Royal Commission 1914

Brick makers in Melbourne complained about the Co-operative Brick Company that was established in 1896.  It was alleged that the Co operative was responsible for high prices, poor quality, refusal to supply products and various other monopolistic practices.  In 1913, the Victorian Government established a Royal Commission that eventually determined that the Co-op was not a monopoly as some of the companies outside it were.  The First World War seems to have overshadowed the recommendations of the report and they appear not to have been implemented.  Despite complaints about the resulting price increases, the 1914 Royal Commission on the Brick Manufacturing Industry of Victoria found that the prices charged for Melbourne bricks were fair and the quality high.

A partial Government response was to attempt to introduce more competition by developing a State run brick works.  Land was purchased in Thornbury (now partly the site of the Aboriginal Advancement League) in 1908 and construction began.  The Co-operative then lowered their prices to 38 shillings per 1000 bricks.

This, and the controversy resulted in the project being stopped and the buildings being sold to Clifton Bricks.  Two years later, as part of the State Coal Mine at Wonthaggi, the State Brickworks was started.  Initially it was to provide bricks for the mine and to supply the railways.  It was also hoped that the cheap coal would produce competitively priced bricks for the Melbourne market.  Poor quality was alleged (supposedly by those associated with the Co-operative) and by 1912 the works were effectively closed.

By this time, a serious rival had emerged, in the Glen Iris Brick Tile and Terra Cotta Co started by disgruntled builders.  It had a site at Glen Iris but had to move to because the local Council and the Co-operative blocked access to the land.  An agreement was also entered into for a lease of Government land at Thornbury commencing in 1913 and to provide the State Government with bricks at a reduced price.