Castlemaine Brick Company

There were brickmakers in Castlemiane from the mid 1850s, making sandstock bricks fired in clamps. However, The Castlemaine Brick and Tile Proprietary Limited was only registered in 1922, and was operating at Scott’s Gully in 1937. Jack Harrison purchased the brickworks in the late 1940s, and renamed it Castlemaine Ceramic Industries. The works made red and clinker bricks until the 1960s. 

In 1963, local artists,constructed a small kiln there to fire their first pottery. George Butcher and John Gowty bought the brickworks in 1972 and a community of artists formed around George and John's homes, which they built, on the footprint of the old factory.

Stawell Brickworks

Brick production was in underway in Stawell from at least 1909 when Thomas Taylor Senior became General Manager of the Stawell Brickworks. His son, Thomas Taylor Jnr, took over on his retirement, who in turn trained Jack Krause in the years between the Great Depression, and World War II. At the conclusion of the war, Jack returned Stawell and established himself as a local artisan brick maker forming Krause Bricks.

The company is today known for its  extra long Emporer Bricks.

List of Brick Companies

Alphabetical list of Brick manufacturers in Victoria 

Hoffman Brick and Potteries Limited c 1900

• Arndts Brickworks, 1850s - Gottleib Arndt (Henry Walkerden, 1888 -1926 South Preston Patent Brick and Tile Co.) Raglan & Hotham Sts. Preston "PRESTON" ?
• Ararat Brick Co pty ltd (T Traynor) Western Brick and Tile Co. 
• Auburn Brick Co. delisted 01/09/1935 "AUBURN"
• Austral Brick Co. NSW "AUSTRAL"
• Australasian Brick Pipe & Tesselated Tile Co. Mitcham 1889-c1970 "ATTC" "MITCHAM"
• Australian Gas Retort and Fire Brick Co, South Yarra "AR&FB SOUTH YARRA"
• Barkly Brick Co. Pty. Ltd. 1909-1962, Barkley St Brunswick "BARKLY"
• Benalla Brickworks 1950
• Bendigo Brickworks "BENDIGO"
• Blackburn Brick Co. 1892-1962, (Blackburn Brick & Tile) "BLACKBURN"
• Blains Brickworks 140-150 Plenty Road
• Boral Brickworks, Bulleen "BORAL"
• Box Hill Brick Co. 1886-1980s  (1884 Haughton Park Brick Company Ltd., 1913 Standard Brickworks /Standard Brick & Tile Co. Ltd.; 1938 Co-operative Brick Company 1966 Brick & Pipe Ind.) "BOX HILL"; "STANDARD"
• Brick & Pipe Industries (see Co-operative Brick Co. Pty. Ltd.) "B.P. Ind."
• Brick Industries Limited “BI LTD”
• Brunswick Brick Tile and Pottery Co. (see Hoffman) "BRUNSWICK BRICK&TILECO"
• Builders' Brick and Tile Supply Co. 1872-1895 "BUILDERS Co"
• Bulleen Brickworks 1950-1990
• Burwood Brickworks 1937-1990
• Butler C (see South Brunswick Brick Co.) "C BUTLER"
• Castlemain Brick Company
• Castlemaine Ceramic Industries
• Centennial Brick and Pipe Co. 1890s, Dandenong?
• Chiltern Brick and Tile Company Proprietary Limited
• Chimney Specials
• City Brick Co. Pty. Ltd. Tooronga Road Camberwell (also Malvern Brickworks) "CITY"; "C B"
• Clifton Bricks 1900-c1943, 21-27 Railway Place Preston  "CLIFTON"
• Cobden Brickworks 1909-? Erskine Bros
• Colac Brickworks 1931-1976. Near Barongarook Creek
• Co-operative Brick Co. Pty. Ltd. 1896, (1966 Brick and Pipe Industries Pty. Ltd.)
• Corio Brick and Tile Co. Geelong
  
• Cornwall Brick and Pottery Co, Albert Street Brunswick 1880s - 1920s
• Creswick Brick Tile & Potteries Ltd. Creswick
• The Dandenong Steam-Press Brick and Tile Company Limited
• Darley Fire Brick Co. c1880-1990, Bacchus Marsh "DARLEY"
• Dixons Brickworks 1892-96, Park Road Oakleigh
• Essendon Brick Company Limited. 1884-c1898
• Evans Brothers (Bricks) Pty. Ltd. 1912-1972 (Sold Oakleigh site in 1969) Park Road Oakleigh
• Erskine Brickworks Shepparton (Shepparton Brick and Tile Company Proprietary Limited) "ERSKINE"
• ExcelsiorBrick Co. "E. B. Co" c 1908-1940 Chapel Street, South Yarra, opposite Malcolm Street "EXCELSIOR"
• Ferry Pottery
• Fitzroy Steam Brick Pipe Tile and Pottery Works, 1878-1893, (F A Harris,  1888 Builders’ Brick and Tile Co.) Collier St Preston, Cochrane Reserve.
• Frankston Brick Company, Colortone Holdings "FRANKSTON”  1932-1961.  Calsil. cnr Lee Street & Cranbourne Rd.
• Fritsch, Holzer, and Co. c1902-1930s Hawthorn "FRITSCH HOLZER"
• Gamble Brick Company, 1911-1982 New Gamble Brick and Quarrying Company Pty Ltd. Ferntree Gully Road near Gamble Street "GAMBLE" "N. G. B. C."
• Glen Iris Brick Co. 1912-1972  (Glen Iris Brick, Tile, and Terra Cotta Co. Pty, Ltd., 2 Watt St Thornbury) Stamford Road Oakleigh "GLEN IRIS"; "G. I. B. Co."
• Glenthompson Brickworks Forbes St Glenthompson: 1900, "GLEN"
• Glew, John, 1849-57 Hodgson Street  & Union St Phillipstown (Brunswick); 1860 Brunswick?; 1866-72 Poheman's Paddock Brickmaking Company Brunswick; 1871 Essendon; c1890s-1907 Weston St Brunswick 1890s-1907.  "GLEW"
• Hamilton Brick and Tile Company Proprietary Limited (Glenthompson?)
• Haughton Park Brick Company Ltd 1884- (see Box Hill Brickworks)
• Hawthorn Brick Co. (see Fritsch-Holzer)
• Hoffman Brick Works  1870-1990 (Brunswick Brick Tile & Pottery Co.; Hoffman Brick and Potteries Limited) "HOFFMAN"
• Horsham Brickworks 1949-
• Jefferson's brickworks, Garfield
• KnightsBrickworks Lal Lal
• Latrobe Brickworks, Traralgon? 'LATROBE'
• Leongatha Brickworks 1922-27
• Lucknow Brick Co
• H Leigh Brickworks
• Lilydale Brick Tile & Pipe Works Ltd.
• The Macedon Steam Brick Tile And Drain Pipe Company Limited
• Maffra Brick Co 
• Malvern Brickworks 1903-? 65 Elizabeth Street, Menzies Park Malvern (City Brick Co.)
• McIvor Brick Co Ltd, Bendigo, c1950s
• Melbourne Brick & Tile Co. Ltd.
• Mitcham Brick and Tile Co. (see Australian Tesselated Tile Co.) " MITCHAM"; "A.T.T.Co."
• MNBC. “M-N"
• Montrose Brickworks
• Mornington Brick and freestone quarries Co.
• Morwell Brick Tile and Pottery Co. (1890-1918) "MORWELL TILE & POTTERY- MORWELL"
• New Brunswick Brick and Pottery Co Pty Ltd c1957-9
• New Gamble Brick and Quarrying Co Pty Ltd, 1916-82 off Ferntree Gully rd Oakleigh
• New Northcote Brick Co. Ltd 1886-c1960s? (John Roberts 1866 and Groom Brothers Patent Brick c1876) "NEW NORTHCOTE"; "N N" "N N B"
• Nolan brickworks?
• Northcote Brick Co.  1882-1977 Separation St. (Northcote Brick Company Limited) "NORTHCOTE"; "NBC"
• North Geelong Brickworks Pty Ltd. Moorabool St Geelong, c1911. 1926-30, "NORTH GEELONG"
• Notting Hill Brick Company1889-98 Oakleigh Black Brick Tile and Pipe Company Limited
• Nubrik, 1962- main brand of Brick and Pipe Industries
• Oakleigh Brick Co. Pty. Ltd., 1917 - c1970s,  "OAKLEIGH"
• Oakleigh Junction Brick Company (1912 Junction Steam Brick Co. J. Hendy) Dandenong Rd. Oakleigh.
• Ordish Fire Brick Co. c1890-1975 Dandenong  "ORDISH"
• Patent Brick Company  1870s -1884 South Yarra
• Pioneer Brickworks "PIONEER"
• P G H Bricks
• The Portland Brick and Tile Company Limited
• Portarlington Brickworks
• Preston Brick and Tile Co. Ltd. 1886-1935 (Raglan Street, between Hotham and Collier Street)
• Ringwood Brick Co.
• Sale Brickworks Co. 1900s
• Sandhurst Brickworks, Bendigo (The Sandhurst Steam Brick and Tile Company Limited) "SANDHURST"
• Selkirk Brick Co. Bendigo "SELKIRK"
• Shepparton Brickyard, Drysdale c1880, Pomberton c1900 Tuttle 1914-17, 
• Shepparton Brick and Tile Co Pty Ltd  c1920-1970  (M. J. & A. G. Erskine) "SHEPPARTON"; "ERSKINE"
• Somerville Brick Tile and Pottery Co 1902 - c1930.
• South Brighton Brick Co. 1890s-
• South Brunswick Brick Co. (C Butler) Albion St Brunswick, "S.B.B.C."
• South Preston Patent Brick & Tile Co.  1888-1826, Milton Crescent off Raglan Street Preston, Adams Reserve
• South Yarra Fire Brick Co. (AFFBCo) "SOUTH YARRA" "AF&FBCo.
• Spear's Brick Co. Pty. Ltd. (Brick & Pipe Works Pty Ltd) "SPEAR", (F. Spear was manager of the City Brickworks around 1905)
• Stamford Brick Co (parent  company of Glen Iris Brickworks) "S.B.C. Co."
• Standard Brickworks Pty Ltd (see Box Hill Brickworks) "STANDARD"
• State Brickworks (State coal mine, Wonthaggi) 1909-1914 "SCM"
• St Arnaud Brick Co Pty Ltd
• Stawell Pressed Brick works c1900s-1940s
• Sweet ? Brick Co.
• Thornbury Brick Works (State Brickworks?)
• Traralgon Brickworks 
• Tunstull Brick And Pottery Company (Nunnawading) “TUNSTULL”
• Upper Hawthorn Brick Co.
• Walkenden Patent Brick and Tile Co. Ltd. Oakover Road South Preston Harry Swain Reserve "WALKERDEN"
• Wangaratta Brickworks Pty Ltd 
• Warragul Brick & Tile Pty. Ltd.
• Warburton Brick Coy.,
• Whittlesea Brick, Tile, and Pottery Co.
• T H Widdicome, Portarlington
• Wilsmore Brick Co. 1888-1893, Albert Street Brunswick "WILSMORE"  (backward S)
• Wodonga Brick & Tile Co. Pty. LimitedYarrawonga Sawmill and Brick Co. 1930s
• Yallourn Brick Works “YALLOURN" 1920s

Modern Brickmakers

Austral Bricks, Wollert

Bendigo Brick Pty Ltd Bendigo, Australia

Daniel Robertson Holdings Pty Ltd. 58-74 Station St, Nunawading, Australia

Phillips Bricks & Pottery Proprietary Limited 280-310 Mcivor Rd, Bendigo, Australia 

Selkirk Geelong Pty Ltd 630 Howitt St, Ballarat, Australia

Sources

Victorian Government Gazette Jan-April 1893

Di MacLeod & Ian Newman, Clay Industries of Brunswick 1849 to 1900, 1990

Miles Lewis, Australian Building, section 6 Bricks and Tiles:

Iain Stuart, Why Did the Hoffman Brick and Pottery Works Stop Making Bricks? Australian Historical Archaeology 7, 1989

lain Stuart, A History of the Victorian Brick Industry: 1826-1920, Australian Archaeology  No 24 (1987), http://www.library.uq.edu.au/ojs/index.php/aa/article/view/1534/1522

Iain Stuart, The Analysis of Bricks from Archaeological Sites in Australia, Australasian Historical Archaeology, 23, 2005 http://www.jcis.net.au/data/23-04-Stuart.pdf

A Story of Brick, Tile & Pipe Making in Oakleigh Victoria & its context, http://wuxtiple.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/a-story-of-brick-tile-pipe-making-in.html

http://wuxtiple.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/oakleigh-brick-company.html

Ron Ringer, The brickmasters: 1788-2008, Wetherill Park, N.S.W. : Dry Press, 2008.

Bell, Geoffrey B.Sc & Victoria. Dept. of Mines (1962). Victorian fire-clays and fire-bricks. Part III., The South Yarra Fire-Brick Co. Pty. Ltd. Mines Dept, Melbourne

Alfred B. Searle. Modern Brickmaking, London Scott, Greenwood & Son "The Pottery Gazette" Offices 8 Broadway, Ludgate Hill, B.C. D. Van Nostrand Company New York 1911

Early Bricks and Brickwork in South Australia, Department for Environment, Heritage and Aboriginal Affairs & the Corporation of the City of Adelaide 1998 Early Bricks and Brickworks in South Australia - Department of ...

South Australia brick images

Frankston Brick Company

Latrobe

It is unclear where the LaTrobe brickworks was located, but it is assumed somewhere in the Latrobe valley. It may be the same as the Traralgon Brickworks.

Traralgon

Abraham and Arthur Wigg purchased an existing brickworks in 1911, where the Duncan Cameron Oval is now situated in Traralgon. They had previously made bricks by hand in several different locations but installed machinery for the new works.

Morwell

The Morwell Brick Tile and Pottery Co  was established by James Henty & Co. in 1890 on a 12 acre site near the Morwell Station. The works had six kilns capable of burning 22,000 bricks at a time. 

The partnership between Joseph W  Corbett Brickmaker, Henry MacIntosh, Agent, H H Brown, Chemist, and A A Green, Draper, was dissolved in 1918.  As well as bricks and tiles they made stoneware teapots, jugs, cheese covers, crocks, water filters, barrels, spittoons, vases, jardiniers,  urns, flower pots, storage jars, bottles and demijohns.

(with permission)

North Geelong

The North Geelong Brick Works Pty Ltd was established as a public company in 1926, with its works at the corner of Moorabool and Ryrie Streets, but a brickworks had been operating in North Geelong from at least 1911, utilising local clay to produce the 'famous Geelong blue bricks".

The blue bricks of Geelong have a name among architects and builders that ts second to. none la Victoria. . They were pleased at the announcement made by the manager of the company (Sir J. W. Cornell), yesterday when be showed them samples of the wire-cut plastic-brick made from the deposits of clay at North Geelong, and said that a large percentage of the bricks now being baked in the kilns were of that class. (Geelong Advertiser 17 May 1927, p.4)

 References to the North Geelong Brick Company are common in the earlier 1920s and the works were at full production capacity around 1924 when it was reported there was a "boom in bricks".  In 1925 the manager Stan Sadler, had three fingers severed by one of the machines.