BRICKWORKS & POTTERIES
OF THE IPSWICH (Qld) REGION

  Alister J Cameron       

Brick Town

I know very little about Brick Town apart from the 1910 news report below.

There is some educated guess-work in what I have presented below.

He (Thomas Welldon) was also occupied in what he termed “Brick Town” (the old brick-yards situated in the valley between Denmark Hill and Sandy Gallop, evidences of which are still on view in the shape of the old kilns), where Messrs. Frank Porter, Matthew Gadd, Charles Dellar, John Norris, J. Howard and others presided as the “moulders of clay”.

Queensland Times 17 June 1910, page 5

CADASTRAL MAP OF BRICKWORKS AREA c1850 Brick Town may well have made used the Brickyard Reserve. Source: Picture Ipswich
1899 MINING MAP SHOWING LIKELY BRICK TOWN LOCATION Source: Walter E Cameron, State Library of Qld
AERIAL VIEW OF THE POSSIBLE SITE; PRESENT DAY. "Scattered bricks" is location where I found a number of very old bricks. Source: Qld Globe

Area of Scattered Bricks on Embankment Eastern Edge of Sandy Gallop (See Above)

SCATTERED BRICKS IN A SMALL GULLY The brick with mortar in its frog turned out to have been branded by Jack Wright.
AMONGST THE TREES ON THIS BANK ARE A LARGE LUMP OF CONCRETE AND THE FRAGMENT OF A BRICK WALL.
CLOSEUP OF ANOTHER WALL FRAGMENT.
A FISCHERS BRICK PARTLY EXPOSED ON AN EMBANKMENT.

Bricks I Found There

Description:  Brown Sandstock brick.  Small black blotches.
Condition:  Very crumbled.
Type:  House Brick.
Frog:  Diamond-shaped frog one side; flat other.
Inscription:  None.
Origin:  Embankment on Eastern Edge of Sandy Gallop.
Current Location:  My Collection.

ANOTHER LIGHTER COLOURED BRICK WITH THE DIAMOND FROG.
JACK WRIGHT BRICK Inscription: "J # W"
A FISCHERS FIRE BRICK. This Brisbane company produced kiln bricks in the 1800s.
BRICK WITH THE INSCRIPTION: "MASONS BANK". Although I have found these type of brick in several locations around Ipswich I don't know who they are.
A SMALL SANDSTONE BLOCK WITH WHAT LOOKS LIKE A MASON'S MARK.