Australian Plaster Industries Pty Ltd

Trading Name	Australian Plaster Industries Pty Ltd
Years of Operation	(Incorporated 1926) in Oakleigh 1939 to 1985
Company Number
Address	73 Westminster Street Oakleigh, Bounded  by the Railway Line to the South,   Westminster Street to the East and  Downing Street to the West.  Factories  on Regent Street are to the North.
Council Lot No.
Coordinates	-37.904251,145.094279
Current Use	Vacant land covered with concrete floor

Bricks are only part of the story in Oakleigh.  The bricks may go on the outside, but plaster goes on the inside.  Usually wood goes in between.  The Foresters Arms Hotel is a remnant of Oakleigh’s long vanished timber industry.  As late as the 1890’s wood cutting competitions were still being held around town, but I digress.  I am including this story in memory of my Uncle Frank, a plasterer.

Going back a few years, the “Australian Gypsum and Whiting Company” was started in South Australia by William Robert Innes, after whom the town of Inneston and nearby National Park was named.   He began mining gypsum at Marion Bay to make plaster.  This is where the raw material came from for making plaster in Westminster Street.  After manufacturing ceased in Oakleigh, plaster making began at Marion Bay.

Old Gypsum Mine, Marion S.A.

Plaster can be made into fibrous plaster, plaster board, plaster moulds for pottery and cornice mouldings as well as other plaster decorations.  Some of you of mature years will have had a plaster mould taken when the Dentist fitted you for your false teeth.  It’s manufacture is a simple three stage process.

Plaster has been used by us for over 4000 years as a building material and is made by heating gypsum to 150 °C.  This first stage of the process is called “calcination” and removes water from the gypsum.  Before it is dried, the gypsum is dried and ground to a fine powder in a heated mill.  Next it went into large steel kettles where it was heated by gas burners and stirred with paddles to prevent overheating.  The powder was then put into hoppers to cool the plaster.  It was ground again and stored for further processing.

At this point it was known as stucco or Plaster of Paris, so called because the original deposit of gypsum was found under Montmatre in Paris.  It is one of the reasons why there are no high rise buildings there.  The ground underneath Paris is honeycombed with tunnels, not all from mining gypsum.  Some of the plaster was sold at this point as “Plaster of Paris.”

Rehydration is the second stage where the dried plaster powder is mixed with water and any other additives until it forms a thick paste, or slurry.   Some of the additives, such as starch are there to help the plaster bond with the cardboard, others are as thickeners.

The third stage was setting or simply to allow the plaster to dry by evaporation.  It comes out of moulds easily.  Some is dried to 250°C for around an hour.  Plaster board was put onto drying racks where they were stored until needed.

As well as its brick works, Oakleigh was also home to many industries associated with the building industry.  One of these was Australian Plaster Industries Pty Ltd.  Approaching what is left of one of the Oakleigh sites is like seeing the jagged remains of a broken tooth.  Sitting forlorn on a pad of windswept concrete, it waits for action on its future.

The site occupies an area of approximately 2 hectares on the Southern side of the railway line to Dandenong to the East of the Oakleigh Railway Station, Oakleigh, Victoria.    The majority of the site formerly occupied by the plaster works has been demolished with the chimney, part of the boiler house and one hopper remaining.  The remains have not been well secured and have suffered from vandalism and graffiti. 

The concrete floors and some foundation walls remain to show the sites previous use as a brickworks following demolition of the sheds after sale to the current occupiers.  A part demolition of the remaining chimney in 2009 has caused controversy and some adverse publicity.

Aerial View of the Now Demolished Plaster Works

The site was originally occupied by the Turbine Pulmotor Company Pty Ltd until 1930.  Even back in the 1920s, Oakleigh had advanced technology being manufactured there.  The Turbine Pulmotor Company Pty Ltd manufactured the “Pulmotor”, an artificial respirator machine that pumped either air or oxygen into and out of a person through a mask or tracheal tube.  Pressure was regulated to prevent damage.  It was believed successful in helping stillborn babies to breathe.  Short for Pulmonary Motor, it was a portable device patented in 1907.  Reports of its success were mixed. 

Next came the Concrete Specialty Company, then Australian Plaster Industries.  Boral Australian Gypsum were the last occupants of the site.

The plant was built c.1946-48 as part of a new plasterboard factory for Australian Plaster Industries Ltd. The briquette fired water-tube boiler supplied steam for drying plasterboard until it was made redundant by direct firing in 1970. The saw tooth roof brick building with steel window and roof trusses housed the main board production machine as well as warehouse facilities. It was built in two stages, being doubled in size in 1958.

The factory is significant because in 1948 it was the first factory in Victoria where plaster board was manufactured on an industrial scale. Plaster board changed the way buildings were constructed by greatly improving the efficiency of construction through the use of large sheets of pre-made plaster board for lining internal walls. This board was erected dry, eliminating delays caused by waiting for older style lathe-and-plaster to set; it was also more amenable to mass production and easier to install than fibrous plaster sheets. The plant was strategically important to Australia's construction industry during a time of intensive building activity and material shortages following World War Two. 

Aerial View 1945

The chimney has an aesthetic significance as a tall prominent feature of the local landscape associated with the industrial use of the area. It is easily visible from the surrounding area and from the adjacent railway line. Once common, large brick chimneys associated with industry are few in number and increasingly threatened with demolition. Many have been truncated, or had their associated boiler house, kiln, or factory which used the heat or steam, demolished.

Classified: 06/07/2009

The boiler house and chimney are a rare example of a large and relatively intact boiler house and chimney associated with the post war period of Victoria's industrialization. The location of the boiler house adjacent to the Gippsland railway line is historically significant as it was specifically located next to the railway line to enable the delivery of fuel for the boiler. 

The use of briquettes as a fuel has largely been replaced by natural gas, but the closure of the boiler house in 1970 resulted in this plant not undergoing the conversion to natural gas which has occurred at most other boiler installations. As a result of this, it is one of the few surviving examples of a large briquette fired water-tube boiler and associated brick chimney in a manufacturing context in Melbourne. It provides direct evidence of the Latrobe Valley briquette industry which underpinned Victoria's industrial development from the 1930s until the 1960s, during which time production of briquettes more than trebled. The use of SECV produced briquettes provided a cost effective fuel for industry and reduced Victoria's reliance on black coal from NSW.

1950 Expansion

The boiler house was once a large and relatively intact example of an industrial boiler complex. The boiler, chimney, briquette overhead storage bunker, briquette elevating conveyor, mechanical stoker, and steam driven feed pump are all still present, but theft, exposure and vandalism has taken its toll.  Anything of value has been stolen and the exterior cladding is now long-gone.  The four-drum water-tube boiler, built to a design by John Thompson & Co., Wolverhampton, was probably made at their local West Footscray factory.  It is a rare surviving example of a once-common form of industrial plant: water-tube boilers played a key role in Victoria's twentieth century manufacturing development; they produced high volumes of steam with greater efficiency than conventional fire-tube boilers; they were also inherently safer.

The plant also pre-dates the construction of fully unattended automatic boilers and is illustrative of the work practices of the period which required a full-time boiler attendant. Boilers were installed by industry to generate steam for use in manufacturing processes, driving steam engines which in turn drove line shafting, or for steam engines and turbines driving electricity generators. The advent of the SECV in the 1920s and the development of the state power grid saw a reduction in factories generating their own power. By the 1940s the main reason for building a new boiler house was to provide process steam. This boiler house provided steam for heating at the drying stage of plasterboard production.

If you want a more detailed report on the property, click on the link below.

http://planningschemes.dpcd.vic.gov.au/Shared/ats.nsf/(attachmentopen)/F354076768B7812FCA2577DD000AAD5B/$File/exh+C97+Support+Doc+-+Heritage+Citation+HO91+Westminster+St+19-17.pdf?OpenElement

Baxter and Mc Kell

Trading Name	Baxter and McKell
Years of Operation	1910 to 1918
Company Number
Address	Stamford Road Oakleigh
Council Lot No.	21,22 and 23
Coordinates	-37.893254, 145.100083
Current Use	Public open space (Brickmakers Park) & Commercial warehousing

 Baxter and Mc Kell acquired the brick works in Stamford Road from Henry Ethell.  John McKell had previously been the Manager of the South Yarra Brickworks, formerly the Excelsior brickworks  in Chapel Street.

In 1908, Abraham Felix Baxter and John McKell bought the brickworks in Stamford road then owned by Henry Ethell.  It appears that there had been an earlier family involvement, from Abraham (Snr) from around 1903.  At the time, three rectangular downdraught kilns operated there with capacities to accommodate from 40,000 to 60,000 bricks each.  Henry did not enjoy a long retirement because he died at his home in Clyde Street Oakleigh the following year.

Abraham Felix Baxter was born in Prahran, Melbourne on the 22^nd of July 1880 to Abraham and Harriett (nee Booth).  went to Wesley College in Melbourne and began his career with his father in the family firm of Baxter and Saddler.  Between 1901 and 1906, Abraham worked as a Railway Contractor with his brother George in Western Australia before returning to Victoria to join his brother Charles breeding horses near Ballarat.  Abraham Snr bought out Henry Ethell outright in 1908 and Abraham Jnr joined him there in 1910.  His father later made him their Manager.  (George supplied one and a half million railway sleepers to South Africa in 1901.)

On the 17^th of March, 1918, Abraham married Margaret Mary Chapman (1883 to 1968).  They had two sons, James Abraham b 1909, Robert Walker b 1914 and one daughter Thelma Jean b 1919.

The year 1918, continued to be a busy one for Abraham; the Oakleigh Brick Company was sold to the Co-operative Brick Company and Abraham (Jnr) stayed on as Manager.  John McKell continued to manage the South Yarra Brick Company.    See the post for the Oakleigh Brick Company for more information on his later work.  Abraham died at his home in Clyde Street Oakleigh on the 22^nd of October 1945.

Oakleigh Brick Company

Trading Name	Oakleigh Brick Company also known as the "Oakleigh Brick and Tile Company"
Years of Operation	1912 too 1985
Company Number	C0006386N
Address	Stamford Road Oakleigh; to the East, Lever Street to  the West, Ferntree Gully Road to the South and  Scotchmans Creek to the North
Council Lot No.	21,22 &23
Coordinates	-37.893254, 145.100083
Current Use	Public Open Space (Brickmakers Park) and  Commercial Warehousing

The Oakleigh Brick Company followed others on the same site.  Previously there were the Excelsior Brick Works and the Eureka Brick Works.

The land began as a site for brick making on the 27th of April 1885 when Howard Tapley Clarton transferred ownership to John and Henry Goding.  Howard Tapley Clarton (1836 to 1902) was a man with either a casual acquaintance with the truth, or personal financial management.  Howard features prominently in the courts over an extended period.  As a Land Agent, he once applied to be allowed to pay one farthing in the pound on a 38,000 debt.  This was rejected.  Originally named Clarton Street, it was later renamed Stamford Road.  Was this as a result of Howard’s colourful business dealings?

On the 3^rd of February 1910, the local paper carried an article saying that “Owing to the want of coal, the Oakleigh brickworks, employing about 60 men, have been closed down for the present.   The works have been carried on with a reduced staff for the past five weeks.”

Oakleigh Brick Works Aerial View 1945

A revamped company began operating in 1917.  Mr H.F. Young of the Northcote Brick Company was appointed as the Managing Director.  Again in 1928, another restructure took place and a new group of shareholders took over the company.  These were;

Shareholders	No of Shares
Hoffman Brick and Potteries Ltd	4110
John Sinclair Walker	1350
Northcote Brick Company	4110
Basil Mead Ramsay	1350
New Northcote Brick Company Ltd	1386
Augustus Henry Holzer	2436
Charles Butler	1386
Barkly Brick Company	1386
Albert Henry Anglis	1386
Co-operative Brick Company Limited	2100
Henry Rooks	1350
City Brickworks Company Pty Ltd	2430

In May 1954, a double brick machine purchased from the now closed Horsham Brick Company was installed and began operating.

On the 6^th of February 1956, a clerk, Mr R Williamson with the company absconded after embezzling £72.2/-.  He had entered four false names onto the payroll and taken the money.   Police said that he was also wanted on other charges.

In March 1957 the company purchased over 44 acres, 3 Roods and 33 Perches of land at Bolinda Road Campbellfield, North of Melbourne. (Certificate of Title Volume 3458, folio 690484).  This land is now being used as a council tip near where the Ring Road is located and produced the clay that made the cream bricks so prevalent in the area on homes built in the late 1950 and 1960s.

In 1914, Mr Abraham Baxter of the Oakleigh Brickworks planned to build a theatre on a site in Atherton Road adjoining the Fire Station.

On March the 15^th 1938 at 4:30pm, John Terrill 58, Faceman and George French 55, Labourer were working 30 metres down at the bottom of the North-East face of the Oakleigh Brick Company quarry in Stamford Road Oakleigh.  A Faceman, as the name implies, worked the face of the quarry.  They were using a pneumatic drill to prepare the face for blasting.  No serious accidents had happened at the quarry in the past thirty years.

Witnesses working nearby in the quarry said that they heard a rumble and saw part of the face weighing about 15 tons fall from about 10 metres above the two men and crush them.  Their workmates scrambled furiously for about twenty minutes before the mutilated bodies of the two men were recovered.  Employees were emphatic that no blasting had been carried out before the rock fall.

Previously that day, Terrill had inspected the face from the top to make sure it was safe.  The quarry Foreman, Benjamin George Mathrick had also inspected the face and declared it safe.  Evidence would later emerge that a bullet hole had two weeks earlier been found on that face.  There had been no rain for some time and it was only after the rock fall that any faults were seen.  Newspapers around the country reported the accident with the size of the rock varying up to 100 tons and the quarry depth of over 150 feet.

A Coroners Enquiry was convened and the Coroner  (between 1936 and 1945) Mr Arthur Coyte Tingate heard evidence, assisted by Sergeant Gilbert, Victoria Police.  Mr Tingate was also the Coroner in the famous “Pyjama Girl” case.  Under the Mines Act, a jury was empanelled.  Fortunately for the process, an old miner was its Foreman and he proved crucial in the outcome.  Mr Stafford acted for the Oakleigh Brick Company Pty Ltd.  Mr Slater appeared for the widows.  Abraham Baxter was the Manager of the Brickworks that operated the quarry.

The bottom of the pit where the men had been working was angled upwards at 40 degrees, for about 10 metres then was near vertical to the top, giving the appearance of an overhang.  Thomas Platt, an Inspector with the Mines Department testified at the inquest that at the place where the rock had fallen he saw a slide and a fault line with an underlie of fifteen degrees.  He further testified that he periodically examined the quarry and that it had always been worked with reasonable care and that the fall was due to an unusual circumstance in the strata formation. 

Other witnesses said that although the area from where the rock fell was blocky ground, no greasy area was under the rock to cause it to fall. Blocky ground is jointed rock subjected to stress.  To the jury foreman, witnesses said that they had detected no cracks and a microscope would have been needed to see them and that any weaknesses would not have been found before the collapse without specialist equipment.

In a majority verdict, overruling the Coroner, the jury found that inadequate inspection was the reason.  The Coroner asked the jury to reconsider, but it would not.  It returned a finding of death by misadventure and that negligence on the part of the company in not making sufficient inspection of the ground before the accident to secure the safety of the workmen.

In 1946, staffing shortages were affecting brick makers across Australia.  In Victoria, soldiers returning from the Second World War were not willing to come back into the hard, dirty and dangerous environment of a brick works.  Before the war, there were 34 brick kilns in Melbourne, employing 1034 men.  After the war, there were only 30 kilns operating, employing 600 men.  There was a particular shortage in the roofing tile industry.  New homes were being built quickly, with weatherboard being used extensively.  Even though the homes were timber, they still used fired roof tiles.

Cream bricks were common in houses around Oakleigh in the 1950s and 1960s were made by the Oakleigh Brick Company and are made from red clay containing elevated amounts of lime and sulphur.  This type of clay was found in Campbelfield. and transported to the kilns where it was processed into what were known generically as “Clifton Creams.”  When the bricks are fired, they become creamy-yellow in color.

Although light-colored when first made, cream bricks are porous, causing them to absorb dirt and other pollutants; this tends to make houses made out of them darken as time passes. Once cream bricks absorb pollutants, they are difficult to clean, Initially, sandblasting was attempted; however, it not only proved to be ineffective, but damaged the bricks. Currently, chemical washes are accepted as the most effective method of cleaning cream bricks. 

In 1965, Clifton Brick Holdings had acquired a controlling interest in the Oakleigh Brick Company Pty Ltd.  Production ceased for a short time but normal operations resumed in August.  This increased output helped push the group’s production above 1 ½ million bricks per week.

In 1970, demand exceeded supply for machine pressed, wire cut face bricks, even with the plant operating at full capacity.  The Oakleigh Brick Company ceased production in the late 1970s.  The Company itself was not wound up until 1985.

Brickmakers Park now occupies the site of the former quarry at the Oakleigh Brick Company works.  It is a popular local amenity and has undergone extensive restoration and renovation.  Brick making machinery from the former Gambles brick works further along Ferntree Gully road has been installed there.  It makes an interesting, albeit forlorn diaplay.

New Gamble Brick and Quarrying Company Pty Ltd

Trading Name	Gamble Brick Company
Legal Name	New Gamble Brick and Quarrying Company Pty Ltd
Years of Operation	1912 to 1982
Company Number	C0005996X, C0039970K
Address	Ferntree Gully Road to the North, Carmichael Road  to the East, Dublin Street to the West and Gamble Street  to the South.
Council Lot No.
Coordinates	-37.89863,  145.111113
Current Use	Residential housing

Gambles, as they were known has the distinction of being the last of the large working brick works in Oakleigh.  Originally, they had a brick works in Brunswick and Preston.  Joseph Gamble had operated the East Brunswick and Junction Brickworks there until his death in 1896.  As well as the Oakleigh brickworks, they also operated another in the nearby suburb of Burwood.

Victoria and its Metropolis Alexander Sutherland 1888

 The story goes that in 1915, James Alexander Gamble (b 29^th August 1864, Fitzroy, Victoria, d 13^th May 1926) was driving his Buick car along Heads Gully Road (because the Head family lived in the hollow near what later became the brick works) traveling towards Fern Tree Gully when he saw an outcrop of exposed shale near a bridge across the old frog hollow that had caused the widening of the Road in 1860.  James took a sample back to Clifton Bricks and had it fired.  It produced a good quality red brick.

James sold his shares in Clifton Bricks and used the £9,500 along with a loan from the ES&A Bank to build his brickworks on former market garden land owned by Mr Hunt.  James started “The New Gamble Brick and Quarrying Company Limited” being “All that piece of land being part of Crown Portion 11 Parish of Mulgrave County of Bourke being the whole of the land more particularly described in Certificates of Title Volume 3796 Folio 106 and Volume 7918 Folio 017 together with all registered appurtenant and easements and subject to the encumbrances (if any) affecting the same and shown on the face on the said Certificate of Title.”

New Gamble Brick and Quarrying Company Aerial View 1931

 Aerial View 1945

 

New Gamble Brick and Quarrying Company Aerial View 1972

Selling shares also raised additional capital for construction that began around the time World War 1 began.  Labour shortage did not create a problem and work progressed quickly.  There was still a demand for bricks due to some other works closing and the rising cost of timber and concrete.  A Parliamentary Commission enquiry into the brick industry looked at the shortage of bricks in Melbourne and their importation from Sydney.  Price control was also an issue.  The enquiry concluded that prices were reasonable and quality was good. Testing of the clay at Gambles found it to be of excellent uniform quality.  Test firing in other “Hoffman” kilns proved the bricks to be high quality.  In fact, it was stated at the time that the clay was too good for brick making. 

Their sixteen chamber “Hoffman” kiln, shown above was built by Chandler Mc Indoe Brothers from bricks made on site, had a capacity of 200,000 bricks per week.  Unlike other “Hoffman” kilns, the coal was fed directly from a track way at Road level.  A 200 horsepower engine built by Thompson & Co Pty Ltd of Castlemaine.  The Thompson family of Castlemaine, founded the engineering business Thompson and Company in 1875.  This enterprise lasted until 1925, when the last member of the Thomson family left, and new owners took over.  The works are now operated by Thompsons, Kelly and Lewis Pty Ltd

This was  coupled with a Roberts and Sons Boiler, of up to 225 horsepower, made in Bendigo.    They made “Lancashire” boilers , up to 28 feet in length and 7’6” wide.  They had solid walled flues and Galloway tubes.  They could cost up to £3,000.

Gambles nine foot diameter clay grinding pan and a double brick press, elevators, shafting and pulleys were all installed by William Anderson and Sons Pty Ltd.  A 130 foot high chimney attached to the kiln was built by Crowe Brothers: a tall chimney being necessary to create sufficient draught through the kiln.

Lancashire Boiler

On completion, the Shire of Mulgrave granted occupancy on condition that the Council had first call on brickbats.  (chips and broken pieces that could be used for fill and road making.)  James’ daughter Lily was given the honour of lighting the kiln.  Lily was indispensable because she spoke fluent Italian and gave instructions to the most of the workers who were Italian, because the Australian men had nearly all by then gone off to war.

In September 1925, one of these workers, Giusseppi Lo Piero was arrested and charged with being involved in a fight at the Oakleigh Railway Station.  He was found Not Guilty and discharged.  

The brick pit, now a park on the corner of Carmichael and Fern Tree Gully Roads, was unusual in that it began as a shaft that was driven 120 feet at an incline of 1-in-2.  The shaft was then widended and a working face 50 feet wide was created eventually widening to 100 feet.  A truck hauled the clay up rails to a hopper from where it was fed into a clay-grinding pan consisting of two rollers weighing 3 tons each.  This ground the clay to a powder with the consistency of flour. 

Elevators carried this powder to the brick-making machine where it is mixed with water until plastic, where it is subjected to high pressure and becomes a brick.  They are then loaded onto trucks and taken to the Hoffman Kiln where they are fired.  The process is almost entirely automated except for the digging of the clay and the loading of the finished bricks. 

 Brick Works 1972

 Demolition of Chimneys December 1982

In March 1955, Gambles went into liquidation.  The company continued and in 1959 conducted a revaluation of its assets.  Later that year, the company was bought-out by Brick Industries Ltd.

In the 12 months ending 31^st March 1975, Gambles made 10,950,153 and sold 10,869,715   For the 12 months ending 31^st March 1976, Gambles made 13,185.924 bricks and only had 55,200 still in stock the next year.  Gambles continued until 1982 when production ceased and the works were demolished.  The site was converted to warehousing and the brick pit, which had been used a a council waste tip was redeveloped into a public park.

Oakleigh Brickworks

Trading Name	Oakleigh Brickworks
Years of Operation	1892 to 1896
Company Number
Address	South side of Dandenong Road between Grant & Clyde Sts
Council Lot No.	32
Coordinates	-37.895752, 145.096629
Current Use	Residential housing

No, I have not got this one mixed up.  There is another post coming on the Oakleigh Brick Company, that operated on the other side of Dandenong Road where Brickmakers Park is now.  This one was begun by John Scott who operated what he called the Oakleigh Brickworks on Dandenong Road.  An MMBW map from the 1920s shows his brick pit located on the corner of Clyde Street and Dandenong Road.  Other references refer to his works as a “Brickyard” but his advertisements refer to it as a “Brickworks”.  He also refers to bricks from the kiln.  This sounds like a sole trader with a rectangular downdraft kiln. 

When driving along Dandenong Road towards Melbourne, there is a pronounced dip in the Road between Grant and Clyde Streets.  In the original sub-division, Tamar Grove ended at Scott’s Brick works.  When the pit was filled, Tamar Grove was extended to Dandenong Road. As previously mentioned, Jack Worn helped fill that pit in the 1930s with broken bricks from other brick works.  Homes were only permitted to be built over the old brick works because the pit was filled with broken bricks and other solid fill.

  

John Scott (1831-1891) was a brickmaker who had his brickpit and kilns on Dandenong Road between Grant Street and Clyde Street in Oakleigh under what is now Tamar Grove.  He operated on over 4 acres for several years. The land was part of an early sub division of Oakleigh and was designated as Section 32.  Usually these blocks were 5 acres in size, but several years of rate books describe it as being either four or four and one half acres.

According to the History compiled by T.G.Newton in the early 1950s, John made the bricks for several houses in Grant Street Oakleigh, (some of which remain, No’s 13 to 19) that were owned by several members of Thomas Wilkinson’s family.  They were known as “Wilkinsons Folly” and later “Goats Terrace.”  So named because of the property price collapse at the time.  Thomas Wilkinson had earlier begun his own brickworks behind his “Half Way House” hotel at Notting Hill.  Other histories state that Wilkinson made the bricks for the Grant Street properties, but my money is on John because Thomas was well out of the brick business by then, although he retained an interest in the company that had bought his brick works. 

John advertised in the local paper as Oakleigh Brickworks J Scott Proprietor Dandenong Road First Class Bricks at Kiln Trade Supplied.

It appears that John was the sole proprietor and brick maker and had just the one kiln.  If that is the case, it is a wonder that he made it to the age of sixty-two.  At this time, it is likely that he too operated a rectangular downdraught kiln.  These are very labour intensive and require tending twenty-four hours a day when bricks are being fired, to ensure that constant heat is maintained.

John died in Oakleigh in 1891 aged 62 and is buried in the Oakleigh cemetery 603 Presbyterian Section. He has no grave marker but has a commemorative brick in the centre of the memorial park.  According to Oakleigh Council minutes in 1927 and 28, a fence was needed to secure an abandoned brick pit near the intersection of Ferntree Gully and Dandenong Roads.  This was either his pit or that of the Oakleigh Junction Brick Works.  It is not known if he married or had children but the electoral rolls later record a William John Scott, Brick Carter of Dandenong Road. 

Aerial View of the Remnants of John Scotts Brickworks,1931