jars, water monkeys &c.  The clay for these things is put through the pug-mill, then puddled in a tub, and when it is of proper consistency it is placed on a wooded table and worked up like dough only much more carefully.  Every little stone is picked out and the clay is worked for hours before it is fit for the potter’s wheel.  After all the smaller articles are made on the wheel they can be removed by hand, but the larger vessels being soft cannot be handles.  Before they are made, therefore a piece of wood is fixed in the wheel and the vessel after it is made, are removed together.

The next process is the drying.  Drainpipes, tiles, bottles and jars, are all stacked, and allowed to dry for a certain time until they are ready for baking in the kiln.  The drain pipes and chimney pots are burned in a kiln by themselves.  This kiln holds about 8000 drain pipes, and a large number of chimney pots, and if the  pottery was in full work two kilns per week of these articles could be baked.  This kiln has six fire holes, and costs £8 per week for fuel, both coal and wood.  A glaze is put on the pots and pipes by a large quantity of common salt being thrown in the kiln at the top.  The flower pots and other small articles are baked in a separate kiln, as they are of a frail and delicate nature, and will not stand rough handling.  The kiln set apart for them is a small one, and is divided into small compartments, made with large, flat, clay tiles.  The flower pots are not glazed, but the jam jars and ginger-beer bottles are glazed in the same manner as the drain pipes. 

The small sized drain pipes are sold in large quantities to farmers and others in the district, and there is a good demand for flower pots among the gardeners and nurserymen.  Mr Marks says he can manufacture drain pipes, flower pots, plain and ornamental chimney pots, and jars of all kinds at a much lower rate than these articles can be imported for.  The Lextonshire and Avica shire councils purchase large numbers of the 26-inch drain pipes for culverts.  Mr Marks’ chief difficulty is the want of good clay for the making of the finer sorts of pottery ware, and he is at present experimenting with various kinds of clay obtained from different parts of the district.  Most of the finer articles he has made up to the present time have been made more by way of experiment than with the hope of immediate profit, although Mr Marks is confident that the proper material he can turn out wares that will be cheaper and of as good quality as imported wares.” 

He was also making pipes too.  From small “aggie” pipes, 2” in diameter to water pipes up to 18” diameter.  Output of pipes was restricted by the space available to dry them, leading to delay in filling orders.  As the town expanded, sewage pipes were also made in increasing numbers.

When these were made, the clay was put in the press,  but the perforated bottom is removed, and in its place a mould was fixed, according to the size of the pipes to be made.  The press was raised from the ground about three feet, and after the clay had been put in, a wooden table, running with weighted cords placed over pulleys in the roof of the shed, was allowed to run up close to the bottom of the press.  Then the operator set the press in motion and as the pipe was forced through the mould, its weight forced the table down.  When the pipe was long enough it was cut off with a piece of string and removed, and the weights caused the table to rise up ready to receive another pipe.  This was carried on until all the clay in the press was exhausted; and the press having been refilled with clay the operation was repeated, the moulds being altered as pipes of different sizes were required.  The making of these pipes was the chief business carried on at the pottery,

In 1869, George won a prize of 2 for his display of “Colonial made pottery (adapted to domestic purposes and ornament)” at the ninth Annual Spring Show of the Smeaton, Spring Hill and Bullarook Agricultural Society.

In 1878, George left to work at the Adelaide Pottery and Drainpipe Works, at Brompton and Caversham, leaving the running of the Ballarat Pottery mostly to his new partner Samuel Coyte.  The owner of this company was William Martin who would later buy out the Ballarat Pottery Company in 1921.  There had been a huge expansion of the sewage system in Adelaide and George was in the position to satisfy this demand.  Martins were a well known family in Adelaide, as James Martin had been a major manufacturer of farm machinery.  George died in Hindmarsh, Adelaide in 1918 at the ripe old age of 79

Within a few years the Ballarat Pottery had ceased to produce domestic wares although it continued making pipes and fittings until 1921, when it was taken over by William Martin and became Martin Stoneware Pipe Pty Ltd.  It is impossible to accurately identify the pottery output of this pottery because so few pieces were ever marked.  This appears to be a common element amongst the makers in and around Ballarat.

In 1922, the old works were destroyed by fire and Martin’s rebuilt.

The site of Martin's in 1981

Aspinall, Elijah

Name	Elijah Aspinall
Address	Peel Street Ballarat East
Occupation	Brickmaker
Born	1817, Bolton, Lancashire, England
Parents	Thomas and Elizabeth
Died	1877 Age 60
Burial
Occupation	Brick Maker
Period Active	1857 -1877
Married	Elizabeth Margaret Radcliffe, Bolton
Children	Elizabeth (Betsy) 1846-1914 Thomas  1851-1918 Maria 1859-1859 Sarah Ann 1862-1951
Arrived	In Melbourne, February  1855 on board the “Shalimar”

At a meeting of the Eastern Municipal Council on Tuesday the 8^th of July 1862, the Town Clerk read a letter “from Elijah Aspinall stating that he had seen in the Star that Mr John Hurst of Mopoke Gully had made application to have the present surveyed street (Peel Street) and that a very little deviation would take it over a better course, &c.  If such deviation should be agreed (contended the writer) all of the brick clay used by him and five or six other persons who followed the avocation of brick makers would be interfered with as well as some twenty ratepayers who had registered frontages on the new line of the street.  He protested on anything of the kind being done, as it would ruin him and the rest of the brick makers.  He was struck dumb with astonishment at the utter selfishness and ingratitude of Mr Hurst’s application.  As it was he who had showed him where to set down to brick making in 1857 and it was all nonsense for Mr Hurst to say that he had expended £500 in plant &c, when £10 would start any brick makers in the business, and his business could be removed to the line of Peel Street for £20.” 

In August 1864, Elijah advertised 5,000 bricks for sale at £1 per thousand.

On Friday, the 7^th of October 1864, Elijah was charged with “threatening behavior and obscene language.”  He was fined 20/- or 48 hours imprisonment.  Against whom is not known.

On Tuesday the 18^th of October 1864, C.W.Sherard, Commissioner for Crown Lands forwarded an application from Elijah for the granting of a license for brick making near Brougham Street, Ballarat East.  The application was referred to the Engineer.

On Friday the 15^th of February 1867, he was charged and convicted of failing to take out his license as a brick maker.  He was fined 40/- with costs.

Darley Firebrick Company Pty Ltd

Firebricks, comparitively have never been produced in quantity in Victoria.  Only a few companies produced them.  Other than Darley, there were the Ordish Fire Brick Company in Dandenong, the Australian Gas Retort & Fire Brick Manufacturing Co of South Yarra and Hoffman Brick & Potteries in Northcote.

A firebrick is made to withstand high temperatures.  They are fired at a higher temperature than ordinary bricks and are used in areas where an ordinary brick would not endure, such as inside kilns and furnaces, potteries, foundaries and smelting furnaces.  They also have greater insulating properties.  They are also used where exposure to chemicals is also a factor.  

Darley is now a suburb about 2 miles (3.2km) north of Bacchus Marsh, now a feeder area for Melbourne.  In the early 1900s, it was well out into the country west of Melbourne and had been a stopping point on the way to Ballarat.  The area is geologically divers, having deposits of coal, as well as clay deposits, suitable for brick making.  First recorded brick makers there were Thomas Akers (1848-1928) and William Thomas Wittick.  In partnership, they established the Darley Firebrick Company in 1893 on Bald Hill, Darley.  Thomas had arrived from Coventry in England.  He married Mary Ann Worthy in 1873 and they went on to have 15 children.  William Thomas Wittick (1857-1939) was born in Richmond, Victoria.  He married Hannah Barton in 1876.  They had 10 children.  William died in Sunshine and is buried at Bacchus Marsh.  William’s grand son later became the Manager at Darley.

The Darley Fire Brick Company had a second part in the outer Melbourne area of Montrose.  This began in 1904 when David Mitchell, (1829-1916) father of Dame Nellie Melba purchased 10 acres of land from James Walker, a brick maker who began making bricks, including firebricks in Montrose in 1898.   James Walker had been making fire bricks at Montrose, as well as ordinary house bricks.  David took a controlling interest in the Darley Fire Brick Company in 1898.  They used rectangular downdraught kilns to make their bricks.  Among many other notable Melbourne buildings, David built the Exhibition Buildings in the Carlton Gardens, the only surviving example of 19^th C exhibition buildings in the world.

  

This land was on the corner of Montrose and Cambridge roads, (Lots 35b & C).  The works were situated on a small creek that flowed parallel to Cambridge Road and eventually into Olinda Creek.  David arrived in Melbourne aboard the ship “Anna” on the 6^th of April 1852.  He worked as a mason and builder as well as spending time on the Bendigo goldfields.  In 1856 he married Isabella Dow, daughter of James Dow, an engineer at Langlands foundry, South Melbourne.  (A Fitter at Langlands, Herbert Austin, later returned to England to begin the Austin car company.) 

David was quite a businessman.  In 1859 he had a brick making company in Burnley Street and in 1874 and later became a shareholder in the Builders Lime and Cement Company.  In 1890, he and his partner R.D. Langley began a Portland Cement factory at Burnley using kaolin from Lilydale.  In 1878 he purchased Cave Hill Farm at Lilydale and started excavating limestone from the property.  The “Darley Firebrick Company Pty Ltd” was formally begun on the 9^th of May 1898.  David Mitchell was the majority shareholder.

The works then had an output capacity of 82,000 bricks per week produced in a bottle kiln and three downdraught kilns.  They would go on to produce over 100 different shapes and sizes of refractory bricks and tiles.

This article from the local newspaper at the time, describes the works much better than I could.

The large 2-storey wooden -buildings, and iron and brick chimney shaft, erected by the above company about 2 miles to the north of Bacchus Marsh, fill a conspicuous place in the landscape, and when the lengthy brick-drying sheds are roofed in the " factory" appearance will be very marked. In addition, there will be 1 or 2 large kilns. It will be 2 or 3 months yet before everything is in working order to make bricks.  Wonderful progress has been made in a short time under the practical supervision of Mr. William Emslie, a right trusty manager for many years for Mr. David Mitchell, of Cave hill, Lilydale, the well-known agriculturalist, dairy farmer, cement manufacturer, contractor, &c., and famed also as being the father of Madame Melba.  A great quantity of cement concrete and brick foundation work has been put in, which is not very noticeable now that the wooden buildings cover them. The principal building is 34ft. x 24ft, and 20ft. high, and it has an upper floor to receive the pulverized clay. The lower floor will contain the pug mill and brick-making machinery, very little of which is yet on the ground. At the upper side of this building, to wards the clay pit, and with a floor 4ft. higher, is the Chillean mill shed, 23 x 19, and 16ft. high. Here a very massive Chillean mill, 9ft. in diameter, and with 2 iron rollers weighing 2 tons each, will pulverize the blended material (the proportions of which are a trade secret) of which the bricks will be composed. The clay will be received above the mill in a hopper, to the mouth of which trucks will run on an up and down tramway from the clay pit, part of the distance being bridged by a timber staging, or viaduct. The bed-plate for the Chillean mill is in position, on a substantial concrete foundation, and all the working parts are lying round ready for erecting. The mill will dry crush', all the material put into it, and the product will be taken by elevators to the upper floor above the pug mill, where 90 tons can be stored, under cover, the object being to keep the stuff dry until it is." tempered" in the pug mill, and otherwise prepared for the brick moulding, and pressing.  Elevated water tanks will supply the sprinklers, or whatever methods of applying the water is used,and a shaft is being sunk to obtain this indispensable fluid. It is down 106ft, in very hard conglomerate, and water has not yet been got, but the work will be persevered with. The shaft is substantially slabbed all the way down. At right angles to the 2 sheds (which are practically 1 shed) containing the machinery, are the engine house and boiler house, side by side. The engine is a horizontal one, 25 h.p, and the boiler is 20 ft. long by 54-ft. diameter. The boiler, with a 55ft. chimney, is built in and all ready for work. The engine bed is ready, but the engine it self is lying outside the building. The boiler house is 30 x 10, and 11ft. high. The engine house 24 x 13, and 13ft. high. A brick drying shed, 180ft. long, and 34ft. wide, joins end on to the boiler house.  At the further end of this shedthe brick-burning kilons will be erected. The first 1 is to have 5 fires, and will be 32ft. x 40ft., and 20ft. high. The plant is capable of turning out 15,000 bricks per day, and a large number of men will be employed. It is said that the demand for fire bricks in Melbourne amounts to about 50,000 per week, half of which are imported at present, but it is claimed for the Darley bricks that they will supersede the imported ones. They have given tests, with imperfect puddling, 40 per cent, better than expected. The supply of clay is believed to be what is termed "practically unlimited."  The company, which consists of 5 shareholders, of whom Mr. David Mitchell is chairman, has an area of 15 acres, all of which is believed to contain the very purest and best fire clay. At the pit or quarry opened up by Mr. W. T. Wittick, one of the shareholders, there is a " face" showing 7ft of ordinary brick-making clay and gravel, then 10 ft. of the best and purest fire-clay. A shaft underfoot has disclosed 2 more seams-3,ft. and 2,ft., with gravel clays in between, and the shaft sunk further away from the hill side to get water has gone through a 35ft. seam of fireclay. Such immense seams are seldom met with. Mr. Wittick has burnt about 100,000 firebricks from the clay, all of which found ready sale. He has now got capitalists to take up the venture, and the amount of money they have spent upon developing it, and the still larger amount yet to be spent, be sides the working capital required, all give agreeable proof to this district, at any rate, that they have every faith in their good works.  If the output is as extensive and as profitable as everyone hopes it will be, there is every prospect of the Railway Department running a light line from the Bacchus Marsh station yard to the boundary of the Company's property. The surveyed line is there now, having been surveyed as part of the projected railway to Coimadai and Bullengarook.  We repeat what we have frequently stated-namely, that the best hopes for Bacchus Marsh development lie in this northerly direction, and it is very gratifying to find such a man as Mr. David Mitchell putting his ability, energy, and capital into what may be called the head debouchure of that large and much undervalued region.

Bacchus Marsh Express, 18 January 1902. P3

In 1982, the company changed its name to Darley Refractories Pty Ltd following its purchase of the South Yarra Firebrick Company, making it the sole producer of firebricks in Victoria.  

Montrose Brickworks

Hardly anything remains of this brick-works today.  The area has been made into parkland and considerable regrowth has obliterated almost everything of the brick-works.  The only areas remaining relatively untouched are the ramp along which the clay trucks were pulled up from the pit and the platforms where the buildings were located.  Much of the pit has been filled with rubbish, like so many other pits around Melbourne.

The first small-scale brick works in Montrose was opened by James Walker in 1891 at a site on Mount Dandenong Road where the CFA Fire Station is now located.  Hand-made bricks were made from red porous clay dug at the site to be used in baker’s ovens; and white kaolin clay used for fire-bricks.  These types of clay were unique to this location.  James had a store on the corner of Mount Dandenong Road and Montrose Road that he named “Rose Mont”, said to be the origin of the town’s name.  The original brick-works site closed in 1920.

In the English-speaking world, the term for a kiln used to make a smaller supply of bricks is known as the Scotch kiln.  It is also known as a Dutch Kiln or a Scove Kiln.  It is the type of kiln most commonly used in the manufacture of bricks.  Scoving is the process of covering the kiln in wet clay to seal any openings.  It is a roughly rectangular building, open at the top, and having wide doorways at the ends. The sidewalls are built of old or poorly made bricks set in clay.  There are several openings called fire-holes, or " eyes," made of firebricks and fire clay, opposite one another. 

Construction of a Rectangular Downdraught Kiln at Gulsons Brick Works in Goulburn NSW

The dried raw bricks are arranged in the kilns so as to form flues connecting the fire-holes or eyes, and they are packed (crowded) in such a way to leave small spaces between the bricks from bottom to top and front to back and side to side through which the fire can find its way to and around every brick. A modification of the Scotch Kiln is sometimes to have openings in the floor like latticework, through which the heat ascends from arched furnaces underneath.

After the dried bricks are loaded into the kiln, the ends (or wickets) are built up, and plastered over with clay. At first the fires are kept low, simply to drive off the moisture.  After about three days the steam ceases to rise and the fires are allowed to burn up briskly.  The draught is regulated by partially stopping the fire-holes with clay, and by covering the top of the kiln with old bricks, boards, or earth, so as to keep in the heat.  It takes between 48 to 60 hours for the bricks to be sufficiently fired, and they will have shrunk to the appropriate size.  The fire-holes are then completely sealed with clay and all air excluded.  The kiln is then allowed to cool gradually.

About a half-ton of soft coal is required for burning each 1000 bricks. The exact quantity depends upon the type of clay, quality of fuel, and the skill in setting the kiln.

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.

An early Scotch Kiln showing the way bricks were stacked and the size of timber for firing.

A kiln takes on an average a week to burn, and, including the time required for crowding and emptying, it may be burnt about once every three weeks, or ten times in an average season. This will produce about 800,000 bricks that is about as many as would be turned out by two moulders in full work.  The bricks in the centre of the kiln are generally well burnt. Those at the bottom are likely to be very hard, some clinkered. Those at the top are often badly burnt, soft, and unfit for exterior work.

A Scotch Kiln is of a type known as an intermittent kiln.  A Hoffman Kiln is known as a continuous kiln.  In a continuous kiln 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 ended up using the “Hoffman” kilns of this type.  The kilns at Montrose were intermittent types and could not compete with the volume produced in the Hoffman Kilns in Melbourne.

Fire Bricks, or refectory bricks are used to line high temperature fireboxes, such as furnaces, kilns and fireplaces.  They are also used for processes with extreme chemical stresses.  They are also used in processes using electrical or gas fuels.  They also have better insulation and sound proofing qualities and do not fracture when exposed to rapid temperature changes.  They can withstand heat of up to 2,800 degrees C.

The next chapter began with David Mitchell (1829- 1916) who is best known as the father of Australian icon Dame Nellie Melba.  Davis arrived in Melbourne on board the ship “Anna” on the 6^th of April 1852 and worked as a mason and builder as well as spending some time on the Bendigo goldfields.  In 1856 he married Isabella Dow, daughter of James Dow, an Engineer at Langlands foundry.  (A fitter at Langlands, Herbert Austin later returned to England to begin the Austin car company.)

David Mitchell

On the 29^th of August 1904, David Mitchell bought 10 acres of land from James Walker on the eastern corner of Montrose and Cambridge roads (Lots 35 B & C).  The works was situated on a small creek that flowed parallel to Cambridge Road and eventually into Olinda Creek.  Mitchell became the majority shareholder in the Darley Fire Brick Company, outside Bacchus Marsh (Registered Office Olivers Lane Melbourne) in 1902 and began manufacturing of fire bricks in Montrose as well as Darley  using rectangular downdraught kilns.  

David built the Exhibition Buildings in the Carlton Gardens and St Patrick’s Cathedral, Eastern Hill, just to mention a couple of his projects.  In 1859, David had a brick-making company in Burnley Street and in 1874 he became a shareholder in the Builders Lime and Cement Company.  In 1890, he and his partner R.D Langley began a Portland Cement factory at Burnley using Kaolin from Lilydale.  In 1878 he purchased Cave Hill Farm at Lilydale and started excavating limestone from the property.

“Brick works of every description have cropped out within the last 2 years 6 months. Under the management of Messrs Naylor, Tranter and Derbishire, who keep things in full swing huge storage sheds, for moulded material have been erected some 250 feet long, other buildings attached, engine house and otherwise, where the bricks of all sorts are turned out by the thousands.  A good start considering the time, roads and sundry obstructions to develop such as a brick making industry.  Since the long expected railway has flown to a better land I'm told flowing with milk and honey and otherwise which had caused us of Montrose to look after it, and of our own lookout as a dark blot, and prospects unsolaced for its prosperity since the Creator, looked back on it and so leaving his huge foot mark behind in disgust as he disappeared to mould a brighter place, possibly our neighbours doorways, Lilydale and Wandin districts; possibly the luck they have stolen has paid them.

Possibly we could expect to see a tram track to the kilns; if only bricks sold well and a dozen yards were set in full swing, and fire clay in abundance. But trade is not good enough to gratify any other attempts at present.  Perhaps fail latter on. Roads not fit to pay to cart along. Fire clay of the very best can be got. Tiles, pipes, fire bricks and a dozen other sorts are turned out.  Very good assortment for the time to prove how trade runs. The works are not 10 minutes walk from the Montrose store and post office, even at this some residents a mile off are not aware of such a company as brick-works in the district to the present. Three fair sized kilns are kept going continually the clay is hawled (sic) up by steam power and the bricks of all sorts cut and set and then pressed to finish for the fiery kilns. Some 9 or 10 workmen are kept going regular as clockwork. £60 or £70 per month ($30 to $35) worth more or less are turned out. Not so bad since developing a trade to be included no small matter.”

Richard Walker Lilydale Express 11 October 1901

But early on, David had his eyes elsewhere.  In 1902, he bought into another brick making plant at Bacchus Marsh.  The clay was considered superior to the local clays in Montrose and the area available for the brick works was much larger.  Output was higher.  In time, the majority of manufacture was undertaken there.  There was  already a brick works operating there, having been established in 1893 by Thomas Akers and William Wittick.  David bought into the partnership in 1898.  This additional capital allowed for expansion.  On the 9^th of May 1898, the “Darley Firebrick Company Pty Ltd” was formed.  Mitchell holding the majority of shares.  It is now known as “Darley Refractories Pty in 1982 following acquisition of the South Yarra Firebrick Company.

In 1914, the Button family came to Montrose.  Clarence Lloyd “Clarrie’ Button was born in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand around 1878.  Clarrie died at age 73 and was buried in the Lilydale Cemetery on the 30^th of August 1951.  Clarrie and his wife Mary Jane (Daughter of WJ Walker) lived at 14 Walker Road Montrose.  They were married in 1900.  Mary Jane died in 1941 age 61.   He was by profession a Builder who had lived and worked in  New Zealand and Tasmania, as well as inner suburban Melbourne.  Clarrie is listed as being “Manager” of the brick-works in 1920.  Clarrie and his nephew William (Billy) Walker, an experienced brick-maker, took over the company.  They greatly expanded the business.  The Darley Fire Brick Company continues today at Bacchus Marsh, on the opposite side of Melbourne.

Fire-Lumps, Agricultural Pipes and Partition Bricks at the Montrose Brick Works.

The bricks made at the Montrose brickworks were sold throughout Victoria.  In 1928 the brickworks were cutting 16,000 bricks per day and employed up to 20 men.   Montrose still specialised in two types of firebricks; bricks for Bakers ovens made from red porous clay and fire bricks made from white clay.  They also produced fire lumps (for furnaces) agricultural pipes of all sizes, perforated bricks for iron furnaces, sole tiles and gutter bricks, as well as normal house bricks.  A Fire-Lump is a large brick between approximately 18 inches to 2 feet long by 9 inches deep and 6 inches thick.  They cover the floor and lower side if the furnace.   A Sole-Tile is placed at the bottom of a drain to provide a firm base.  Hard clay bases do not need sole-tiles.

Layout of the works

The great depression hit Montrose Brickworks hard, along with many other brick-makers throughout Australia.  Brick making has and is a high volume, low profit margin business.  It does not take much to tip a company over the edge.  The Montrose brickworks was finally brought to a halt by World War II.  In 1946, staffing shortages were affecting brick makers across Australia.  In Victoria, soldiers returning from the Second World War were not willing to come back into the hard, dirty and dangerous environment of a brick works.  Before the war, there were 34 brick kilns in Melbourne, employing 1034 men.  After the war, there were only 30 kilns operating, employing 600 men.  There was a particular shortage in the roofing tile industry.  New homes were being built quickly, with weatherboard being used extensively.  Even though the homes were timber, they still used fired roof tiles. 

This new drying shed was built in 1931

Many of his workers had gone to war leaving Clarrie with no choice but to sell the business to Rimingtons Nursery in 1945.  The site was used to make flower-pots until the late 1950s, possibly until the early 1960s.   This was necessary because of the shortage of terra-cotta pots after the war.  The brick-works made pots up to 12” in diameter.  They did not use metal pots.  Rimingtons was a large wholesale and retail nursery business, plus ornamental trees, with properties in inner suburban Kew, their retail outlet and propagation nursery as well as Clarinda, their distribution centre and 100 acres at Toolangi as well as Montrose.

They produced a range of products from clay, not only fire bricks, that were used for chimneys and fireplaces but also agricultural pipes, partition bricks, fire lumps for furnaces, as well as house-bricks.  The Montrose Historical Society purchased 700 of the Montrose bricks and had them made into a memorial and display for this almost forgotten part of local history.  In it’s day, it was the only major industry in the town and most men at one time or another had worked there.

Montrose bricks can be mostly identified by their stamps.  Early bricks were stamped “DFB Co” (Darley Fire Brick Company), “DFB Co Works Montrose”, “Montrose” or “Montrose Fire Brick.”  Some bricks have thumb-prints, believed by some to be a counting technique, but also made when pushing bricks from a mould (some bricks were hand made in pairs).  If you want to see any quantity of these early bricks, I suggest you visit the Ballarat Lodge and Convention Centre.  When this establishment was built, they used bricks from the ovens of the now demolished Sunshine Biscuit factory in Ballarat.

  

Part of the Montrose Brick Display at the Montrose Shopping Centre.

My thanks to the volunteers at the Lilydale and District Historical Society for much of the information contained in this post. 

William Axtell

Name	William Axtell
Address	Carngham
Occupation	Cowkeeper, Brickmaker, Miner
Born	St Pancras, London, 1817
Parents	John Axtell and Catherine (Humphries)
Died	Beaufort, Victoria, 13th July 1894
Burial	Beaufort, Victoria, 15th July 1894
Occupation	Brickmaker
Period Active	1862-?
Married	Geelong, Victoria, to Ellenor Purcell 1835-1931
Children	Catherine b 1853 Mary Jane Elizabeth 1855-1941 Maria 1859-1863 Mary Elizabeth 1863? William Thomas 1864-1955 Emily Mary 1867-1955 Robert John 1869 Sarah Ann 1862 Ellen Therese 1873 1944 Jewell Victoria 1874-1953 Johann 1877-1879
Arrived	Melbourne, 1852 as unassisted migrant aboard the “Beulah”

Little is known of their movements for the next ten years, and it may be assumed that, like many others, he was a not too successful gold miner in the nearby fields in or near Ballarat.  They were living in Cargham, near Ballarat when, in 1862, William received permission to commence brick making.  Carngham is 27 kilometres west of Ballarat and about 30 kilometers from Buninyong.  The name Carngham is said to derive from the Wathawurrung people's word for house or hut.  In 1838 James and Thomas Baillie squatted there and adopted the Aboriginal place name for their property. The local clan was the Karrungum baluk or Carringum balug.

According to the census of 29 March 1857 there were 459 people in Carngham, 292 males and 167 females. This figure probably includes the population of Snake Valley. Until that time, the area had been farmland owned by In 1854 there had been 58 people, 15 males and 13 females.  Carngham is 4 km north of Snake Valley and was a mining township, surveyed and proclaimed in 1855.  State School number 146 operated at Carngham from 1856 until 1911.  Today Carngham is little more than a few houses where the Snake Valley-Trawalla road crosses the road from Ballarat to Beaufort.  Snake Valley is still the larger settlement. Overlooking Carngham is the old cemetery but William isn’t there.  William died on the 13^th of July 1894 at the age of 72 in the nearby town of Beaufort and was buried there two days later on the 15^th of July 1894.

Robert Adair

Name	Robert Adair
Address	Peel Street (on the left when traveling north to south)
Occupation	Labourer / Brickmaker
Born	County Armagh, Northern Ireland 1833
Parents	F.  Joseph Adair,  M.  Jane Bailiff
Died	Ballarat, Wednesday, 21 February 1872 Aged 38
Burial	Ballarat, New Cemetery, Presbyterian “A”, Sec. 19, Grave 41 (Unmarked)
Occupation	Brickmaker
Period Active	C 1867 to 1872
Married	Louisa Mohoney or Manley , St Kilda, Victoria 20 Dec 1858 (1833 – 1924)
	(Louisa died at the age of 91.)
Children	9 children, Loisa Mohoney Adair (1858-1859) Caroline Jane Adair (1860-1860) Robert John Adair (1861-1950) Henry Joseph Adair (1862-1942) Alexander James Adair (1865-1955) Thomas Adair (1866-1955) Eliza Jane Lillian (Lily) Adair (1866-1953) George Adair (1970-1953) Louisa Adair (1872-1942)
Arrived	Melbourne, Victoria from Liverpool on “Sardinian” 19 Mar 1857

On the 26^th of February 1867, Robert purchased several parcels of adjoining land in Ballarat east.  They were Section 59, allotments 11,12,13 & 14.  Purchased for the price of 2-10/- each.  It is nor known if he was making bricks prior to this, but I would assume that he was, probably on a smaller allotment in the same area, as many others were doing. 

He had been a successful brick maker at this location for several years before his early death at the age of 38 from pleurisy, which normally follows pneumonia.  His death certificate states that he had this condition for 8 days.  He died at the end of summer in 1872.  Brick makers, like miners, were exposed to extremely high levels of dust and as a result, were also subject to silicosis or “black lung.” 

The site of his brick works is now a public park.

On the day he died, the Ballarat “Courier” had the following report on the weather.  “The muggy and unhealthy weather we have experienced for the past ten days changed last night, and there is now a prospect of people being able to breathe again with something like comfort to themselves and safety to their lungs.  Last night about nine o’clock, the wind shifted to the south, after several pretty heavy showers of rain.  The warm weather has caused a great deal of sickness in Ballarat, but the change that has taken place it is probable those who have managed to pass through the trying ordeal will find themselves restored to health.  Children especially have been sufferers by the recent muggy weather.”  Sadly, too late for Robert.

Like many of his era, Robert lies in this unmarked grave in the old Ballarat cemetery, just to the left of the cement lined grave.

"At least one member of his family followed Robert in the brick making business,  This obituary appeared in the "Courier" on the 9th of February 1918. “The many friends of Mr Thomas Adair, a former resident of Black Hill will regret to hear of his death, which took place yesterday at the residence of his niece, Mrs J. Craddock, Sturt Street.  The deceased, who was 63 years of age leaves a family of three sons and two daughters.  In the seventies, the deceased who was a Brickmaker by occupation was engaged in his calling on the reserve now occupied by the Black Hill Progress Association since when he visited various parts of Victoria and several of the States and he was well known in the brick making game.  He was of a genial disposition and possessed a fund of knowledge of reminiscences of early Ballarat and district.  Mr Alec Adair of “The Courier” linotype staff is a brother of the deceased.”