THE THIN CLAY LINE© - PART 1

                                                                              BLACKBURN NORTH

                        43 -53 SPRINGFIELD RD, BLACKBURN NORTH FORMER BRICKFIELD, 

                                                                BRICK AND POTTERY WORK SITE

This site has had many different owners and uses over the years from the late 1850’s into the 20th century. Originally being used as farmland, then quarry/brickfield for making bricks and tiles, then pottery works for making water filters, insulators and pipes. At the time the areas where bricks were being made were known as ‘brickfields’. 

                    JAMES COUSENS SNR’S. BRICKFIELD - ESTABLISHED IN THE LATE 1850s

In 1855 the Victorian state government offered land for sale in the Nunawading District (as the City of Whitehorse was known at this time). James Cousens snr. purchased Lots 69 (107 acres), 70 (146 acres) and 71 (159 acres) on the northern side of Springfield Rd, Blackburn North between Middleborough and Surrey Rd’s. 

James Cousens snr. was born in Norfolk, England in 1790. He was the son of James and Elizabeth Cousens (nee Large). In 1815 James Cousens snr. and Catherine Foley were married in St Mary’s Cove, Ireland. In Ireland James snr. and Catherine had one child - James jnr. and later in England they had two more children - Robert and Richard.

James snr’s. occupation is listed as ‘mariner’, ‘master mariner’ and later in Melbourne as ‘farmer’. James snr. was the captain of the sailing ship the Duke of Bedford and had made a number of journeys from England to Australia and Singapore transporting immigrants and cargo prior to moving to Melbourne by himself from England in 1853. Catherine Cousens did not travel to Melbourne with her husband preferring to live in Middlesex, England all of her life.

There is little information in newspapers or other sources about the early brick manufacturing in the Nunawading District in the late 1850s but I did find two advertisements. One was in April 1860 and which mentions:

‘TO CARTER-TENDERS WANTED, for BRINGING 25,000 BRICKS from Nunawading. Address N. W. Dike, Clare Castle.’ 

and the second one was in November and mentioning:

‘TENDERS REQUIRED, for CARTING bricks from Nunawading to Kew. For particulars apply at Kew Store; or of N. W. Dike, Little Collins.’

The large number of bricks mentioned in these advertisements would indicate that bricks were being made on a commercial scale in the Nunawading District in the 1850s and that a considerable amount of money, manpower and time must have been spent in order to produce the number of bricks mentioned. Around this time the only brickfield that I have found that was operating on a commercial scale in the Nunawading District was on James Cousens snr’s. land. At the time the areas where bricks were being made were known as ‘brickfields’. 

As a ship’s captain James Cousens snr. was involved in the transport of cargo and immigrants to Australia and may have been an owner of the ship or could have been paid a salary of approximately £6 per year (equivalent to $1031 as of 2024) from the shipping company, as well as a ‘bounty’ from the colonial government for each healthy adult or family of immigrants he delivered to the colony. In the 1850s, the ‘bounty’ was around £19 per adult (equivalent to $6186 as of 2024) and £18 per child (equivalent to $3093 as of 2024) over 14 years of age. James snr. was therefore most likely to be in a strong financial position to buy and develop his land - where he appears to have lived by himself. 

After purchasing the land, James snr. spent a considerable amount of time and money in building a ‘brick cottage’, ‘men’s huts’, ‘extensive shed’ and a ‘kitchen garden of two acres.’ The scale of the building complex and kitchen garden on the site indicates that James was providing housing and food not only for himself but also for a number of ‘itinerant brickmakers’ he employed.

In Australia as in England, brickmaking was often a family affair with fathers working as the brickmakers and their children, usually their sons, as carriers, diggers, operators of the pug mill and the stackers of bricks to dry and fire. 

In 19th-century Melbourne, ‘itinerant brickmakers’ were tradespeople who travelled to a brickfield/building site to hand-make bricks on the spot for a specific project/order, rather than being a permanent employee of a large brick works. They made bricks by mixing local clay with other materials like sand or ash and then used moulds to form, dry, and fire the bricks on-site in temporary built kilns, a practice common for individual homes and buildings. The key was the local availability of suitable clay and wood fuel, as transporting heavy materials at the time was difficult and expensive. The duration an ‘itinerant brickmaker’ spent on a brickfield varied depending on the length of the contract/s for supplying bricks and economic conditions at the time.

In 1864 James snr. leased his brickfield to the Nunawading Pottery Co.

                                  THE NUNAWADING POTTERY CO. - ESTABLISHED 1864

In the book Victoria’s Earliest Potteries,2024 by Gregory Hills he mentions the Springfield Rd site:

‘The Nunawading site had previously been a brickfield but also contained a pottery works which had a succession of companies using it. The pottery works is first found in use in 1864 when it was called the Nunawading Pottery Company (1864 -1866), owned by three partners, Charles Phillips, J. Clayton and an unnamed works manager.’ 

Charles W. Phillips’s (see biography below) occupation at this time is listed as ‘mining engineer and manager’. 

John H Clayton’s occupations are variously listed as ‘solicitor’, ‘real estate agent’, ‘auctioneer’ and he was a large landowner in what is now Clayton (which was named after his estate in that area - Clayton Vale). John Clayton was familiar with the Nunawading District as he was the legal representative in 1862 for the Nunawading Roads Board in their court case of Cannam vs. Berry. The Charles. C. Cannam mentioned in this case was the former Secretary and Surveyor of the Nunawading Roads Board who in 1862 commenced legal action against the Roads Board in regard to claiming £50 (equivalent to $7000 as of 2024) in back pay.

It is highly likely that John Clayton knew James Cousens snr. as James was a member of the Nunawading Roads Board which John was representing and it would also be highly likely that John would have known of James’s brickfield on Springfield Rd. 

In 1865 James snr. died in Nunawading aged 75. On James snr’s. probate documents it states that he died intestate and the court granted his estate to his son Robert. In 1866 his son Robert put the land up for sale. An advertisement in The Argus newspaper for the sale of the land mentions ‘…. The property is said to be composed of good agricultural land, with the advantage of a valuable deposit of the best pottery clay on a small part of it, valued at £10 per acre. It is well watered, and the whole is in a forward state of development, viz., brick cottage, men’s huts, extensive shed, kitchen garden of two acres, cultivation paddock. In the whole, 218 acres, more or less.' In 1866 £10 per acre is equivalent to $1518 per acre as of 2024, a substantial amount of money at the time when skilled labourers in Melbourne were earning around £13.50 per week ($560-$700 per year).

Around 1866 John H Clayton purchased Lots 70 and 71 of Robert Cousens’ land where the Nunawading Pottery Co. was located after having leased it until then.

                        TURTON, CARDER AND CO. ALSO KNOWN AS TARTEN, CARDEN AND CO.     

                                                                             - ESTABLISHED c1866

It appears that Turton, Carder and Co. was preparing to set up a brick works on the Springfield Rd site, but it did not operate for long if at all after they obtained clay for testing.

John Clayton and his partners were still operating the Nunawading Pottery Co. on the site as an advertisement in June 1867 in The Argus newspaper mentions ‘WANTED, three strong BOYS, for the Nunawading pottery. Apply, this day, at Liverpool Arms, Bourke-street.’ 

In January 1868 the Nunawading Roads Board received ‘an application from Tarten, Carden and Co., for permission to remove clay to test it for pottery purposes, with a view to establish a pottery, was granted, subject to supervision of the engineer’. It is not known where the clay for testing was taken from. It appears that the firm of Tarten, Carden and Co. had been dissolved soon after the clay had been removed for testing and there is no further mention of George Carder until 1870 and James Turton until 1872 in the newspapers - both of which seem to indicate that they had obtained other employment. 

In 1870 George Carden is mentioned in an article in The Argus newspaper as  working at the Victoria Filter Works as ‘head potter…. who has been many years employed at Oldfield's works, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, where all Lipscombe's filter shells are made’. The Victoria Filter Works was also known as Dahlke’s Victoria Filter Works.

In 1872 James Turton joined John Wallis as ‘his principal assistant’ in establishing the Chesterfield Pottery in Brunswick.

         THE VICTORIA FILTER WORKS ALSO KNOWN AS DAHLKE’S VICTORIA FILTER WORKS

                                                                                 – ESTABLISHED 1870

In 1870 the Victoria Filter Works leased approximately four acres of land from John H Clayton where they established a pottery on the site of the former Turton, Carder and Co. for manufacturing ceramic water filters.

A newspaper article in The Argus in June 1873 regarding the early development of this site in Nunawading (Lot 71) prior to the establishment of the Victoria Filter Works in 1870 mentions:

‘…. It had been for some time used as a brickfield and contained abundance of clay admirably adapted for the composition of earthenware….’

In 1874 John H Clayton decided to lease out some of his land not being used by the filter/pottery works as an advertisement in The Argus newspaper mentions ‘TO GRAZIERS To be LET, 200 ACRES, good grass, one mile and a half from the White Horse Hotel, Nunawading, the paddock adjoining the Nunawading Pottery, nine miles from town. Rent low Apply Alfred Bliss, 82 Collins street west.’ 

In 1875 the Victoria Filter Works was being advertised for lease and by 1877 John H Clayton had placed 219 acres of his land including the pottery works up for sale. At this time the area was known as the Pottery Paddock.

                                                         THE ARRIVAL OF THE RAILWAY IN 1882

As a result of the land boom, many houses and other buildings were being built across Melbourne, the demand for bricks grew and more brickworks being opened. Although a small pottery and brick making industry existed in the Nunawading District (as the City of Whitehorse was known then) it was not until 1882 after the railway line was extended from Camberwell to Lilydale that the industry rapidly expanded. In that same year the Box Hill, Blackburn, Mitcham railway stations had opened, but the station at Tunstall (Nunawading) did not open until 1888. 

The extension of the railway line opened up the Nunawading District to new industries, land speculators and farmers. The main benefit to the brick works of this new railway line was the savings in reducing the cost of transporting raw materials and finished products to Melbourne and other markets.

Good quality clay was found in areas that included Box Hill, Blackburn, Mitcham and Tunstall (Nunawading). Syndicates were formed to raise money to buy the land to develop the quarries and brickfields where clay was located and then to build factories on these sites to manufacture bricks, roof tiles and pottery. 

                                  EMERY’S BRICK AND TILE POTTERY CO. - ESTABLISHED c1884

By c1884 the Victoria Filter Works was purchased by Henry Emery and he renamed it Emery’s Brick and Tile Pottery Co. at this time Henry Emery was also the owner of the Fitzroy Pottery that he had established in 1866 (later known as the Fitzroy Pottery, Pipe, Tile and Brickworks) and was one of the founding ‘directors’ of the Haughton Park Brick Works (later Box Hill Brick Work’s) near the corner of Canterbury and Elgar Rds., Box Hill. 

In the Melbourne directories Henry Emery’s occupation is listed as ‘pottery dealer.’ 

But only a couple of years later in 1886 Henry Emery put the Emery’s Brick and Tile Pottery Co. up for sale and the advertisement in The Argus newspaper for the sale of the pottery there is an interesting account of what was on the site at that time.

‘Owing to Family Affliction, of EMERY'S BRICK and TILE POTTERY, Comprising Five Acres of Land,

On which Exists Some of The Finest White and Other Pottery Clay, With Large and Substantial

Pottery Shed, with Drying Loft, Kilns, And all Necessary Appliances for the Business, Including Brick and Tile Press, Drain Pipe machine, 4 potter's Wheels, Barrows, 2 Pug Mills, Pumping Gear, and Other Necessary Tools, Forming a COMPLETE POTTERY PLANT’.

                                     THE SPRINGFIELD POTTERY WORKS – ESTABLISHED 1888

By late 1888 Samuel White and his brother Edward had purchased Emery’s Brick and Tile Pottery Co. and renamed it the Springfield Pottery Works.

In 1890 the land boom in Victoria ended and this resulted in the collapse of many industries including the brick making and pottery industries. In the same year union and employer groups were arguing over wages and conditions while signs of a deep economic depression began to appear across Australia. 

In Victoria at this time there was also a ‘strike’ as part of the larger, national Maritime Strike, which involved coal miners refusing to supply coal to non-union ships and striking alongside other unionised workers. The strike also affected the supply of coal to the brick making and pottery industry. Some brickworks and potteries resorted to using wood to keep their kilns operating but some closed down for the duration of the strike, laying off hundreds of workers. The strike was a major industrial dispute that lasted two months and ended in defeat for the unions, with workers forced to accept lower wages.

After the ‘strike’ Samuel White was still operating the Springfield Pottery Works as he is listed in the Victorian Government Gazette in 1891 as applying for a patent for ‘an improved flower pot’.

For a number of years in the early part of the 20th century the Springfield Pottery Works exhibited their products at the Doncaster and Box Hill Show.

In 1907 the pottery was put up for sale ‘Owing to continued ill health of Mr. S. White’. but it did not sell.

In 1910 the White brothers put the pottery up for sale again. 

                                  THE COMMONWEALTH ART POTTERY AND INSULATOR COMPANY 

                                                                                – ESTABLISHED 1912

By 1912 brothers David and George Dee were the new owners of the Springfield Pottery Works. 

An article titled Premier Pottery in Preston on the Darebin Libraries website mentions: 

‘Earlier, in 1912 David Dee had set up an insulator works but was soon working in various other potteries around Melbourne which suggests this business did not take off’.

David and George Dee were born in Launceston and were the sons of Thomas and Mary Dee (nee Burns). In Launceston Thomas and Mary also had 10 other children - William, Thomas jnr., Annie, Alfred, James, Mary Ann, John, Ada, Walter and Prudence. Thomas snr’s. occupation is listed as ‘potter’.

In Launceston members of the Dee family worked in the pottery industry for a number of years and were neighbours and friends of the renowned Australian potter John Campbell - five of Thomas’s sons were apprentices of John Campbell. 

In the late 1890s the Dee family moved to Brunswick, Melbourne where in 1900 Thomas snr’s. occupation is listed in the directory as ‘potter Sydney Rd, Campbellfield’ and his son William ‘pottery Broadmeadows Rd, Campbellfield’. 

By 1911 the family are listed as living on Springfield Rd, Blackburn North and a year later brothers David and George Dee were the new owners of the Springfield Pottery Works which they renamed the Commonwealth Art Pottery and Insulator Company. 

Around 1913 Frederick E Strangward (see biography below) was listed as the ‘general manager’ of the Commonwealth Art Pottery and Insulator Company.

With the threat of WW1 looming the Postmaster Generals Office (equivalent to Telstra and Australia Post today) called for tenders from a local manufacturer to supply 250,000 electrical insulators. At a meeting attended by the Postmaster General and representatives of the Commonwealth Art Pottery and Insulator Company was reported in 1913 in The Age newspaper: 

‘Until comparatively recently the manufacture of insulators had been confined to Germany, Austria and Bavaria. The process was secret. Only during the last eighteen months was local experiment successful in making an, insulator, the capacity of which to resist an electric current was such as to comply with the specifications as set down by the department. Now, however, his company was in a position to offer insulators which, the departmental officials admitted, more than complied with requirements. Clay deposits had been for the first time thoroughly tested, and it been found that Australia possessed some of the finest clays in the world for pottery purposes. His company had purchased 34 acres of land at Blackburn and 5 acres at Ringwood in order to be able to get the requisite blend. The company had spared no expense to adequately equip their works with up-to-date machinery, all of which was manufactured locally.’

Later in same the year the Postmaster General accepted the Commonwealth Art Pottery and Insulator Company’s tender. 

The Commonwealth Government must have been very satisfied with the insulators from this tender as in 1914 the Postmaster General placed a second order with the Commonwealth Art Pottery and Insulator Company for another 250,000 electrical insulators and then again in 1915 placed another order for a further 400,000.

In 1915 Thomas Dee snr. died at the Melbourne Hospital as a result of burns that he had received. 

By 1919 David Dee was living in Harrow St, Box Hill before moving to Preston around 1922. David was later one of the founders of the well-known Premier Potteries who created the renowned Remued pottery brand.

During the late 1920’s into the late 1930’s the Great Depression many factories were closed including many in the pottery industry and it appears that during this time the Commonwealth Art Pottery and Insulator Company was closed for a number of years.

                                  THE COMMONWEALTH ART TILE BRICK AND POTTERY WORKS 

                                                                                 – ESTABLISHED 1936

By 1936 the Commonwealth Art Pottery and Insulator Company had new owners and was now known as the Commonwealth Art Tile Brick and Pottery Works. The directors of the company were John Klaerr as chairman, G.R. Collins as vice chairman and Roy A Dee, the son of George Dee whose occupation is listed as ‘potter’. 

George Dee continued living on Springfield Rd until c1935, then known as Burnt Rd, Blackburn until c1940 and by 1942 he was living on Dunlaven Rd (now spelt Dunlavin Rd) in Nunawading. In 1942 George Dee died from injuries he received after being struck by a car while walking along Whitehorse Rd, Blackburn and he was buried in the Box Hill cemetery.

In an article in December 1945 in The Herald newspaper mentions ‘The company makes sewerage pipes, etc for housing. Lack of manpower during the war forced the company to suspend operations, but it is Intended to reopen all kilns early in the new year.’

After the second world war the company embarked on a program of modernisation as mentioned in an article in December 1945 ‘The company owns' its own clay deposit, adjoining the works. Additional capital is to be used to modernise plant and instal new equipment’.

The company continued operating until the early 1960s when it was purchased by Brick Industries Ltd. Around this time Brick Industries Ltd had also bought a number of other brickworks around Melbourne and by 1963 the company changed its name to Brick & Pipe Industries.

In 1969 in an article in The Canberra Times newspaper, it mentions ‘Brick and Pipe Industries Ltd, Victoria's biggest brick making group, had a record profit of $I,275,020 in the year ended March 31’.

In 1971 Humes Ltd, Rocla Industries and Brick and Pipe Industries merged their stoneware pipe divisions to form Vitclay Pipes Pty Ltd.

Over the next 24 years Vitclay Pipes Pty Ltd. in Blackburn North employed many local residents over this period and developed a reputation for quality domestic and industrial clay pipes. 

In 1992 Vitclay Pipes Pty Ltd. closed. In an article in the Nunawading Gazette in May the general manager Peter Lyon explains the reasons behind the closure: ‘The economic situation was a very important factor in our closure, but there were other considerations, Mr Lyon said. One was the change of policy by Melbourne Water to allow products other than clay to be used in its pipes. This caused quite a devastating effect on our business’. 

In 1994 the factory site was sold and subdivided into around 80 house lots and was called the Springfield Heights Estate Blackburn. In the advertisement for the sale of the subdivision it mentions: 

‘Located in the heart of Blackburn, Springfield Heights Estate is a premium development offering over 80 suburb housing blocks most opening onto private courts. Prime blocks are being offered from only $80,000’.

As part of the subdivision new streets were created and named Pottery Drive, Clay, Pipe and Kaolin (named after the type of clay that was on the site) Courts. 

In 1995 the former Vitclay Pipes factory was demolished. 

                                                                         ASSOCIATED BIOGRAPHIES

James Cousens snr’s. family

James Booty Cousens jnr. – the son of James snr. and Catherine Cousens.

James Cousens jnr. was born in Ireland in 1816. Like his father James jnr’s. occupation was listed as ‘master mariner’ and he was the captain and owner of the sailing ship Druid. Like his father James jnr. operated on the London to Melbourne trade route for a number of years.

In 1854 James jnr. travelled to Melbourne for the last time as Druid’s captain with his wife Jessie and their daughter Catherine. After arriving in Melbourne James jnr. sold the Druid and by 1855 he is listed as living in Williamstown and later in Maryborough. 

By 1864 James jnr. was living in Kew as his daughter Sarah was born there.

At the time of his father’s death in 1865 James jnr. was living in Stawell, Victoria. 

In 1867 James jnr. founded and operated the North Extended Cross Reef Mining Co. in the Ironbark Ranges (central Victorian goldfields) for a number of years. 

James Cousens jnr. died in Sandridge (Port Melbourne) in 1875.

Robert Booty Cousens – the son of James snr. and Catherine Cousens

Robert B Cousens was born in Deptford, London in 1821. Robert was an ‘engineer’ when he married Caroline Harding in 1843.

By the late 1850s Robert Cousens, his first wife Caroline and their three children James, Beatrice and Isabella were living in South Africa. Robert’s occupation is listed as ‘resident engineer’ for the Cape Colony government and was responsible for overseeing the construction of a number of light houses on the Western Cape, South Africa. 

In 1861 Caroline Cousens died aged 42 in Cape Town, South Africa and soon after Robert and his three children moved back to England.

In 1863 Robert travelled from London to Melbourne on the sailing ship Wellesley with his second wife and his children. In Melbourne Roberts occupation is listed as ‘civil engineer’. 

In Melbourne in 1864 Robert lodged a patent application ‘for an invention “for separating metals from tailings or other earths”. 

At the time of his father’s death in 1865 Robert was living in Melbourne. After his father’s death Robert decided to sell Allotment 70 and part of 71 on Springfield Rd and in 1866 it was purchased by John H Clayton.

By 1867 Robert and his family were living in Beechworth and he was working for the Yackandandah Shire Council in the position of ‘shire engineer’. 

It appears that Robert lived in the Beechworth area for a number of years eventually moving back to Melbourne.

Robert Cousens died in Melbourne in 1893.

Richard John Cousens – the son of James snr. and Catherine Cousens

Richard Cousens was born in Deptford, London in 1823. Richard’s occupation in the 1851 England Census is listed as ‘mariner’. 

Richard appears to have lived in England all his life as he is listed in the English Census in 1851. He died there in 1887 and was buried in Middlesex.

Charles W Phillips jnr.

Charles W Phillips jnr. was born in Chipping Norton, England in 1833 to Charles snr. and Hannah Phillips (nee Huckvale). Charles snr. and Hannah had four children Charles jnr, Weston, Mary Ann and Henry. 

In 1856 aged 22 Charles jnr. and his family travelled from Bristol to Melbourne. It is interesting to note that Charles snr’s. occupation on the 1851 England Census is listed as ‘engineer’ and five years later in Melbourne it is listed as ‘surgeon’. Soon after arriving in Melbourne, the family moved to McCrea St, Dandenong where Charles snr. had bought land, built a house and named it Briarhurst. 

Later in Melbourne Charles jnr’s. occupation is listed as ‘mining engineer and manager’.

It is interesting to note that in 1861 Charles jnr’s. brother Weston Phillips was a member of the party that searched for the famous explores Burke and Wills. In article in 1861 in The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper titled Arrival of the remains of Burke and Wills mentions:

‘The party consisted of Mr Howitt, Dr Murray, Mr Weston Phillips, and others, who were briefly welcomed by the committee. The remains, which were contained in a very handsome cast, enclosed in a strong outer covering, the whole being appropriately shrouded by the Union Jack, were then removed from the vessel, and carried along the pier to the hearse by the members of the party the committee and the other gentlemen present following in procession, with heads uncovered. The scene at this time was one of peculiar solemnity.’

In 1872 Charles Phillips jnr. and Mary Davis were married in Melbourne. Charles and Mary had three children - Henry, Minnie and Edward. 

For a number of years Charles experimented with ways of extracting gold without using water. In an article in 1882 in The Murray and Ovens Advertiser newspaper titled A New Mining Machine it mentions: 

‘The public trial of a newly invented machine, constructed for the novel purpose of removing gold from auriferous sand or gravel without the use of water, took place at Mr. J. Buncle's implement works, Melbourne, on Friday afternoon. The machine, which has been designed by Mr. Charles Phillips, and patented in nearly all the Australian colonies, is of a very simple character as far as working is concerned and possesses the additional advantage of being compact and portable’.

Around 1896 Charles and his family had moved to and were living in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. 

Charles died at his son Henry’s home in Bunbury in 1912. 

The Strangward family

The general manager of the Commonwealth Art Pottery and Insulator Company, Frederick Strangward was also a ‘stock broker’ and had an office in Collins St, Melbourne for many years.

His brother John W Strangward was a ‘Station Master’ who lived in Box Hill. 

A report titled EMULATION HALL Address: 3 Rochester Road, Canterbury. Prepared by: Built Heritage Pty Ltd, 2011 mentions: 

‘A station-master by profession, John William Strangward (1861-1931) transferred to Box Hill from Nhill in July 1897 (Gippsland Times:8/7/1897:2). Newspaper reports confirm his involvement with Emulation Lodge No 141, including a tenure as Junior Warden in 1899 - 1900 (Argus:25/10/1899:8). Strangward left Box Hill in early 1904 when he was transferred to Tallarook. (Argus:23/2/1904:7). He served as station-master at several other regional centers before retiring in 1921 and returning to Box Hill, where he renewed his association with Emulation Lodge’.

Frederick and John Strangward’s brother West O. Strangward was the Secretary of the Tramways Board, Vice Chairman of the Metropolitan Board of Works and a South Melbourne Mayor and councillor. 

                                                                                 BLACKBURN

                              THE BLACKBURN BRICK WORKS, 15 -33 ALFRED ST, BLACKBURN 

                                                                       – ESTABLISHED 1885

Before land around the Blackburn station had been bought by the Freehold Investment and Banking Company Ltd the land was used for farming.

In the book suburban heartland – A History of the City of Whitehorse by Lesley Alves mentions:

‘Prominent local estate agent T.R.B. Morton has shares in the brickworks at Blackburn, as did another shareholder in the Blackburn & Tunstall Land Company, E.W. Parry, who managed the works. The brickworks, which began operating around 1885, were situated near the railway in Alfred Street. The railway was a key factor in the development of the local brick industry, and most brickworks had a siding to facilitate the transport of heavy products. After a Hoffman kiln was installed at Blackburn, the works produced 150,000 bricks per year until operations ceased in 1895. When the boom collapsed most of the brick workers were thrown out of work’.

In 1882 the Blackburn Railway station was opened and in the same year Melbourne businessman and M.L.A Mathew Davies founded the Freehold Investment and Banking Company Ltd (F.I.B.C.L). The board of the company was made up of Melbourne businessmen including as Managing Director his brother Joseph B Davies and as Directors James Balfour, M.L.C., Charles Henry James and James Moodie. By c1884 Blackburn resident T. R. B. Morton joined the company as Secretary. 

Also, in 1882 John Woods sold allotments 79,80 and 81 to Edwin and Frederick Purches who then sold it to George S Coppin who then sold it to the Freehold Investment and Banking Company Limited but the final payment was not made to George Coppin until 1886. In the Crown grants, Parish of Nunawading, County of Bourke records states 13 May 1886, £9668.50 paid by Freehold Investment Co. to G.C... George S Coppin was a famous Melbourne businessman, theatrical entrepreneur, politician and philanthropist in the late 19th century. 

In 1883 the Freehold Investment and Banking Company of Australia, Ltd. started buying large tracts of land around the recently built Blackburn railway station to subdivide and sell to create the township of Blackburn.

The land was prepared by a subsidiary of the Freehold Investment and Banking Company Limited the Blackburn Company who also built the brickworks, a number of display homes in Wolseley Cr, a recreation hall, lawn tennis, cricket ground, streets that were planted with ‘shade trees’ and the Blackburn Lake as the town’s centrepiece.

According to the 1884 subdivision map of the Nunawading as the City of Whitehorse was known at the time Charles Cook owned the land (Lot 81) where the Blackburn Brick Works would be established.

In 1885 the Blackburn Brick Works was opened in Alfred St close to the newly opened Blackburn railway station. In the book Blackburn – a Picturesque History, 1978 by Robin De Costa she mentions:

‘The first bricks of the Blackburn Brick Works were made by hand about 1885. The pits were originally opened by C.G. Miller, T.R.B Morton and E.W Parry, to provide clay for brick making. Initially the bricks were used to construct two square kilns and essential buildings. They erected a Hoffman kiln and up to 1895, when work ceased, they produce about 150,000 bricks per year’.

With the land boom continuing it may be safe to say that the Freehold Investment and Banking Company Limited were planning on selling the bricks from their brickworks to the people who had bought the land from them to build their homes and business’s. 

In 1888 the Blackburn Company built an embankment made up of handmade bricks (from the Blackburn Brick Works) on the Gardiner’s Creek (originally known as Kooyongkoot Creek) to create the Blackburn Lake.

In 1889 the brickworks were expanded and new equipment was brought in to increase production which The Reporter – Box Hill newspaper mentions: 

‘Up to the present the company has invested a considerable sum in reclaiming this land which has been found to be admirably adapted for brick making purposes. Large brick works on an improved principle are being erected, and will be completed in a few months. In these works two large engines, which work on the expansion principle, have been erected and all the other modern appliances are being fixed in position.

It is the intention of the company to manufacture sanitary pipes, terra cotta and all articles of a similar nature. It is estimated that the weekly output in bricks alone will amount to 250,000 which can be increased to a couple of millions should the demand warrant it.

This portion of the estate is under the personal supervision of Mr. Parry, a gentleman who has had considerable experience in managing similar industries’.

Around 1890 the land boom in Victoria was ending resulting in a slowing down in the construction of new buildings and the production of bricks. Also, around this time the Brickmakers Association was formed in Melbourne. In an article in 1890 in The Argus newspaper in regard to the formation of the association mentions:

‘A combination to keep up the price of bricks has been formed by 13 companies and private firms engaged in the brickmaking industry. It includes, amongst others, the Northcote Brick Company, the New Northcote Brick Company, the Hoffmann Brick Company, the South Preston Brick Company, the South Brunswick Brick Company, the Walkeden Brick Company, and the Upper Hawthorn Brick Company. An agreement has been drawn up and signed by the parties which will have the effect of fixing the price of bricks at 36s. per thousand, and by which each member of the combination will pay 10s. for, every thousand bricks produced into a': general pool," which will be divided pro-rata according to the manufacturing capacity or the different brick-yards’.

It appears that the crash of the land boom had not yet affected the Blackburn Brick Works as they were still advertising their products in November 1891.

By July 1892 brick works in Blackburn were known as the Blackburn and Bacchus Marsh Brick and Tile Company. After a period of closure, the brick works reopened in October and by November they were known as the Blackburn Brick and Pottery Works.

In 1892 the Blackburn Brick and Pottery Works joined the Brickmakers Association as well as the Wilsmore Brick Co Ltd, Builders Brick and Tile Supply Co Ltd, South Preston P. Brick Co Ltd, New Northcote Brick Co Ltd, John Glew Brick Co. and Cornwell's Pottery and Brick Works.

The Brickmakers Association would later become Cooperative Brick Company.

1893 was a busy year for the Blackburn Brick and Pottery Works as it was reported in The Argus newspaper in May ‘The Board of Land and Works has accepted the tender of E. W. Parry for the supply of 125,000 bricks at 10s. per 1,000 to be delivered at Blackburn. The bricks are required for culverts on the Strzelecki and Silkstone coal lines’. Again, in July The Argus reported that ‘4,000,000 bricks which the company had engaged to supply to the contractor for the construction of the Hobson's Bay main sewer.

It was reported by the Weekly Times on November 17,1894 that ‘Another of the once prosperous industries of Melbourne, which in the past has employed a large number of hands at good wages has been obliged to cease operations. Even during the years of depression, the Blackburn Brick Company was able to distribute a large sum in wages weekly, but operations have now ceased, and- the hands -will have to turn to other channels for employment. The loss to the district where the works were carried on will be severely felt, as fully 60 workmen have been deprived of their means of livelihood’. 

In a statement in December the Weekly Times newspaper published an apology of sorts ‘The Blackburn Brickworks are, we are glad to learn, not closed, as was recently reported. We are informed that the manufacture of bricks is being vigorously proceeded with, and that orders are coming forward freely. Blackburn bricks have earned a reputation for strength and non-absorptiveness which creates a demand for them for all works where these qualities are of importance’.

In January 1895 the brick works were put up for lease by the real estate firm of T.R.B Morton. T.R.B Morton was a Trustee of the Blackburn Brick Works, Secretary of the Freehold Investment and Banking Company Ltd and a resident of Blackburn. 

The brick works were closed down in the late 1890s and reopened in 1907 as an article in The Age newspaper mentions ‘The Blackburn brick works, which were shut down by a combine during the boom time, are to be reopened after the winter.’

In 1918 the Nunawading Shire council received a request ‘From Co-operative Brick Co., Blackburn, requesting council's approval to application for registration of works as a factory. — Referred to inspector for report’. The company was sometimes referred to as the Co-operative Brick Co., Blackburn and Blackburn Tile Works.

In December 1919 a number of brickworks around Melbourne went on strike after negotiations between the brickwork owners and the Brick, Tile and Pottery Union in regard to a wage increase broke down. It appears that the issue was resolved as the Blackburn Tile Works was advertising in January 1920. 

For a number of years, the factory-made bricks and roofing tiles and from around 1932 they made roofing tiles only.

In 1966 the Blackburn Tile Works was taken over by Brick and Pipe Industries Pty. Ltd.

The Blackburn Tile Works were demolished and a Waltons department store warehouse centre 

was built on the site; this finally brought an end to the site being used for making bricks and 

tiles in the early 1970s.

                                       E G GREENWAY PTY LTD, 127 WHITEHORSE RD, BLACKBURN 

                                                                                  – ESTABLISHED 1949

Ellen G Greenway was creative, determined and her designs were inspired by the Australian flora and fauna. The firm of E G Greenway did not begin next to a clay pit/quarry as other potteries previously had but from Ellen and Herbert Greenway’s home in Northcote. Ellen trained as a nurse but as Regulations required at the time she had to leave nursing after her marriage; she had a child and while at home became interested in pottery, starting by buying blank pottery from a local pottery and then painting and selling them locally. 

Her husband Herbert Greenway encouraged and supported her creativity and later they both planned to build a pottery factory ‘a beautiful building in a beautiful setting’ but Ellen died before their dream was realised leaving Herbert to complete their vision.

Ellen G Greenway (nee Birthisel) was born in Maryborough in 1894; she was the daughter of John and Ann Birthisel (nee Sneddon). 

Ellen’s formative years were spent in Maryborough and later she moved to Melbourne where in c1914 she applied and was accepted as a trainee nurse at the Austin Hospital. At this time nurse training was a three-year course, requiring women to be between 25 - 40 years of age and unmarried. In November, 1917 the Royal Victorian Trained Nurses Association held their nursing examination and in an article in December in The Argus newspaper Ellen was listed as passing.

In 1914 World War 1 had broken out and in 1915 Herbert Greenway enlisted in the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF). On his enlistment papers Herbert lists his occupation as ‘wardsman’. A ‘wardsman’ was employed in hospitals and their duties include helping with non-clinical tasks such as patient transport, keeping wards clean and stocked, assisting with basic patient comfort, managing waste, ensuring smooth patient flow between departments, allowing nurses to concentrate on clinical duties. He trained as a ‘signaller’ and in 1916 travelled to the Western Front in Europe with the 29thBattalion Reinforcements having travelled via Suez and Marseilles. After 3 months in France, he became ill with bronchitis and was hospitalised in England before returning to Australia and being discharged on the 23 January, 1918 in Melbourne.

In 1918 Ellen Berthisle and Herbert Greenway were married in Melbourne and a year later they had one child - Eunice. 

Herbert T Greenway was born in Ballarat in 1893; he was the son of Attwood and Annie Greenway (nee Ninham). At the time of their marriage in 1918 Herbert’s occupation is listed as ‘salesman’.

By 1919 Ellen and Herbert Greenway were living in Plant St, Northcote. In the directory Ellens occupation is listed as ‘home duties’ and Herbert’s is still listed as ‘salesman’. 

It appears that around the early 1920s Ellen started purchasing blank pottery from either the Northcote Brickworks or the Northcote Pottery as both of these factories were not far from where she lived. She painted and varnished the pottery at her home and then sold them. 

By 1928 directory records show that Ellen and Herbert were living at Magnolia in Ivanhoe.

Around this time Herbert Greenway and James Faulkner formed a partnership and founded the Suedette Manufacturing Co.at 244 Hoddle St, Collingwood. The company manufactured suedette and flock at their factory which they then distributed through wholesalers and retailers as well as through their own ‘leather goods’ shop at 399 Burke Rd, Camberwell where Ellen worked. 

Suedette is a synthetic or imitation suede fabric with a soft, velvety texture that is designed to look and feel like real suede.

Flock are short fibres that can be made from cotton or rayon and are applied to a surface/s using an adhesive to create a soft, velvety, or suede-like texture.

Ellen also had founded the Lesley Pottery Ware brand that she made at Herbert’s factory at 244 Hoddle St, Collingwood. 

In 1929 the stock market in New York crashed setting off a chain of events that rapidly spread worldwide starting the Great Depression of the 1930s. As a result, Australia had years of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation and plunging incomes. Australian finance had long relied on foreign investment and borrowing from the London banks; these sources of finance soon dried up. Some of the Government policies were ineffective and the Australian economy did not begin to recover until the rest of the world did in late 1930s. 

The first reference to Lesley Pottery Ware appeared in December 1931 in an article in the Goulburn Valley Stock and Property Journal for the retailer Fairley’s and mentions: ‘…. A special is made of the crockery section where the hand-painted Australian Lesley ware is attractively displayed….’

In 1932 in an article in the Sunday Times, Perth in regard to Lesley Pottery Warementions: 

‘ATTRACTIVE POTTERY DISPLAY……. Messrs. Craig Bros. conceived the idea of arranging for pottery to be designed with wild flowers, and, after negotiating with Melbourne, they have placed an attractive display on view. The pottery is neutral toned Leslie ware, and each piece is hand-painted by E. G. Greenway. The designs cover a comprehensive range of flowers including boronia, spider and donkey orchids, wattle, Christmas bush, banksia. Geraldton wax, flowering gum, kangaroo paws, and leschenaultia……’

By 1935 Ellen was also running an ‘art gallery’ at 300 Russell St, Melbourne. It is likely that Ellen sold her own as well as pottery made by other artists and manufacturers through her shop.

In 1937 Herbert Greenway and James Faulkner dissolved their partnership in Suedette Manufacturing Co. but Herbert continued running the company.

By 1940 Ellen and Herbert created the firm of Greenway & Co. Art Pottery Manufacturersat 160 - 66 Gold St, Collingwood where Ellen made her own slip cast pottery under the name Mayfair Pottery Salon.

In 1939 World War 2 had broken out and in 1942 Herbert enlisted in the Volunteer Defence Corps (VDC) in the rank of ‘lieutenant’ and he was also a member of the VDC Directorate. On his enrolment papers his occupation is listed as ‘manufacturer’. The Virtual War Memorial Australia website mentions ‘The VDC was established in July 1940 by the Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) and was initially composed of ex-servicemen who had served in World War I. The government took over control of the VDC in May 1941, and gave the organisation the role of training for guerrilla warfare, collecting local intelligence and providing static defence of each unit's home area.’

In December, 1944 Herbert and Ellen Greenway lodged an application for a ‘certificate of incorporation’ in regard to the Suedette Manufacturing Co. and Mayfair Pottery Salon. The notice in The Argus newspaper in December regarding to the Mayfair Pottery Salonmentions: ‘The business of manufacturer of art pottery and milled products by Ellen Grant Greenway.’ At this time the Suedette Manufacturing Co. and Mayfair Pottery Salon were located at 98 St. David St, Fitzroy. 

In January, 1945 the firm of E G Greenway PTY LTD was registered and Herbert and Ellen became the directors of the Suedette Manufacturing Co. and Mayfair Pottery Salon.

The City of Whitehorse Post – 1945 Heritage Study (June 2016) mentions the pottery factory in Blackburn:

‘…. The company’s main intent was to provide a new purpose-built factory, conceived as ‘a handsomely designed pottery in a garden setting’. However, Ellen died in January 1946 before a site was chosen. Her husband resolved to proceed regardless, and, acquiring 4.5 acres at Blackburn, declared that the complex would be a memorial to his late wife: ‘It must be lovely. Everything about it must be expressive of the inspiring life of Ellen Grant Greenway – a beautiful building in a beautiful setting with ideal conditions for the workpeople…. The landscaped setting was conceived as public parkland on a grand scale, as Greenway negotiated with the Council and a neighbour to acquire a further 5.5 acres around the factory site. Externally, the building itself was described as being ‘of unusual design’, with a stark block-like expression dominated by a massive vertical tower (which was later omitted) ….’

The loss of Ellen would have been a very difficult time for Herbert but he continued running their business as well as their plans to buy land and build a new pottery factory at what is now 127 Whitehorse Rd, Blackburn.

The City of Whitehorse Post – 1945 Heritage Study (June 2016) mentions: 

‘…. A building permit for Greenway’s factory, to cost £23,500, was issued on 17 November 1947 and construction started by Melbourne’s oldest building firm, T R & L Cockram Pty Ltd….’ 

In 1949 the new pottery factory was completed and began operations. It is interesting to note that potteries were usually established near a clay pit/quarry but the E.G. Greenway pottery was not, instead they purchased their clay from the Northcote Pottery Co. The Northcote Pottery Co. may have been where Ellen first started buying her blank pottery from when she started her pottery business at her home in Northcote in the 1920s.

In the City of Whitehorse Post – 1945 Heritage Study, June 2016 it mentions:

‘……. Under Greenway’s managing directorship, it continued to produce art pottery. With Ellen obviously no longer available for hand-painting, its emphasis shifted to mass-produced slip-moulded ceramics. Popular items included vases in the form of fans, seashells and logs, glazed in fashionable pastel tones. In 1953, they produced pint tankards to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation.

Changing tastes saw the demand decline in the 1960s and the company was voluntarily wound up in 1975, four years after Greenway’s death. Nevertheless, art pottery by E G Greenway Pty Ltd (and its forerunners Lesley Art Pottery and Mayfair Pottery Studio) still remain keenly sought-after by today’s collectors. 

E G Greenway Pty Ltd had actually ceased production some years before the company was wound up. By that time, the factory’s street frontage had already been partly subdivided for other buildings, including a petrol station. In the early 1970s, the factory was taken over by the Postmaster General’s Department for use as a mail sorting centre. This continued until a new purpose-built mail sorting centre opened in Rooks Road, Nunawading, in 1993. The former factory then became the new Gurdwara (Temple) for a Sikh community founded in Melbourne back in 1981, which had occupied buildings in Carlton, Ferntree Gully and elsewhere before moving to Blackburn. Building permit records indicate that various works have been undertaken to the building since then, including kitchen renovations (2000), other alterations (2001), new garages and storerooms (2003) and other internal changes (2009, 2011 and 2012).’

Herbert Greenway died in the town of Sandford, Victoria in 1971. 

                                                               BOX HILL AND BURWOOD EAST

                             THE HAUGHTON-PARK BRICK CO., 14 FEDERATION ST, BOX HILL

                                                                          – ESTABLISHED 1884

The story of the former Box Hill Brick Works site started in 1851 when a syndicate consisting of William Virtue and James and Thomas Wright were granted deeds for Allotment 7 (45 acres) on the north eastern corner of Canterbury and Elgar Rd’s in the Nunawading District (as the City of Whitehorse was known then). Neither of these owners lived on Allotment 7 preferring to live in Melbourne. 

‘…. Box Hill was still without most of the requirements of civilised living – lighting, water supply, sewerage, even adequate drainage – but at least in 1884 it had the prospect of the first real industry coming to the area. In February the Prospectus was issued by the Haughton Park Brick Company which bought land on the corner of Canterbury and Elgar Roads, the site of the present Surrey Park. The company promised everything: clay proclaimed to be excellent; an engineer Peter Behrendt, from Dresden; the most up to date Hoffman kilns; a Board of Directors of city businessmen; and the prospective production of 80,000 bricks a day. All it required was capital, and hence the Prospectus…’

From Box Hill,1978 by Andrew Lemon.

In 1882 the owners of Allotment 7 subdivided their land and put a 28-acre portion up for sale through the real estate firm of William Haughton and Co. An advertisement in April, 1882 in The Argus newspaper mentions ‘William Haughton and Co. 49 King St have for SALE …… Box - hill, 28 acres beautifully situated, four minutes from Station’. The 28-acre portion included the clay pit where the Haughton Park Brick Co. would source their clay from. At this time William Haughton, the founder of the real estate firm was living in Richmond. Also, the building boom in Melbourne was at its height and building materials such as bricks were in high demand.

William Haughton saw the potential of making bricks on a commercial scale on Allotment 7 as it was previously used as a brick field (a brick field is an area where bricks were made near a source of clay/clay pit). The Victorian Placeswebsite mentions:

‘Box Hill has several heritage sites. The largest is the Standard Brickworks (c1884), near Surrey Park. The park contains the Surrey Dive, a former clay pit excavated by another brick maker.’ 

In the early 1800’s the site (Allotment 7) of the future Haughton Park Brick Co. was locally known as Haughton’s Paddock and was also used for the agistment of bullocks and horses.

Between 1882 and 1884 William Haughton formed a syndicate with a number of leading Melbourne businessmen and founded the Haughton Park Brick Co. These business partners would later become the ‘directors’ of the company. 

Two of the ‘directors’ of the Haughton Park Brick Co. were involved in the pottery and brick making industry. They were Henry Emery the owner of the Springfield Pottery on Springfield Rd, Blackburn North and James Stroud the founder with his brother John Stroud of the Egerton Brick and Tile Works in Coburg. It is highly likely that William Haughton sought Henry Emery’s and James Stroud’s advice in regard to the quality and quantity of the clay in the clay pit (later known as Surrey Dive) on Allotment 7 and its potential for supplying clay for the commercial production of bricks. The clay was also tested by ‘Peter Behrendt, Esq., C.E., who is an adept in Dresden and other high class terra cotta and porcelain works’.

William Haughton was an astute businessman and was involved in a number of business’s and therefore would not have been involved in any business venture without the certainty of a profit. 

It appears that William Haughton was so certain of the success of the brick works that he bought seven acres of land on the north western corner of Dorking and Whitehorse Rd’s, Box Hill where he built a brick house and by 1885 the family were living there with his son Robert being born there. William named the house Lismore (later known as Towong) - it was demolished in the early 1970s and stood where the current Our Lady of Sion College stands. 

In January 1884 an advertisement for the Haughton-Park Brick Company prospectus in The Argus newspaper mentions:

‘The company is formed to purchase ground at Box Hill in which clays of various components exist, suitable for all kinds of earthenware manufacture and for bricks and tiles of best materials, and from peroxide of iron and clay, making a hard black brick to pure white, and of all the intermediate shades. The testimonials certify to the rare excellence and variety of the deposits, and are given by Messrs. Stroud, sen., and Messrs. Barnes and Stroud of Brunswick and Philipstown. The analysis by Peter Behrendt, Esq., C.E., who is an adept in Dresden and other high class terra cotta and porcelain works, and who is agent here for the most recent Continental appliances for brick and tile manufacture. For quality, by Messrs. Terry and Oakden’.

In 1884 William Haughton’s syndicate bought the Box Hill land (Allotment 7) that its owners were selling through his real estate firm. In an article in February, 1884 in The Argus newspaper it mentions:

‘…. The provisional directors of the Haughton-Park Brick Co. met yesterday at the office of Mr J Woolf, solicitor of the company, Market-street… Mr Woolf read the contract of sale to the company of 28 acres of land at Box - hill for the sum of £300.’  

The directors of the Haughton Park Brick Company were:

• William Haughton – real estate agent and founder of the firm William Haughton and Co., managing director of the East Mitcham Brick Co., a Nunawading Shire councillor, President, and Secretary, and merchant and Box Hill resident. 
• John Blyth - one of the founders of the shipping and mercantile firm of John Blyth & Co.
• James Moore - the founder and  owner of the Builders, Lime and Cement Company.
• George Cornwall - a 'contractor' and a director of a number of companies
• W H Ellerker - a surveyor, architect, St Kilda councillor, committee member of the Royal Permanent Building Society and City of Melbourne Building Society
• James Stroud - founded the Egerton Brick and Tile Works  with his brother John Stroud
• Henry Emery – the owner of the Fitzroy Pottery and Springfield Pottery on Springfield Rd,     Blackburn North
• J W McComas - an auctioneer, inventor and the founder of the machinery manufacturing firm of J.W. McComas and Co.
• Peter Behrendt - together with the Melbourne firm Palmer Scott and Company he introduced German waterproofing methods, Westphalian iron, and Traegerwellbach fireproofing construction to Australia and also designed he first wrought iron framed city building in Melbourne. He advocated for the adoption of many European systems, including Siemens and Halski elevated electric railways, Liernur's hydro-pneumatic sanitation system,  wire bricks and disinfection systems.

The Argus newspaper in April 1884 states: ‘The Haughton Park Brick Company made application for permission to lay down a tramway to their works. The president questioned whether, under the Local Government Act, the council could permit the construction of tramways. In the absence of definite information respecting route, and nature of motors proposed to be used, it was agreed to reply that the council was willing to assist so far as its legal power went, and to request that plans &c., might be forwarded’. 

Then in June in The Argus newspaper ‘ With reference to the consent given to the Haughton Park Brick making Company to construct a tramway along the Elgar road to the railway, Messrs G W Cumpston G. Cockroft and W Wright wrote stating that they would hold the council liable for any depreciation in property damage, or injury resulting from the tram Mr Wright attended, and protested that the property owners should have been furnished with notice prior to the council giving its consent to a monopoly, and councillors were proceeding to discuss the matter when the president ruled the matter out of order as the council had given its provisional consent but would not give its final consent until the plans and specifications had been laid before it. Mr Cockroft said his land had being depreciated already by the consent of the council having been granted. The president said his best course was to serve the council with a writ for damages’.

Also in 1884, the Haughton Park Brick Co. began brick production as an advertisement in July in The Age newspaper mentions:

‘HAUGHTON Park Company's Bricks. — Sample truck at lower siding, Spencer-street, station. Office, 49 King-street.’

In 1885 the Haughton Park Brick Co. sought permission to build a tramway from the brickworks to Elgar Rd. In an article in March in The Argus newspaper mentions ‘The chairman mentioned that local shire council had sanctioned the laying of tramway along Elgar and Mont Albert roads to connect the brick kilns with the Government railways. The work has also been approved but not formally sanctioned by officers of the Railway department. So far, however the directors had not had the means to carry out’.

In March,1886 at an ordinary general meeting of the Haughton Park Brick Co. ‘it was resolved to change the name of the company, which will in future be known as the Box Hill Brick Company Limited’.

In 1888 a railway siding was completed but it did not run along Elgar and Mont Albert Rd’s as the Haughton Park Brick Co. had proposed in 1885, but instead it ran along Surrey Dr and Thurston St to the western side of the Box Hill station. The land where the siding ran was on the southern side of Allotment 5 and 6 that belonged George Cockcroft and was compulsorily acquired in 1882 by the Board of Land and Works ‘for railway purposes.’ It is interesting to note that this land was acquired two years before the creation of the Haughton-Park Brick Co. on Allotment 7.

In 1889 a new Nunawading Shire Hall was being built on the corner of Cambridge and Station St’s, Box Hill using bricks that were supplied by the Box Hill Brick Co. Also, the Box Hill Brick Co. built a house for the manager of the brickworks at what is now 366 Elgar Rd, Box Hill (the house is still there). In the City of Whitehorse heritage Review: Building Citations which uses Andrew C Wards & Associates. City of Box Hill Heritage and Conservation Study.1990 mentions ‘The first occupant was Peter Wagner, a clerk and later manager of the company.’ It is interesting to note that after the brick works closed Peter Wagner remained there in the position of ‘caretaker’. 

In the City of Box Hill Heritage and Conservation Study Volume 1, 1990 mentions that the company also built a number of houses for their employees at what is now 120 to 128 Windsor Cr, Surrey Hills, the houses are still there.

In 1890 the land boom in Victoria ended, resulting in the collapse of many industries including the brick making and pottery industries. In the same year union and employer groups were arguing over wages and conditions while signs of a deep economic depression began to appear across Australia. 

A strike in Victoria was part of the larger, national Maritime Strike, which involved coal miners refusing to supply coal to non-union ships and striking alongside other unionised workers. The strike also affected the supply of coal to the brick making and pottery industry with some brickworks and potteries resorting to using locally sourced wood or coal to keep their kilns operating; but some closed down for the duration of the strike resulting in the ‘laying off’ of hundreds of workers. This strike was a major industrial dispute that lasted two months and ended in defeat for the unions and workers forced to accept lower wages.

Also ‘gas stokers’ went on strike as some of the gas companies began employing non-union ‘stokers’. Since the Box Hill Brick Company used gas supplied by the Box Hill Gas Company(north western corner of Elgar and Whitehorse Rd’s) to operate its kilns, this strike caused the management of the Box Hill Brick Company to ‘have resolved on suspending operations at once’. 

In 1892 the ordinary General Meeting of the company was reported on in The Age newspaper and mentions: 

‘……The report expressed regret that owing to the decline in the demand, and the consequent fall in

the price of bricks, the result of the operations for the past half year was very unsatisfactory.

Only one kiln had been kept working, and notwithstanding the curtailment of output the

company had been unable to sell all the bricks made. Ultimately it had been deemed advisable to

close the second kiln, and execute orders from the stock in hand. The stoppage of the company's

bankers also added to the troubles which the directors had to face, and they resolved to refer the

condition of affairs to the shareholders…….The stoppage of the Mercantile Bank paralysed operations completely. If they had means to continue the works of the company it would only result in disaster to the shareholders and all concerned. He moved - That it has been proved to the satisfaction of this meeting that the company, by reason of its liabilities, cannot continue its business, and it is advisable that the company be voluntarily wound up.’

The crash of the Mercantile Bank in 1892, under the chairmanship of Sir Matthew Davies, who was also the speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, plunged the colony into economic chaos. Legal action against directors of this bank continued for many years.

In 1893 at a meeting of the company that was reported in The Age newspaper mentions: 

‘A final meeting of the shareholders in the Box Hill Brick Company Limited was held at Scott's Hotel yesterday, when the liquidator, Mr. R.B. McComas, made a statement showing that secured creditors would receive a dividend of 3s. 3. 3/4d. The property had been handed over to the mortgagees, the Mercantile Bank (also in liquidation). A resolution finally winding up the company and disposing of the books was carried’.

In an article in November, 1894 The Reporter – Box Hill mentions a legal case about people stealing items from the closed down Box Hill Brick Works and also mentions Peter Wagner being the caretaker of the brick works for the Mercantile Bank. 

In an article in February, 1898 in The Reporter – Box Hill mentions that the Box Hill brickworks were now owned by 'Certain proprietors of brickmaking companies near the city of Melbourne have leased the Box Hill works as, one would imagine, at remarkably low rent, seeing that they have and are making no attempt to utilise this valuable property. In short one word, and one word only, explains the position, that word being “monopoly”. At this time the Mercantile Bank still held the mortgage on the brick works making them the legal owner. The brick making companies under the name of the Co-operative Brick Company Ltd. leased the Box Hill Brick Works from the Mercantile Bank but they did not restart the brick works.

Although the brickworks closed down in 1893 it was not until 1899 that all of the equipment was auctioned off by the firm of Pleasence, Graham and Styles. The items that were auctioned off included engines, clay trucks, clay rolls, ships steam winch, boilers, lathes, railway sleepers, rails, and several million bricks. 

But it appears that the brick’s at the brick works site may not have been sold at this 1899 auction, as an advertisement in 1902 states ‘Brick Cleaners, four, wanted; bring tools. Ritter’s brick yard. Box Hill’. 

Ritters brick yard

‘Ritters brick yard’ was run by Ernest Ritter who was born in Saxony, Germany in 1854. In 1880 Ernest Ritter and Amelia Keimar were married in Dresden, Germany, then in 1883 Ernest, Amelia and their two young children - Anna and Herman travelled on the sailing ship SS Adelaide from Hamburg, Germany to Adelaide, Australia. 

In Adelaide in 1885 Ernest received his Naturalisation Certificate with his occupation at this time is listed as ‘brickmaker’, but by 1889 Ernest and his family were living in Balwyn as their daughter Mary is born there.

In 1891 the family are living in Kent Rd, Box Hill - on the eastern side of Surrey Dr and just over the road from the Box Hill Brick Works as their son, William is born there.

In 1916 Ernest’s son William Ritter married Zoe Padgham the granddaughter of Box Hill Pioneer Silas Padgham.

Ernest later moved to Western Australia and was working at the Busselton brick works in 1927 when he drowned in the Vasse River, Busselton.

Fritsch, Holzer and Co. (Upper Hawthorn Brick Co.), a member of the Co-operative Brick Co had become the caretakers of the Box Hill Brick Works site, as in 1902 Fritsch, Holzer and Co.  placed an advertisement in The Age  newspaper:

‘TENDERS are invited for Cleaning and Burning Furze off 40 a. land, known as Box Hill Brick Works. Particulars from Fritsch, Holzer & Co. Upper, Hawthorn Brick Works’  and again in 1904 Fritsch, Holzer and Co. placed another advertisement in The Age newspaper for: 

‘CUTTING and Clearing Furze (Thistles Act) on property known as Box Hill Brick Co., Elgar and Canterbury rds. Particulars, Fritsch, Holzer & Co., Hawthorn’.

A biography of Augustus Fritsch can be seen at the end this article.

The Victorian Heritage Register in a report titled ‘Former Standard Brickworks 14 Federation Street Box Hill, Whitehorse City’ mentions: ‘Following a change of ownership and a lease by the rival Co-operative Brick Company the site was sold in 1905’.

Regarding the ownership of the of the Box Hill brickworks in 1905 Andrew Lemon in his book Box Hill mentions: ‘The current rumour at the time was that the land was held by the Northcote brick-making combine in order to prevent the works from re-opening and competing, and that the land was sold cheaply to the Nunawading Council on the understanding that it would not be used as a brick works’. 

The brick works laid idle until 1912 when a notice in The Herald newspaper mentions ‘A company is being formed to acquire the Standard Brick Works at Box Hill. The prospectus, which is advertised on Page 2, states -that the capital is to be £20,000, in £1 shares, 8000 of which are now offered to the public. Tho vendor is to receive £4250 fully paid-up and £7750 will be held in reserve. A sum of £6750 will be placed to the credit of the company for working capital. The company will have the option of purchasing an additional 12 acres of land adjoining the works. The registered office Is In Broken Hill Chambers, Queen street’.

The Nunawading Shire reneged on its agreement with the Co-operative Brick Company Ltd ‘that it would not be used as a brick work’s.’ 

By 1913 the Standard Brick and Tile Company were operating the former Box Hill Brick Workssite. 

There appears to have been a number of campaigns and protracted negotiations over a number of years regarding the construction of a railway from the brick works to the Box Hill station.

The Reporter – Box Hill - In December 1914 ‘a delegation from the standard brick company met with Nunawading shire councillors to discuss the construction of a railway from the brickworks to Box Hill station’. 

In 1921, after six years of meetings between the local residents, Standard Brick and Tile Company, Nunawading Council and the Public Works Department approval for the construction of the railway was granted by the Minister for Public Works. 

Blasting in the quarry began c1915 and over a number of years there were numerous complaints from local residents in regard to the noise and vibrations. It appears that the blasting at the brick works stopped in c1928.

In 1931 the Managing Director of Standard Brick and Tile Company Arthur Russell died at his home at 168 Elgar Rd, Box Hill.

In March 1938 the Standard Brick and Tile Company was put up for sale and later that month sold for £26,750 (equivalent to $1,477,423 today). In 1938 the average weekly wage was £5 equivalent to $276 today. In April the new owners of the brickworks were Charles Clayton and Charlie. C. Osborne who renamed the company Standard Brickworks Pty. Ltd.

From 1939, manufacturing was heavily directed toward the war effort. Major companies, including Ford Australia, converted their production lines to create military vehicles, weapons, and ammunition. 

In 1942 The Directorate of Manpower was established, allowing the government to compel individuals to work in munitions factories, prohibit employees from leaving essential industries, and restrict employers from hiring without authorisation. This effectively shut down or severely reduced labor in "unprotected" (non-war) industries. In the same year the brick works were closed down due to the new staffing regulations. 

After the war ended in 1945 the manpower restrictions were lifted and the brick works reopened in 1946. 

In 1950 the Managing Director of Standard Brickworks Pty. Ltd Charlie Osborne ‘died at his home in Osborn avenue, North Balwyn after a short illness’.

In a Victorian Heritage Register report titled ‘Former Standard Brickworks 14 Federation Street Box Hill, Whitehorse City’ it mentions: ‘in 1952 the plant was converted to electricity. The Brick and Pipe Company took over the company in 1966 and in August 1988 the box hill works were closed’.

In 1989 the brick works and quarry were purchased by property company Azcorp Ltd for $5million. Azcorp Ltd was owned by the Saade brothers and in 1991 the company was ‘wound up in the Victorian Supreme Court following a tax claim of $1.26 million by the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation’.

In 1991 the brick work buildings were given a Heritage Overlay (HO217) under the Historic Buildings Act, 1981.

The brickworks and quarry were again listed for sale and in 1993 was purchased by Pamacorp Pty Ltd. 

In 1995 Pamacorp Pty was renamed Renak Holdings. Renak Holdings largest shareholder is the Malaysian based company Phileo Australia.

                                                   The development of the brick works and quarries

The former brick works buildings 

The brick work buildings have been on this site since 1884 and have been added to ever since.

From 1949 to 1990 the former Box Hill Council approved a number of applications in regard to the brickworks building. These included repairs to the chimney, the building of a drying shed, the renewal of some interior walls, the addition of a brick and timber building, demolition of two sheds, increasing clay storage, the erection of a galvanised fence and installation of a substation. 

In 1991 the brickwork buildings were given a Heritage Overlay (HO217) under the Historic Buildings Act, 1981.

On November 20, 2000, under delegation from the Minister for Planning, the Honourable John Thwaites, Ray Rooke (Chairperson) and Maggie Baron (Member) were appointed pursuant to Sections 153 and 155 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 as a Panel to consider and hear submissions about Amendment C3 Part 2 to the Whitehorse Planning Scheme. In 2001 Panel Hearings were conducted at the Whitehorse Council Offices in regard to amendments to C3 Part 2 of the Whitehorse Planning Scheme. 

The owner of the former Box Hill brickworks Phileo Australia site raised concerns in regard to the changes that were being proposed to the Whitehorse Planning Scheme. These include the extent of the proposed Heritage Overlay and Permit requirement for external painting and Prohibited uses.

In their conclusion the Panel stated: 

‘The Panel recognises that the long term conservation and ideally re-use of this site is dependent on sound strategic conservation planning, of which site use is one element. The Panel further comments that it is critical that the site is well maintained in the short term in order to maximise potential adaptive re-use options for the site. The Panel expresses its concern that gradual attrition of the site may be used as a future management strategy. It therefore reminds the owner of their obligations under the Heritage Act to ensure the property is maintained to the extent that its cultural heritage significance is not affected. It recommends the owner pursue an active strategy to explore adaptive re-use of the site as soon as possible’.

Photos taken in 2013 of the interiors of the brickwork’s buildings show that it is relatively intact but it is in need of urgent maintenance. 

As of April 2026, there has been no development of the former brickwork buildings, but it is listed on the Phileo Australia website as ‘Future Potential, Under Investigation’.

It appears that there has been no assessment or maintenance of the heritage protected buildings for a number of years.

The first quarry now known as the Surrey Dive 

‘The band of Silurian clays that stretched across Nunawading Shire was ideal for making bricks, tiles and pottery, and there was plenty of timber in the forest to fuel the kilns. Before large scale brickmaking was established it was common practice for bricks to be made of the clay dug on or near the building site.’ 

From the book Suburban Heartland - A History of the City of Whitehorse by Lesley Alves.

The first brick structure (double storey) to be built in this part of Box Hill was the Whitehorse Inn in 1853 on the corner of Whitehorse and Elgar Rds. A 1939 Argus newspaper article mentions: ‘The hotel was built in 1853 by Mr. P. Trainer, at a cost of 6d.a brick’.The usual practise at this time was for architects/owners to advertise for tenders to construct the proposed buildings. There appears to be no advertisements placed by or for Patrick Trainor in the newspapers asking for tenders to build an ‘inn/hotel’ – but given the large number of ‘itinerant brickmakers’ in Melbourne at that time it is highly likely that the bricks for the Whitehorse Inn were made on site or nearby. 

In 19th-century Melbourne, ‘itinerant brickmakers’ were tradespeople who travelled to a brickfield (a site where bricks are made) site to hand-make bricks on the spot for a specific project/order, rather than being a permanent employee of a large brick works. They made bricks by mixing local clay with other materials like sand or ash and then used moulds to form, dry, and fire the bricks on-site in temporary built kilns, a practice common for individual homes and buildings. The key was the local availability of suitable clay and wood fuel, as transporting heavy materials at the time was difficult and expensive. The duration an ‘itinerant brickmaker’ spent on a brickfield varied depending on the length of the contract/s for supplying bricks and economic conditions at the time.

A year later in 1854 Patrick Griffin purchased Lot 30B (30 acres) that was on the north west corner of Canterbury Rd and Station St. and here he built ‘a substantial cottage, built of brick upon a stone foundation, plastered walls and ceilings, with slated roof’.Patrick Griffin was a member of the first Nunawading Roads Board founded in 1857 in the Nunawading District, later known as the Shire of Nunawading, the City of Box Hill and is currently the City of Whitehorse. 

Before becoming a place of recreational and competitive swimming and diving events, the Surrey Dive was a clay pit that was used from 1884 by the Haughton Park Brick Company as a source of clay but it was not the first brick works as the Victorian Places website mentions:

‘Box Hill has several heritage sites. The largest is the Standard Brickworks (c1884), near Surrey Park. (The park contains the Surrey Dive, a former clay pit excavated by another brick maker.)’. 

Was the clay pit (Surrey Dive) the source of the clay that was used to make the bricks for the Whitehorse Inn and Patrick Griffins home some 30 years before the establishment of the Haughton-Park Brick Company on this site?

In his book Box Hill by Andrew Lemon he mentions ‘In May 1905 the Council resolved to borrow up to £3000 to buy lands for reserves. The most important purchase was Surrey Park, then simply a paddock belonging to the old Box Hill Brick Co., forty – four acres in extent including a deep clay hole, long abandoned and half full of water, which the Council envisaged turning into a swimming pool. The rumour current at the time was that the land was held by a Northcote brick-making combine in order to prevent the works from re-opening and competing, and that the land was sold cheaply to the Nunawading Council on the understanding that it would not be used as a brick works. The price of the land was £1000.’ 

The ‘Northcote brick making combine’ referred to by Andrew Lemon was formed in 1896 and was named the Co-operative Brick Company Ltd. and included Fritsch, Holzer and Co. - Upper, Hawthorn Brick Works, Hoffman Patent Steam Brick Co., Northcote Brick Co. Ltd., New Northcote Brick Co. Ltd. and Chas. Butler & Son. 

In a 1906 Nunawading Shire meeting minutes The Reporter - Box Hill ‘Surrey Park were got for £25……’ 

In February 1906 at a Nunawading Shire meeting that was reported in The Reporter – Box Hill newspaper mentions ‘At the 1st meeting of the Nunawading council, Cr Garrett mentioned the presence of a deputation from the newly formed Surrey park swimmers club, and moved the first clause of the reserves committee’s report be adopted as follows: - "That the committee is favorable to the council leasing the large hole in Surrey park to the proposed swimming club at £1 1/ per year, subject to such by-laws or regulations as may be necessary."

At a Nunawading Shire meeting in July 1906 that was reported in The Reporter - Box Hill newspaper mentions the sale of the brickworks ‘Cr Collier said when they got a grant of £50 and the Box Hill brickworks cheap, they did a good day's work.’

The former second quarry site

The former second quarry site is on the northern side of the brick work buildings and is 2.3 acres in size. The site is covered by a council Heritage Overlay (HO3) and an Environmental Audit Overlay (EAO).

In the Phileo Australia Limited Environmental Audit Report, Proposed Residential Development Area, Former Box Hill Landfill (stage 1), Federation Street, Box Hill, 2004 it mentions: 

‘From 1988 until 1999 the clay pit was used as a council landfill, accepting solid inert waste and building demolition rubble. In the early days of operation, considerable amounts of green waste, derived from council collections, was placed in the landfill’.

In 2001 Phileo Australia lodged an application to build ‘71 two storey and 8 three storey dwellings and creation of a carriageway easement’. In 2006 a Ministerial Permit was issued.

In a 2002 site audit that was conducted by Golder Associates PTY LTD and in 2004, Phillip Sinclair of Coffey Geosciences Pty Ltd was appointed by the EPA ‘to issue a Certificate of Environmental Audit in relation to the site known as the Proposed Residential Development Area, former Box Hill Landfill (Stage 1), located at Federation Street, Box Hill, and as shown in Figures SF-1, SF-2 and SF-3 attached to this Statement (“the site”) owned by Phileo Australia Ltd’. 

‘HEREBY STATE that I am of the opinion that: The site is suitable for the following beneficial uses: 

• Sensitive uses, including low, medium and high-density residential use; 

• Recreation / Open Space; 

• Commercial Uses; and 

• Industrial Uses’

In the report’s conclusion it stated: 

‘The assumption of the presence of polluted groundwater and the potential aesthetic and landfill gas management limitations that apply at the site, mean that issue of a Certificate of Environment Audit is not appropriate. As such the auditor considers the site in its current state to be suitable for Sensitive Uses including residential use, and less sensitive uses; including Recreation / Open Space, Commercial and Industrial uses subject to conditions and has issued a Statement of Environmental Audit to that effect’.

In 2002 Phileo Australia lodged an application to build ‘a place of worship and education centre’ on the site of the former quarry. Local residents objected to the application and it went to VCAT who then approved the developer’s application. The ‘place of worship and education centre’ was not built.

In 2019 Phileo Australia withdrew their 2001 application to build ‘71 two storey and 8 three storey dwellings and creation of a carriageway easement’.

At a City of Whitehorse council meeting on October 13, 2025 ‘a Council Resolution Moved by Cr Langford, Seconded by Cr Barker That Council: 

1. Confirm its position that the land known as 14 Federation Street, Box Hill (also known as the former Box Hill Brickworks) be allocated for the purpose of public open space. 

2. Authorise the CEO and Director City Development to enter into negotiations with the landowner of 14 Federation Street, Box Hill for the potential purchase of that site, or such portion of that site as the CEO considers appropriate, for the purpose of creating public open space. 

3. Receives a report on the status and progress of these negotiations, including any proposed purchase terms, the estimated purchase price and associated expenses. 

4. Engage with Members of Parliament regarding the proposed purchase of the above site. 

5. Note that no binding agreement will be entered to purchase the site, or any portion of it, without further Council approval’.

Also, at the October 13, 2025 Council meeting a ‘Late Item Attachment’ titled ‘Property Matter - 14 Federation Street, Box Hill’ was submitted. It mentions a number of points including‘If acquired, the state heritage listed former brickworks buildings would require ongoing, and significant, maintenance, including future repurposing/redevelopment’ and ‘Various proposals for development have never eventuated due to contamination’.

As of April 2026, there has been no development of the former quarry site, but it is listed on the Phileo Australia website as ‘Future Potential, Under Investigation’.

The brick works have been on this site since 1884 and has survived the development of the area from a rural outpost to a busy residential and business center and is the last remaining example of this historic industry which literally contributed to the built heritage of Melbourne and the City of Whitehorse.

Whitehorse City Council mandates the maintenance of heritage properties primarily through the Whitehorse Planning Scheme (Heritage Overlay - Clause 43.01, Victorian government planning provision) and the Whitehorse Community Local Law 2024. These regulations ensure that sites of aesthetic, social, or historical significance are preserved, and that properties do not become derelict, dilapidated, or unsightly.

The Box Hill brick works buildings are currently in a dilapidated state and are in need of urgent attention to preserve and restore this important piece of our industrial and community heritage. 

                                                                        ASSOCIATE BIOGRAPHIES

William Haughton jnr. – founder of the Haughton Park Brick Works, Box Hill

William Haughton jnr. was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1850 he was the son of William snr. and Margaret Haughton (nee Gihon). 

In 1858 William snr., Margaret and their four children travelled from Dublin, Ireland on board the sailing ship Rienzi to Melbourne. On the ships passenger list William snr’s. occupation is listed as ‘cabinet maker’. 

By 1860 William jnr. and his family were living on Swan St, Richmond and in the same year William snr. died. 

As a cabinet maker William’s father would have dealt with different types of timber. It is therefore highly likely that William learnt about the different types of timber from his father. By the early 1870’s William was working as a ‘clerk’ in Richmond River, New South Wales and was responsible for buying Cedar for Victorian timber companies. William was listed in the directory as living in Lismore, New South Wales. 

At this time the timber industry was the only industry operating in Richmond River. The area was known for its Australian Cedar which was sought after for its valuable, soft, red timber used in early furniture and construction. 

In 1874 William Haughton and Susan Ellis were married at the Holy Trinity Church, Kew. William and Susan had eight children –Gertrude, Reginald, Margaret ‘Madge’, Edward, Clarissa, Blanche, Lois and Robert who did not survive infancy.

By 1875 William is listed in the Melbourne directory as living in Rowena St, Richmond.

Between 1875 and 1878 William founded the firm of Haughton and Co. The firm was involved in gold mining through its Great Extended Hustler’s Mine in Ballarat. It was also involved in importing coffee from Java, sugar from Galle, India, spices from Madang, Indonesia as well as exporting coffee to New York, United States.

In 1882 Robert McComas joined the firm of Haughton and Co. 

Between 1882 and 1884 William Haughton formed a syndicate with a number of leading Melbourne businessmen and founded the Haughton Park Brick Co. One of the directors of the Haughton Park Brick Co. was J W McComas the father of Robert McComas.

By 1884 the firm of Haughton and Co. expanded their business into dealing in cows, ox’s, sheep skins, cow hides, tallow, tree bark and Kangaroo skins.

By 1885 the family were living on the northwestern corner of Whitehorse and Dorking Rd’s, Box Hill as their son Robert was born there. Here William built a substantial brick house and named it after the town of Lismore where he lived and may have had fond memories of.

As well as being a prominent member of the Box Hill community William also wanted to contribute to the local cultural scene by forming a consortium in 1885 to build a new hall. In the book Box Hill by Andrew Lemon, he mentions ‘…the Gordon Hall seemed to be always dark until, ‘rusty for want of use’ it was carted off unloved to Camberwell…..in the meantime a consortium of Box Hill notables – including Rawlings, Meader , Serpell and Haughton from the Brick Works – floated a company to build a really solid Recreational Hall to cost £1,000 on the south side of White Horse Road, just down from the Railway Hotel.’

Gordon Hall was located on the south western corner of Whitehorse and Elgar Rd’s, Mont Albert. 

The Recreation Hall was located on the south east corner of what is now 1010 Whitehorse Rd, Box Hill (the former site of the Box Hill TAFE). Around 1900 the hall was renamed Federal Hall, the building was demolished in the early 1970s.

In 1887 William Haughton became a councillor in the Nunawading Shire after the Shire President William Ellingworth’s ‘dramatic resignation’. Also, Robert McComas became a partner in Haughton and Co. 

In late 1888 William resigned as ‘manager’ of the brick works and by 1889 he was elected as Nunawading Shire President serving until 1896. 

By 1890 Robert McComas became the sole proprietor of Haughton and Co. Robert expanded the company and established offices in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, New Zealand, England and Canada. Also, J H Taylor the Nunawading Shire Secretary resigned and was replaced by William Haughton. In the book Box Hill by Andrew Lemon, he mentions ‘…. William Haughton who had managed to lose a good deal of money in land speculation and who felt that the salary accruing to the Shire Secretary was more attractive than the unpaid prestige accruing to the Shire President. His fellow Councillors also helped out by raising the Secretary’s remuneration by £50 to £300 per year.’ 

The crash of the land boom in the early 1890s was followed by a depression that lasted ten years. During this time the construction of buildings slowed down resulting in a down turn in brick production. This caused a number of brick works to either close down temporarily or permanently. In 1893 the directors decided to close the Box Hill Brick Works due not only the lack of demand for bricks but their bank (Mercantile Bank) was in liquidation.

As the depression continued land values in the district were halved therefore reducing the council’s income and their bank (Mercantile Bank) was in liquidation The council decided that they could not afford to pay William his high salary. In the book Box Hill by Andrew Lemon, he mentions a council meeting that took place in September 1896 ‘ The President (Cr. Collier) informed the Secretary, Mr. Haughton, that the Council appreciated his services very highly, but in the view of the fact that his superior abilities warranted him seeking for a far more lucrative position, it was determined to offer him a bonus equal to four months’ salary should he elect to retire.’ William retired from Nunawading Shire Council. 

In October,1896 William was the guest of honour at a ‘send - off social’ that was held at the Recreation Hall and was reported in The Reporter – Box Hill mentions: 

‘The chair was occupied by the president of the shire, Cr Collier, who remarked that it was extremely gratifying to see such a large and influential gathering to wish their old friend bon voyage. He had always had the highest respect for Mr Haughton, and hoped that he would be successful beyond expectation in the far West…. Haughton, like many of his fellow Victorians, headed off to Western Australia convinced that the future would be brighter, leaving his family behind him. 

By March 12, 1897 William is listed as a passenger on the steamship S.S. Gabo travelling to the 'eastern colonies’. It appears that William was back in Melbourne as the S.S. Gabo is listed on March, 20 as sailing back to Fremantle. 

By 1905 William and his family are listed in the Melbourne directory as living in Albert Ave, Oakleigh and his occupation is listed as 'town clerk' at the Oakleigh Burrough Council. The family later moved and lived in Euston Rd, Oakleigh. 

Between 1905 and 1907 William sold his home to Thomas Mates. By 1908 Thomas and his family had moved into the house and he named it Towong. 

William must have enjoyed working for the Oakleigh Burrough Council and they must have been happy with his work as he was appointed as the council’s ‘valuer’. 

In 1929 Susan Haughton died and by 1930 William was living with his daughter Blanche and her husband Gerald at 429 Riversdale Rd, Surrey Hills.

William appears to have enjoyed his work as he did not retire until 1934 when he was 85 years old.

William Haughton died at his daughter’s home in Surrey Hills in 1943.

Although William had sold his share of Haughton and Co. to Robert McComas in 1890 the company still traded under his name until 1981 when its parent company, the London-based Wood Hall Trust Limited, was acquired by the Australian based Elders IXL. 

In the Britannia Mall, Mitcham there are heritage Interpretation panels that inform residents and visitors of the history of the Australian Tessellated Tile Co. that was established in Mitcham in 1885 by its manager/owner Edgar Walker. The 1885 built Mitcham tile works were demolished in the early 1970s. The Whitehorse council should be congratulated for placing these heritage interpretation panels in Mitcham. 

The Haughton Park Brick Co. (later Box Hill Brick Works) was established in Box Hill in 1884 by William Haughton. There are currently no heritage interpretation panels informing residents and visitors of William Haughton’s contributions to our heritage or of the Box Hill Brick Works buildings. We are lucky in the City of Whitehorse that we have the last intact brick work buildings (heritage protected) in Victoria that started life in the mid-1880s.

Augustus Fritsch - whose business Fritsch, Holzer & Co – Upper Hawthorn Brick Works were caretakers of the Box Hill Brick Works is of further interest to our area. 

Augustus ‘Andrew’ Fritsch was an early pioneer in the development of the pottery industry in the Nunawading District (as the City of Whitehorse was known in the 1850s). Prior to arriving in Melbourne in 1849 Augustus lived and worked in Breslau, Silesia (now in Poland and known as Sydow) was known at that time as a center of pottery production and used red clay, or terracotta in making pottery products.

In June, 1851 Augustus was presented with a Certificate of Naturalization at a ceremony that was held in the Victorian Supreme Court IN BANCO presided over by the resident judge and there was a local connection with this ceremony as Adolph Moeller attended. Adolph Moeller (as part of a syndicate) had just bought land on the eastern side of the corner of Warrigal and Canterbury Rd’s, Surrey Hills. The homestead he built later became known as Spenceycroft and can be found on this website.

Augustus also established his pottery in East Collingwood (now Abbottsford) and later was looking for other sources of red clay. He may have heard about the red clay in Scotchman’s Hill (as Forest Hill was known at the time) from customers, other brickmakers or potters, as in 1856 Augustus bought 56 acres of land (part of Allotment 100,240 acres) in Scotchman’s Hill from William Morton. The land ran north from Burwood Hwy to Mahoney’s Reserve and from Tainton Rd in the west to Robinlee Ave in the east. Here in the current Forest Hill, he established a clay quarry to supply his pottery on Victoria St, East Collingwood and subsequently sold off the surrounding land he had purchased.

In 1859 Augustus subdivided part of his Scotchman’s Hill allotment and sold two lots to John and Frantz Rosenblatt (Augustus Fritsch’s nephews) and a third lot to Konstantin Maessiggang. In 1872 he sold another lot to Joseph Perry and the last lot to Mary and Alex Muir in 1879. 

In 1863 Augustus’s son Gustavus Fritsch and Ottilie Hölzer were married in Melbourne. Augustus and Ottilie had seven children – Augustus jnr., Christiane, Franz, Sylvester, Christina, Bernhardt, Charles and John. 

Ottilie Hölzer was the daughter of Martin and Margarethe Holzer (nee Koch). Martin Holzer’s occupation is listed as ‘brickmaker’.

In c1872 John Holzer also established a brick works on the western side of Camberwell Rd, Upper Hawthorn as East Hawthorn was known at this time. John Holzer was the brother of Martin and Anton Holzer and Ottilie Fritsch (nee Holzer).

In 1873 Augustus applied to the Hawthorn Borough Council to erect a brick kiln on the western side of Camberwell Rd, Upper Hawthorn as East Hawthorn was known at this time. It appears that the Hawthorn Council gave Augustus permission to establish his brick kiln as an advertisement in 1875 in The Argus newspaper mentions: ‘WANTED, TENDERS to COMPLETE KILN of WALL, at risk of former contractor. Apply Fritsch, Upper Hawthorn.’ 

In 1883 after operating next to each other for ten years the Fritsch and Holzer brickworks merged and became Fritsch, Holzer and Co. - Upper Hawthorn Brick Co. The company became Victoria’s largest brickmaker employing eighty staff and making over 250,000 bricks per week. 

By 1887 Augustus and Caroline Fritsch were living in Nunawading as Caroline died there. It is interesting to note that in Caroline’s Will she refers to Augustus’s occupation as ‘farmer’.

In December 1898 Augustus Fritsch died suddenly during a game of bowls at the Richmond Union green, Richmond.

After Augustus’s death members of the Fritsch and Holzer family continued running the company.

The Upper Hawthorn Brick Co. continued operating until 1972 when it closed and was purchased by the Hawthorn City Council, and used it for landfill and in 1995 was redeveloped and became the Fritsch Holzer Park. 

                                                                                   BURWOOD EAST

                THE NEW NORTHCOTE BRICK CO., 70 MIDDLEBOROUGH RD, BURWOOD EAST 

                                                                           – ESTABLISHED 1937

The New Northcote Brick Co. was established c1882 in Dennis St, Northcote. 

In 1937 the New Northcote Brick Co. purchased 40 acres of land near the intersection of Middleborough Rd and Burwood Hwy, Burwood East for £3000. The site was used as a source of clay for their brick works in Northcote and was crucial to the success and expansion of the company’s brick production with 100,000 bricks being produced on the Burwood East site each week by 1950.

At the Burwood site in c1958 a Hanley tunnel kiln was built greatly increasing production and a second tunnel kiln was built in c1961. 

In 1959 New Northcote Brick Co. changed its name to Brick Industries. 

Around 1960 Brick Industries released the 'Nu brik' brand of bricks in colours including cream, red and tan. These bricks became the preferred material for their smooth finish and consistent colour and were used in the building of many brick veneer houses and other buildings around Melbourne. 

In 1962 Brick Industries purchased the Northcote Brick Co. and by 1964 the company was renamed Brick & Pipe Industries.

During 1968 Brick and Pipe Industries took over a number of Victorian brick works becoming the largest brick manufacturer in Victoria. In an article in May 1969 The Canberra Times newspaper mentions: 

‘After a year of expansion by takeover, Brick and Pipe Industries Ltd, Victoria's largest brick

maker, plans to make a new issue to shareholders.’

During the 1970s management undertook a program of modernisation and expansion of the Burwood plant at a cost of $5 million. The Hanley kilns were reconstructed and the wire-cut brickmaking plant was replaced with a pressed brick plant. From 1978 to 1979 further improvements were made to the kiln firing systems to reduce fuel consumption and automated kiln cars were installed.

In 1988 Brick & Pipe Industries was acquired by Melbourne businessman Abe Goldberg. By 1990 a number of Abe Goldberg’s companies went into receivership, and he sold Brick & Pipe Industries to Pioneer International. 

In 1995 Reading International, an American property group and cinema operator purchased the 21-hectare former Brick & Pipe Industries Burwood site from Pioneer Industries. An article in 2004 in the Australian Financial Review refers to a proposal to build ‘1050 apartments and medium-density units, plus 45,000 square meters of commercial development and a 3000 square meter entertainment and hotel precinct with an eight-screen multiplex….’

‘…But a coterie of Australian cinema operators and shopping center owners, including Village, Greater Union and AMP, objected to the development and others that Reading had planned around Australia. And the Kennett government, usually friendly to developers, rejected the proposal despite its approval by the local council…’ The redevelopment of the site by Reading International did not go ahead.

After these plans failed to materialise, Reading International placed the site on the market in 2010. 

In 2014 Australand (later renamed Frasers Property Group) bought the former Burwood brick works site from Reading International. The site required significant remediation and a two-year cleanup process before redevelopment of the site could commence. 

In 2018 ‘…. A permit to build the mall was recently granted by the Whitehorse City Council. It forms part of a $500 million approved master-planned estate that will include 700 dwellings comprising apartments, townhouses, terrace housing and free-standing homes. A full-line 4200 square meter Woolworths supermarket will anchor the 12,700 square meter mall alongside a Dan Murphy's, plus cinemas, food and beverage, a childcare center, medical center and health and fitness offering…’

‘…Residential sales will commence in spring with the estate's first apartments, townhouses and lots due to be completed by 2020….’ Source: Australian Financial Review June 11,2018.

The shopping center was opened in December 2019, and the development was named Burwood Brickworks. And interestingly although they sold the land, Reading International returned to the site as a tenant, opening a six-screen cinema complex in the new Frasers Property Group development in December 2019.

In an article on the Build Australia website it mentions: ‘Apartment construction began in 2019, while town homes commenced in 2020. The first residents moved in in 2021, and the construction of all apartments and town homes were completed in September 2023’.

                                                OTHER QUARRY AND BRICKWORKS OF INTEREST

                           CITY BRICKS CO. - QUARRY, 465 HIGHBURY RD, BURWOOD EAST

                                                                           – ESTABLISHED C1929

This quarry in Burwood East was operated by City Bricks Co. as a source of clay for their brick works in Hawthorn East for a number of years until the early 1970s when the site was redeveloped for housing. Their brick works was in Hawthorn East near where the current St Kevins Sports Fields on Tooronga Rd is now located. 

                          MONT ALBERT BRICK WORKS, 173A MONT ALBERT RD, CANTERBURY 

                                                                              – ESTABLISHED C1891

Although named Mont Albert Brick Works this brick works and quarry was never actually in Mont Albert and was most likely named after its proximity to Mont Albert Rd in Canterbury.

The Mont Albert Brick Works were established c1891 by Edward Cornish and his sons on the site of the current John August Reserve on Mont Albert Rd, Canterbury. 

In the book One Man And His Time - Edward Bishop Master Builder 1844 -1902, 1979 by descendant Marjorie de F. Bishop it mentions: 

‘The brick terrace on the corner of Mont Albert Road, intended for the brick workers in Cornish’s employ, bears a strong resemblance to the one in Churchill Grove, and the appearance in the Boroondara Rate book for 1891/92 of E. Cornish, brickmaker, as the person rated in one of Bishop’s Rochester Road villas’. The terraces are still there at 52 to 58 Rochester Rd, Canterbury.

Edward Cornish operated the brick works for a number of years and in 1902 he advertised it for sale in The Argus newspaper mentioning:

‘MONT ALBERT BRICK WORKS Canterbury. – This fully equipped modern steam plant and Machinery, with two acres freehold land, for SALE as a going concern. Owner leaving State will sell bargain. Pleasance, Graham and Styles, 28 and 30 Elizabeth – st.’

It appears that c1903 George S Buckley who lived at Zenda at 4 Canterbury Rd, Camberwell purchased the former brick works site. It became locally known as Buckleys Paddock and with the quarry filling in with water, the locals used it as a swimming hole. 

In 1911 George S Buckley subdivided his land into nine allotments and sold it as the Buckleys Lake Paddock subdivision. The allotments were located around the former swimming hole and clay pit and was referred to in the advertisement as an ‘ornamental lake and park’. The advertisement also mentions ‘The Vendor undertakes to make a Free Gift to the Town Council of the area reserved for the Lake, the Park and Approaches’.

It appears that a suggestion was made that the Camberwell Council should buy former clay hole. In Dec 1918 the meeting minutes of the Camberwell Council were reported in the Hawthorn Advertiser:

‘That no action be taken in regard to suggestion that council should acquire clay hole off Rochester road for swimming pool.’

In 1923 George S Buckley died at his home on Canterbury Rd, Camberwell. There is no record in his Will of the land he owned on Mont Albert Rd, Canterbury that was known as Buckley’s Lake. This may indicate that he had sold the land to the Camberwell Council before his death.

It appears that the Camberwell Council had acquired Buckleys Lake between 1923 and 1933 as they are involved in maintaining and redeveloping the site into a park/reserve. During this time the area around the site of the former brick works was used as a tip for many years and the lake was used for swimming.

In 1933 a suggestion was made to fill in the swimming hole and create a children’s playground as on October 3 the meeting minutes of the Camberwell Council were reported in The Age newspaper:

‘A report was received on the matter from the engineer (Mr. Goldsworthy) that material was being used to fill up the cavity as often as possible, but until the task was completed be could not recommend that the area be made into a children's playground. The Mayor (Cr. Nettleton): I am afraid the children have Buckley's chance of securing a playground then.

Cr. Hislop said the lake had been the talk of Camberwell for too long. The work of filling the area should be hastened, Cr. Read said the lake was several acres, extent, and in places was sixty feet deep. It would take a long time to fill. The engineer said efforts were being made to improve the appearance of the surrounding land, and every load of material available was being deposited in the cavity. The engineer's report was adopted.’

On October 6, 1933, the meeting minutes of the Camberwell Council were reported in The Reporter – Box Hill newspaper:

‘Arthur E. P. Milne, asking that Buckley's Lake, Mont Albert road be filled up, and the area made into a children's playground. —The engineer reported that the hole was about 40ft. deep, and the area of ground covered. -about six acres. They, had been tipping rubbish in it for years. Cr. Hislop urged more rapid engineering work as it -was an eyesore. Cr. Read thought that perhaps Cr. Hislop was 'trying to be humorous. It was impossible to' fill up the lake bed quickly with an average depth of 30ft’.

Up until c1939 the site of the current John August Reserve was known as Buckley’s Lake. A path that ran north from Mont Albert Rd (current northern entrance) along the eastern side of the lake then west to Vauxhall Rd which was then known as Buckley’s Lane. 

By the late 1960s the reserve was named the John August Reserve after John S August, a long-serving Mayor and Councillor of the City of Camberwell now City of Boroondara. 

        But the story doesn't end here—discover what happened next in The Thin Clay Line Part 2 

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