Glen Iris Bricks/ Boral Bricks, Templestowe Road, Bulleen ?? GPS Location ??
Speer's Templestowe Brickworks in Bulleen Road ?? GPS Location ??
The Chimney at the Grange - Local Trades - BRICKMAKING
The first settlers to the district built their huts from the land. They used bark, turf, slabs of timber, mud and often bricks baked from clay on the settlers land. Not only did Doncaster-Templestowe clay grow fine apples but it also made good bricks.The first house in the area, "Pontville", was constructed of brick.
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| Pontville, the homestead of Major Charles Newman, on a hill near the junction of the Mullum Mullum Creek and the Yarra River. First permanent house in the district. Built 1847. Indian bungalow style due to Newman's time in India. Originally three rooms with verandah all around. Altered 1875. Altered again 1950s. DTHS-dp0250. The Age 1930 |
In the 1850's, Thomas Petty used bricks to build his two story house near the present Pettys Lane.
Thomas Petty's house, 1856 The original home of the Petty family, Doncaster Road, now the site of Harcourt Street. It was built by Thomas Petty about 1856 in 'flemish bond' brickwork. The photograph shows Mrs Schmit and son Jimmy. DTHS-DP0191
George Hislop baked his own bricks to build "The Grange" on the site of the present Bus Depot and for the "Doncaster Arms Hotel" and Franklin's house, where Franklin Street now runs, was brick.
Doncaster Arms Hotel (later the Doncaster Hotel), at corner of Doncaster and Bismarck (later Victoria) Streets. DP0030
At Bulleen, Caldicotte's large brick home "Glenfern" was built in 1858.
During the following years many other brick houses appeared.
In most cases the owner dug clay from his land and baked his own bricks, but when an itinerant brickmaker was hired he made the bricks on the site from clay won from the land.
Bricks are not made from pure clay but of a judicious mixture of clay, sand and other grades of earth. They mixed the clay with water then puddled it to the right consistency, then the brick maker took a pug of the mixture and threw it into a mould. The mould was a box without top or bottom, made to the size for the brick, always slightly larger, for earth shrinks while drying. This shrinking meant that the size of bricks often varied. The mould and the board it sat on was liberally dusted with sand so that it would slip out of the mould. The clay pug was pressed down into the mould and the excess clay scraped off with a board called a strike. The brickmaker lifted the mould with his hands and if the clay stuck, he pushed it down with his thumbs. This left two thumb prints on diagonal comers of the brick. Seeing these in old bricks made by convicts at Tasmania has led to many stories about thumb prints, and some people think that any brick with a thumb print must have been made by convicts.
The newly formed bricks had to be left to dry before being fired. A site was selected to form a kiln, usually alongside a hill where the wind would give an updraft. Raw bricks were stacked and the pile built up often as high as ten feet. Cavities were left at the bottom, on the windward side to let air in, and holes left at the top to let air out. Then the whole stack was plastered with mud, sealing it from the air to cause a draft to flow through the stack. They loaded firewood in the cavities at the bottom and lit a fire which was kept burning for several days. By the end of a week, when the bricks would have cooled, the baked bricks were removed. Some makers stacked charcoal between the bricks to burn with a higher temperature.
The bricks at Thomas Petty's house and Shillinglaw Cottage at Eltham were laid in Flemish bond. In this bond, bricks are laid alternately end on. During firing these bricks had been stacked side on so that the ends were burnt more than the sides and so were burnt darker.
Richard Serpell built his two storey store at the corner of Doncaster and Williamsons Roads with patterns of red and cream machine made bricks.
Richard Fromhold also used polychrome brickwork for his home, now in George Street. At the old Shire Hall, the mortar courses were tuck pointed to make the joints neater. Mortar made from sand and lime is soft and weather can wear it away. A thin line of cement along the mortar laid with a tuck pointing prevents this.
By the l880's plants were making machine pressed bricks fired in permanent kilns. With the availability of the stronger machine made bricks, handmade bricks ceased to be made. Then bricks became a standard size, three inches by four and a half by nine inches. The old handmade bricks were made in various sizes. George Hislop had made his eight and a half inches long, four inches wide and two and a half deep.
Many brick works were built in adjacent suburbs but it wasn't till 1936 that Glen Iris brickworks opened at Templestowe.
In 1938, the Templestowe works opened in Bulleen Road.
Both of these firms built the Hoffman kiln that had been designed in Germany. This type of kiln consisted of a series of chambers in two rows and curved around at each end. The kilns worked continuously, avoiding waste time for cooling and reheating. The chambers were loaded consecutively. The furnaces were above the brick chambers and the hot gas from the furnace moved around to flow in a down draft through the newly loaded chambers, then exhausted through a tall chimney which created a strong draught.
The clay in this district is only a shallow layer so after a few years it ran out.
The Templestowe brickworks closed down in the 1960's and was demolished in 1965.
The cliff face of the quarry was pushed down to fill the quarry hole and a housing estate built around Golden Quadrant (Ed. Golden Court ? Doncaster ?).
The Glen Iris Brickworks was taken over by Boral Bricks and ceased to operate twenty years later.
Source: Irvine Green writing in 1991 09 DTHS Newsletter
The other was Speer's Templestowe Brickworks in Bulleen Road was demolished in 1965.
Bricks have been made in our area since the earliest years.
Pontville, Major Newman's homestead was built of handmade bricks made on the banks of the Yarra in 1847.
Settlers needed bricks for the chimneys of their new houses so they either had bricks baked from clay quarried on their own land or purchased them from travelling brick makers.
George Hislop set up a kiln on the land at the corner of the present Doncaster and Victoria Street.
Henry Finger quarried clay from the land along Ruffey Creek behind his home.
In the 1880's, stronger, machine made, bricks became available so handmade bricks were no longer made in the district.
It was not till 1938 that the Glen Iris brickworks was opened and the next year the Speer family who had been making bricks in other suburbs opened the Templestowe brickworks.
Source: 1991 06 DTHS Newsletter
Mary Shehan http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM01480b.htm .
Reference: Green, Irvine, Templestowe: the story of Templestowe and Bulleen, Doncaster-Templestowe Historical Society, Melbourne, 1982. Details
Residential subdivision and development gained momentum in Bulleen by the 1950s and continued into the late-twentieth century. The former Glen Iris Brickworks on Templestowe Road was redeveloped for housing in the 1990s.
https://www.manningham.vic.gov.au/manninghams-suburbs
The two characteristic oval plan Hoffman brick kilns with battered lower walls, seven bays long, each with high brick circular section chimney are the main feature of the site. The kilns, which are gas fired, have particularly large wicket gates, built to accommodate forklifts.
It could be compared to the Hoffman kilns at the former Box Hill brickworks site and at the Clifton Bricks site in Brunswick; however both of these sites are far earlier.
Of local interest as a landmark.
City of Doncaster and Templestowe Heritage Study 1991 Richard Peterson.
http://www.manningham.vic.gov.au/file/26126/download
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.
Source: Garyvines writing in http://bricksinvictoria.blogspot.com/2015/11/bulleen-brickworks.html
During the following years many other brick houses appeared.
In most cases the owner dug clay from his land and baked his own bricks, but when an itinerant brickmaker was hired he made the bricks on the site from clay won from the land.
Bricks are not made from pure clay but of a judicious mixture of clay, sand and other grades of earth. They mixed the clay with water then puddled it to the right consistency, then the brick maker took a pug of the mixture and threw it into a mould. The mould was a box without top or bottom, made to the size for the brick, always slightly larger, for earth shrinks while drying. This shrinking meant that the size of bricks often varied. The mould and the board it sat on was liberally dusted with sand so that it would slip out of the mould. The clay pug was pressed down into the mould and the excess clay scraped off with a board called a strike. The brickmaker lifted the mould with his hands and if the clay stuck, he pushed it down with his thumbs. This left two thumb prints on diagonal comers of the brick. Seeing these in old bricks made by convicts at Tasmania has led to many stories about thumb prints, and some people think that any brick with a thumb print must have been made by convicts.
The newly formed bricks had to be left to dry before being fired. A site was selected to form a kiln, usually alongside a hill where the wind would give an updraft. Raw bricks were stacked and the pile built up often as high as ten feet. Cavities were left at the bottom, on the windward side to let air in, and holes left at the top to let air out. Then the whole stack was plastered with mud, sealing it from the air to cause a draft to flow through the stack. They loaded firewood in the cavities at the bottom and lit a fire which was kept burning for several days. By the end of a week, when the bricks would have cooled, the baked bricks were removed. Some makers stacked charcoal between the bricks to burn with a higher temperature.
The bricks at Thomas Petty's house and Shillinglaw Cottage at Eltham were laid in Flemish bond. In this bond, bricks are laid alternately end on. During firing these bricks had been stacked side on so that the ends were burnt more than the sides and so were burnt darker.
Brick pattern: Flemish Bond (Wikipedia)
Richard Serpell built his two storey store at the corner of Doncaster and Williamsons Roads with patterns of red and cream machine made bricks.
Richard Fromhold also used polychrome brickwork for his home, now in George Street. At the old Shire Hall, the mortar courses were tuck pointed to make the joints neater. Mortar made from sand and lime is soft and weather can wear it away. A thin line of cement along the mortar laid with a tuck pointing prevents this.
Brick laying: tuck pointing (Wikipedia)
By the l880's plants were making machine pressed bricks fired in permanent kilns. With the availability of the stronger machine made bricks, handmade bricks ceased to be made. Then bricks became a standard size, three inches by four and a half by nine inches. The old handmade bricks were made in various sizes. George Hislop had made his eight and a half inches long, four inches wide and two and a half deep.
Many brick works were built in adjacent suburbs but it wasn't till 1936 that Glen Iris brickworks opened at Templestowe.
In 1938, the Templestowe works opened in Bulleen Road.
Both of these firms built the Hoffman kiln that had been designed in Germany. This type of kiln consisted of a series of chambers in two rows and curved around at each end. The kilns worked continuously, avoiding waste time for cooling and reheating. The chambers were loaded consecutively. The furnaces were above the brick chambers and the hot gas from the furnace moved around to flow in a down draft through the newly loaded chambers, then exhausted through a tall chimney which created a strong draught.
The clay in this district is only a shallow layer so after a few years it ran out.
The Templestowe brickworks closed down in the 1960's and was demolished in 1965.
The cliff face of the quarry was pushed down to fill the quarry hole and a housing estate built around Golden Quadrant (Ed. Golden Court ? Doncaster ?).
The Glen Iris Brickworks was taken over by Boral Bricks and ceased to operate twenty years later.
Source: Irvine Green writing in 1991 09 DTHS Newsletter
The Brick Works
The last brickworks in the district, Boral Bricks in Templestowe, once Glen Iris brickworks, has closed and is being demolished. Those two slender chimneys are no longer a landmark of Templestowe.
Hoffman kilns at the Glen Iris brick works, Templestowe Road Bulleen 1990. Later taken over by Boral Bricks Limited. This was the larger of two Hoffman kilns at the brick works which were built in 1938. Photo: Irvine Green DP0413
Sheds and chimneys of the two Hoffmann kilns of Glen Iris brickworks (later Boral Bricks), Templestowe Road, Bulleen, viewed from Sheahan's Road. 1991 . Photo: Irvine Green DP0509
Bricks have been made in our area since the earliest years.
Pontville, Major Newman's homestead was built of handmade bricks made on the banks of the Yarra in 1847.
Brick from Pontville kitchen DTHS Transp Bk6 P13 7 99
George Hislop set up a kiln on the land at the corner of the present Doncaster and Victoria Street.
Henry Finger quarried clay from the land along Ruffey Creek behind his home.
In the 1880's, stronger, machine made, bricks became available so handmade bricks were no longer made in the district.
It was not till 1938 that the Glen Iris brickworks was opened and the next year the Speer family who had been making bricks in other suburbs opened the Templestowe brickworks.
Source: 1991 06 DTHS Newsletter
Brickworks
Suburbanisation after World War II resulted in residential housing supplanting Templestowe's orchards. Brick kilns commenced operating in Templestowe by the 1940s. Later the Glen Iris Brickworks opened a quarry to produce the then fashionable lighter-coloured bricks. Project builders constructed display homes in the area. In the mid-20th century city planning and urban design principles also had an impact on Templestowe's appearance with cul de sacs and streets designed to follow topographical forms.Mary Shehan http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM01480b.htm .
Reference: Green, Irvine, Templestowe: the story of Templestowe and Bulleen, Doncaster-Templestowe Historical Society, Melbourne, 1982. Details
Residential subdivision and development gained momentum in Bulleen by the 1950s and continued into the late-twentieth century. The former Glen Iris Brickworks on Templestowe Road was redeveloped for housing in the 1990s.
https://www.manningham.vic.gov.au/manninghams-suburbs
Brickworks (Boral), Templestowe Rd. Bulleen (172.7)
This brickworks was built in the 1950s using kiln technology that dates from the 19th century.The two characteristic oval plan Hoffman brick kilns with battered lower walls, seven bays long, each with high brick circular section chimney are the main feature of the site. The kilns, which are gas fired, have particularly large wicket gates, built to accommodate forklifts.
It could be compared to the Hoffman kilns at the former Box Hill brickworks site and at the Clifton Bricks site in Brunswick; however both of these sites are far earlier.
Of local interest as a landmark.
City of Doncaster and Templestowe Heritage Study 1991 Richard Peterson.
http://www.manningham.vic.gov.au/file/26126/download
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.
Source: Garyvines writing in http://bricksinvictoria.blogspot.com/2015/11/bulleen-brickworks.html
Glen Iris Brick Co.
The Glen Iris Brick Tile and Terra Cotta Co Pty Ltd purchased a site straddling Gardiners Creek in Malvern and Camberwell on 5 March 1912, but a combination of the council and the brick cartel blocking access, they instead leased land in Watt St Thornbury of St Georges Road for a brick pit.
The Glen Iris company also obtained a brick pit and works in Oakleigh east of Stamford Road (opposite the Oakleigh Brickworks site) in the 1930s, and later in Templestowe. Glen Iris issued a number of commemorative or dated bricks including a 1954 Royal Tour brick and 1956 Olympic Games brick.
The Glen Iris Company was bought by Boral in 1970.
Source: Garyvines writing in http://bricksinvictoria.blogspot.com/2013/11/glen-iris-brick-co.html July2023
Templestowe Pipe Works
Some people referred to the "Templestowe brick works" as "Templestowe pipe works". Their full name was "The Glen Iris Brick Tile and Terra Cotta Co Pty Ltd". It manufactured earthenware terracotta pipes. When they went out of business, Fred Garrett arranged the subdivision of the land (a legal action requiring him to go to Sydney).
The bell used to signal shift and emergencies was given to Fred and passed to his daughter, Deborah, and then to Rin who is providing DTHS with some photos.
Source: Personal Communication from Rin. July2023
Templestowe Brick Works
To our knowledge there were two brickworks in Bulleen. One was on the site of the Yarraleen housing estate in Bulleen, nearly opposite the old Hoyts drive-in theatre in Bulleen Road. This closed in the late 1960's and the land was subdivided. This brickworks was owned by the Spears family, although at the time of closure it may have been owned by Boral Bricks. The other brick works was in Templestowe Road, nearly opposite the Templestowe Country Club, and was owned by the Glen Iris Brick Company. We think this closed in the 1970's. We have some photographs of these brickworks on our data base. Ken was not aware that either brickworks made pipes.
The Commonwealth Pottery Company in Springfield Road, North Blackburn made pipes until about 1980.
DTHS Archive Team
Templestowe Brick Co: Hoffman Kiln and machine house 1952
DME photo 1692 Historic Photo: Templestowe Brick Co, Templestowe Brick Co, Hoffman Kiln and machine house. Location : Doncaster; Department of Mines, Victoria
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