Sandstock bricks

1820s–1830s

Sandstock bricks such as these were the building blocks of Governor Macquarie’s ambitious public works scheme for Sydney.

Convict brickmakers working in gangs at the Brickfields (now the area of Central Railway Station) dug up the clay and moulded, fired and delivered the bricks in their thousands every day. In 1819 Major George Druitt reported that a gang of eight men were expected to make 3000 bricks a day. In the 1820s all government bricks were marked with a broad arrow to make them identifiable and to prevent theft by convicts. By the 1830s shapes from playing cards – hearts, diamonds and spades – were commonly used to ‘frog’ bricks, to identify the brick maker and enable the mortar to bind more effectively onto the brick.

To make the bricks, the clay mixture was first weathered before being mixed with water and sand or fired brick dust, and then worked until soft enough to be pushed into wooden brick or tile moulds. Excess clay was scraped off with a ‘strike’. The brick was then ejected from the mould, air-dried and fired in a kiln.

… the Government bricks were not marked with the broad arrow till very lately; the men belonging to the gang are allowed to make bricks for Various individuaIs in their own time, but they are not allowed to use the Government clay…

Sydney Gazette, 23 July 1828, 2.