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Brunswick brickworks

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brunswick brickworks
A kiln exterior and chimney at the former brickworks No. 2 site
Brunswick brickworks is located in Melbourne
Brunswick brickworks
Location of the former brickworks No. 2 site in Melbourne
Map
Built
  • 1870 (No. 1 site)
  • 1884 (No. 2 site)
Operated
  • 1870 (1870)–1947 (1947) (No. 1 site)
  • 1884 (1884)–1993 (1993) (No. 2 site)
Location
Coordinates37°46′12″S 144°57′09″E / 37.769985°S 144.952412°E / -37.769985; 144.952412
IndustryBrickworks
Products
Employeesc. 400
Owners
Defunct1993 (1993)
Site notes
Area3 ha (7.4 acres)
Official name
Former Hoffman Brickworks
TypeRegistered place
CriteriaA, B, C, D, F
Designated20 September 1989
Reference no.H0703
HO63
Category
Manufacturing and Processing
Official name
Hoffmans Brick and Pottery Works
TypeDefunct register
Designated27 October 1998
Reference no.18522

The Brunswick brickworks is a former brickworks located at 72–106 Dawson Street, Brunswick, an inner-city suburb of Melbourne, in Victoria, Australia. The three-hectare (7.4-acre) site, known as the Hoffman Brickworks, or simply Hoffman's,[1] was built from 1884, on the traditional land of the Wurundjeri,[2] and was the second site for the Brunswick Brick Tile & Pottery Company,[a] having established, in 1870, a 4.9-hectare (12-acre) brick-making site on Albert Street, Brunswick.[3] Collectively, the sites were the location of one of the first modern mechanical brickworks in Australia.[4]

The No. 1 site on Albert Street was repurposed from 1947. The No. 2 site on Dawson Street was in continual use as a brickworks until 1993 and was added to the Victorian Heritage Register on 20 September 1989 in recognition of its archaeological, architectural, historical and scientific significance.[2][5] The Dawson Street site is one of two surviving early Melbourne brickworks, the other being the Box Hill brickworks; and the Dawson Street site contains the largest collection of Hoffman kilns in Australia.[6]: 13  The site was also included on the now defunct Register of the National Estate on 27 October 1998,[7] and was, on 22 August 1988, included on a non-statutory heritage list by the Victorian branch of the National Trust.[8]

Since the 2010s, large parts of the former brickworks site on Dawson Street were redeveloped for housing.[9][10]

History

[edit]

The Brunswick Brick Tile & Pottery Company was founded by Jenkin Collier, James McKenzie, Barry Owen and Mr Rourke.[11] Initially the firm used Pratt brick presses, and constructed continuous firing Hoffman kilns, developed by Friedreich Hoffman in Prussia in 1859. The company ordered Bradley & Craven Ltd automatic brick presses in 1887, fabricated by the Langlands foundry and a year later purchased another at the centennial exhibition. The first kiln was circular, and the company rapidly expanded and added at least five oblong Hoffman kilns between 1880 and about 1914.[12]

In 1884 the company erected the No. 2 site in Dawson Street, south of the No. 1 site on Albert Street, as the existing clay pit was exhausted, having excavated adjacent to nearby houses.[13] Over 400 men were employed at the No. 2 site that produced over 40 million bricks per year, reflecting the importance of the industry on the land boom of the 1880s. After the depression of the 1890s, the company expanded throughout the following decades. The Hoffmans factory whistle, which rang from 7:15 to 7:20 in the morning, to wake workers, was so regular that locals could set their watches by it.[11]

The company also added a pottery works, much of the production going to terracotta sewage pipes as the Melbourne Sewage Scheme was being construction around the turn of the century. The pottery also manufactured a wide range of domestic wares including the Mel-rose Australian Ware.[14][15]

The Hoffman No. 1 site was used as a rubbish tip from 1947, taking seventeen years to be filled completely. By 1981, it had settled sufficiently to be redeveloped by the local Council as a park, named the M. W. Clifton Reserve.[16]

Description

[edit]

The retained No. 2 Brunswick brickworks site on Dawson Street was instrumental both in introducing new technology into the Australian brick industry, and also in restructuring the commercial basis, leading the move to takeovers and mergers and the creation of a brick cartel or combine, to set the price and production quotas for many competing brick companies.[2][6]

Brick-making kilns 1, 2, and 3—each containing a Hoffman kiln—the pressing shed (building No. 5),[17] and engine house (building No. 6) were retained partially intact, together with each of the kilns' chimneys. The kilns are the largest collection of Hoffman kilns in Australia. Other buildings on the site include coal conveyor equipment and change rooms (building No. 4), a grinding shed (building No. 7), a laboratory (building No. 16), a warehouse and office (building No. 23), and remnants of the pottery store (buildings No. 17 and 18), pottery works (buildings No. 19), pottery kilns (buildings No. 20 and 22).[6]

Sale, closure, and redevelopment

[edit]

In 1960, the Brunswick brickworks were taken over by Clifton Holdings, another brick–maker from St Georges Road, Preston. Clifton Holdings downsized operations and sold off assets at Brunswick and other brickworks, before it was taken over by Nubrick to form the Austral Brick Company. The Brunswick brickworks operated until 1993, and, in 1996, was sold to a developer who was granted permission to demolish portions of the brickworks for apartments in exchange for preserving the most historic parts and creating a living museum or interpretive centre on the site.[17]

The site was partly redeveloped for apartments and retained the brick press building that was in an extremely poor condition[18] and was further damaged by fire in March 2018.[19] In June 2020, the roof of the former engine-house building collapsed.[17][20] The building was also proposed to be demolished by current owners.[21] Two Hoffman kilns, which were converted by reconstruction of the upper levels for residences, and a third kiln chimney remain.[22] Some of the adjacent pottery-work buildings were converted for housing. Following a 2024 application for redevelopment of the remaining facilities,[23] there was community concern that the heritage value of the site would be significantly impacted.[10]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ↑ The company was also known as the Hoffman Patent Brick & Tile Company.

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ MacLeod, Di; Newman, Ian (1990), "Clay Industry sites of Brunswick 1849 to 1900", Heritage Planning and Management Heritage Identification and Assessment Semester, History room 620.142 MAC: Brunswick Library{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  2. 1 2 3 "Former Hoffman Brickworks, Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) Number H0703, Heritage Overlay HO63". Victorian Heritage Database. Heritage Victoria. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
  3. ↑ "THE BRUNSWICK BRICK MANUFACTORY". The Argus. Melbourne. 7 September 1870. p. 7. Retrieved 24 November 2013 – via Trove. National Library of Australia.
  4. ↑ "Hoffman Brickworks". Retrieved 19 July 2019 – via State Library of Victoria.
  5. ↑ "OnMyDoorStep, Heritage database VHR/HO0703". Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  6. 1 2 3 Helen Lardner Conservation & Design (April 1999). Hoffman Brickworks, Dawson Street, Brunswick: 1999 Conservation Management Plan (Report). Retrieved 16 June 2026 – via Heritage Council of Victoria.
  7. ↑ "Hoffmans Brick and Pottery Works (Place ID 18522)". Australian Heritage Database. Australian Government. 27 October 1998. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
  8. ↑ "Former Hoffman Brickworks (National Trust list), Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) Number H0703". Victorian Heritage Database. Heritage Victoria. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
  9. ↑ "Development status". Save Hoffman Brickworks. May 2025. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
  10. 1 2 Dexter, Rachel (6 October 2025). "Developer accused of demolition by neglect could build 16-storey high-rise at historic site". The Age. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
  11. 1 2 Barnes, Les (1999). "History in Streets". In Folk-Scolaro, Francesca (ed.). Brunswick: Stories and Histories. Brunswick, Australia: Brunswick Community History Group. ISBN 09587742-5-0.
  12. ↑ Stuart, Iain. "A History of the Victorian Brick Industry: 1826-1920" (abstract).
  13. ↑ Stuart, Iain Stuart (1989). "Why Did the Hoffman Brick and Pottery Works Stop Making Bricks?" (PDF). Australian Historical Archaeology. 7.
  14. ↑ "Australian Decorative Pottery, Hoffman Brick & Potteries history". Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  15. ↑ Hill, Gregory. The Potteries of Brunswick. ISBN 0-9577065-2-9.
  16. ↑ Barnes, Les, ed. (1987). It Happened in Brunswick: 1837–1987. Brunswick Community History Group. ISBN 095877420X.
  17. 1 2 3 "Demolition of Hoffman's Brickworks buildings". Historical Society of Victoria. March 2022. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
  18. ↑ Riddett, Robyn (17 November 2017), Heritage Impact Statement for Former Hoffman Brickworks (PDF), Anthemion Consultancies.
  19. ↑ Dmytryshchak, Goya (24 March 2018). "Residents evacuated after fire at Brunswick Brickworks". The Age.
  20. ↑ Yu, Andi (12 June 2020). "Melbourne warehouse roof collapses". The Courier. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  21. ↑ "Sungrove Corporation Pty Ltd" (PDF). Heritage Impact Statement. 1 November 2017 – via Heritage Council of Victoria.
  22. ↑ Frost, Alanah (27 April 2022). "Live inside a kiln at Brunswick's Hoffman Brickworks". Herald-Sun. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
  23. ↑ MGS Architects (5 June 2020). Hoffman Brickpress Interpretation Centre and Apartments (PDF). Ninety Four Feet Property Development and Construction (Report). Retrieved 16 June 2026 – via Save Hoffman Brickworks.

Further reading

[edit]
  • Allom Lovell and Associates Pty Ltd (November 1997). Former Hoffman Brickworks, 72-106 Dawson Street, Brunswick, Conservation Management Plan (Report). City of Moreland.
  • Lewis, Miles. "Bricks and Tiles: 6.01 Brick Making". Australian Building.
  • Stuart, Iain (1988). The Former Hoffman Brick and Pottery Works. Melbourne: Victoria Archaeological Survey for the Historic Buildings Council.
  • Stuart, Iain (Spring 1995). "The History and Archaeology of the Hoffman Brick and Tile Company, Melbourne, Australia". Industrial Archaeology Review. XVII (2): 130–1.
  • Vines, Gary (8 November 2020). "Brunswick Brickworks latest demolition application" (blog). Australian Archaeology. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
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