House Histories

The first bricks to be manufactured in Queensland were made at the short-lived Redcliffe penal settlement, founded in September 1824. Commandant Miller and his crew found good clay near Humpybong Creek and production started immediately, probably under the management of the convict brickmaker Martin Sellers*3. In the space of about eight months, enough bricks were made to build a free-standing store, a blacksmith's forge*4, a brick kiln, lining for a well and pavement for the barracks*5. Long after the outpost was abandoned some of the old bricks made their way into the chimneys of colonial-era Redcliffe houses*6.

When the settlement moved to North Quay in mid-1825 the first building to be erected was the Commandant's cottage, a timber structure prefabricated in Sydney but supplemented with a kitchen made from locally made bricks. Other brick buildings included the convict hospital, the military barracks and the upper part of the windmill on Wickham Terrace. The convict gang did well and in 1826, only a year after the founding of the colony, Commandant Miller reported a quarterly production of 44,500 bricks. The clay was sourced from the "Brick Fields" located at the current Roma Street Station and burned in a nearby kiln*3. Claypits were also established at what is now Bowen Park next to the Royal Women's Hospital*7, at the Barry Parade and Wickham St intersection*7 and "Frog's Hollow" in lower Albert St*8.

Lime for cement was initially made from sea-shells and coral rubble gathered in Moreton Bay but in 1827 a limestone deposit was discovered at what became the settlement of Limestone Hills, later re-named Ipswich*3.The first building in Ipswich was appropriately made of Brick, in 1829*10.

Brickmaking by hand was a perfected art by the 1800's although it did show some regional variations. The method used by the Brisbane convicts has been described as follows:*12:
 

"There was neither the time nor the equipment to obtain fine grinding of

the clay, which was left coarse and gravely. Water was added, and with

bare-legged convicts tramping around in the mess, a sticky pug was

worked up. Allowed to stand for a few days instead of the two to three months

that it would have been given in England, it was hastened to the moulding

table. This table... was made of wood. It was moved to the clay, and for this

reason was often fitted with rough wheels. At one end of the table was set a

trough of water, and at the back of it, or on the ground beside the moulder, 

a barrel of sand. To the top of the table was fixed a "stock"—a flat board 

one inch thick and the size of the largest face of the brick... 

 

To make the brick, the stock was dusted with sand, the mould dipped

in the water, and similarly sanded and slipped into position over the stock.

A clod of pug, a little larger than the required amount, was thrown into

the mould, and pressed by hand well into the corners. The excess material

was removed, and the top surface leveled by drawing a... wooden "strike"

across the top of the mould. If the brickmaker found the clay not tight

into the corner, he would sometimes press it into shape with his thumb,

a practice which has given rise to the false story that thumb-prints were a

tally mark of a man's production made for the benefit of the overseer. 

Too quick drying of the unburnt bricks, the low heat of the bush timber 

fuel, and the too short time in the rough kilns resulted in poor quality, soft bricks"

 

Quality was clearly a problem, at least for some of the convict-made bricks, but one can assume that longevity wasn't a concern when the first buildings were put up in a hurry. When decay of bricks in the upper half of the windmill became a problem in the mid-1800's they were rendered and have remained so to this day*8.