Leongatha Brickworks

Established in January 1922 at Koonwarra, the Leongatha Brickworks was short lived, lasting for only 5 years. This appears to have been the second brickworks in Leongatha, as Mewburn' brickworks was operating from about 1890.

Yallourn Brickworks

The Yallourn Brickworks was established by the State Electricity Commission in 1921 to produce bricks for the construction of the Yallourn power station and associated Yallorne town. W H (Dad) Brewer managed the Yallourn brickworks for the SEC. When demand decreased he leased the brickworks up to the late 1940's  changing the "YALLOURN" stamp to "BREWER".

Colac brickworks

Colac brickworks was commenced by Messrs. Henry Thompson and Sons who had been operating in Tocumwal and other Riverina towns. They moved their extensive brickmaking plant to Colac in 1931. The works had an output of 90,000 bricks a week. 

In the 1950s a new company was established as the Colac Brick Co Ltd with its registered office at 108 Murray" street Colac. It installed a modern tunnel kiln. This works was located near Barongarook Creek but it is not known if it is the same as Thompson's earlier works. The company was deregistered in 1976.

Burwood Brickworks

Burwood Brickworks has its origins in the 1930s when the New Northcote Company needed to replace its clay pit off Separation St. was hemmed in by housing, so the company bought 40 acres of land at Middleborough Road and Burwood Highway in 1937 for £3000.


Burwood brickworks, 1961 State library H92.20/7163

New Northcote initially carted clay from Burwood to its Northcote works. Kilns and plant were erected at Burwood to produce wire cut bricks after World War Two, but problems with the kiln saw it collapse after three firings.

By 1950 four down-draft kilns were operating at Burwood producing 100,000 bricks per week. The company released the 'Nubrik' brand bricks in creams, reds, and tans  from at least 1960. This style of smooth, consistently coloured brick became a preferred material for suburban brick veneer houses throughout Melbourne, but in particularly in the quarter acre blocks of the new eastern suburbs.

In 1959 the company changed its name  from New Northcote to Brick Industries and in 1962 they purchased the Northcote Brick Co. then became Brick & Pipe Industries in 1964. 'Nubrik' and 'Nuface' were adopted as product names for wire cut and then pressed bricks.

Expansion of the works  in the late 1950s and early 1960s saw the first Hanley tunnel kiln  built in 1958-9, greatly increasing production and a second tunnel kiln installed around 1961. Another round of takeovers saw Brick and Pipe Industries become the largest brick manufacturer in Victoria.

The Separation Street plant was closed in 1977 and a new works was opened in Craigieburn to replace it. The last of kilns and chimneys at Northcote were demolished in 1979 and Northcote Plaza opened on the site two years later. The Burwood plant was extensively modernized and expanded, at a cost of $5 million. The Hanley kilns were reconstructed and the wire-cut brickmaking plant was replaces with pressed brick manufacture. In 1978-9 further improvements were made including better kiln firing systems to reduce fuel and automated kiln cars.

Brick & Pipe Industries was acquired by Melbourne Businessman Abe Goldberg 1988 who quickly sold it on as a number of his companies went into receivership in 1990. In the late 1990s, a proposal for a large cinema complex was mooted for the site by Readings Cinemas. However, this did not eventuate. It was around this time that the buildings on site were demolished. In 2003 Brickworks Ltd (including Austral Bricks) gained control of Brick & Pipe Industries after a series of protracted mergers and takeovers.

"Brick and Pipe Industries plans new issue." The Canberra Times 27 May1969: 15.

Bulleen Brickworks

The Bulleen Brickworks was located on Templestowe Road, and established by Glen Iris bricks in the 1950s and taken over by Boral in 1970.

An unusual historical source - bus route approval -

Transport Regulation Act.
TRANSPORT REGULATION BOARD.
HEARING OF APPLICATIONS.
NOTICE is hereby given that the following applications
will be considered by the Transport Regulation Board
at its offices at the corner of Lygon and Princes streets,
Carlton, at 10.15 a.m. on Wednesday, 10th September, 1969.
GLEN IRIS BRICK TILE & TERRA COTTA CO. PTY. LTD.,
Templestowe-road, Bulleen. One commercial Passenger
vehicle (S/C. 20) to operate for the carnage of
employees free of charge between the company's
factory in Templestowe-road, Bulleen, and the Heidelberg
Railway station via Templestowe-road, Banksia street
and Mount-street. Return journey via Mount street,
Burgundy-street, Lower Heidelberg-road, Banksia
street and Templestowe-road to the factory.
TIME-TABLE.
Monday to Friday.
Depart Heidelberg Railway Station, 7 .10 a.m. Depart
Bulleen Plant, 4.20 p.m. 'Depart Bulleen Plant, 6.20 p.m.
Saturday.
Depart Heidelberg Railway Station, 7 .10 a.m. Depart
Bulleen Plant, 12. 00 p.m.

The kilns and chimneys were demolished and the site was redeveloped in the 1990s for housing.

Port Arlington Brick & Tile Co.

Port Arlington Brick & Tile company was established at Port Arlington on the Belarine Peninsula in 1874, reusing the former flour mill. The works brick was operated by Thomas Henry Widdicombe, and exhibited in the 1888 Centennial International Exhibition. Widdicombe also took out patents for improvement in the construction of bricks for hollow walls, and special 'joint bricks' in the early 1870s.

This example of their cream bricks was recovered during excavation at the polychrome Victorian Italianate  St Andrew's Presbyterian Church Manse, Hanmer Street (Williamstown), of 1887/1888. It is possible that the bricks were economic to transport to Melbourne only because of the convenience of transporting by water across the bay.

Wendy Doling provided the following image and description:

Brick (off-white, non-vitreous)
Clay matrix (10YR 8/2 very pale brown) with minor amount of black and red iron oxide flecks

Impressed frog mark on one face - oblong in shape. Impressed lettering within frog

“PORTARLINGTON”, “B & T . WORKS .”. Two circular marks on either side of lettering within frog and on the bottom surface

Dimensions: 217x101x73mm.

Knight's Brickworks, Lal Lal

The Lal Lal brickworks was founded by the Knight brothers, Andrew (1837-1922) and Charles, in 1862, and produced ornamental bricks, pottery, malting tiles and other clay products using local clay.  The kiln closed down in 1898. Another Lal Lal Brickworks was opened by R Viccars in 1913, but it was not very successful because the bricks were very soft and of poor quality. It closed in 1915 and most of the shareholders, who were from Ballarat, lost their money.  One of the Lal Lal kilns tried to make briquettes from the local lignite, the first attempt of this kind in Australia, but with the primitive methods used, it was a failure. The Lal Lal ironworks, of which the blast furnace survives in ruins, is nearby. (from Sue Prosser)

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