The Brickmasters, 1788-2008
What people say about The Brickmasters
Diane Menghetti, James Cook University, Australian Economic History Review, November 2010.
The Brickmasters is an ambitious work that is by no means only the story of its sponsor, Austral Bricks. Indeed, this company did not enter the market until 1908 and established itself as a major player during World War I. The book opens in 1788 and considers the brick industry as both the product of Australian history and as a motive force for that history.
The work is lavishly illustrated and beautifully produced, and Ron Ringer’s writing style is relaxed and assured. Therefore the book is a good read as well as an excellent resource and a handsome addition to the bookshelf.
Joan Buckley, History, March 2009
A refreshingly rich and beautifully illustrated book encompassing social, economic, environmental, technological and architectural histories of Sydney.
Terry Kass, Public History Review Journal, Vol 16 (2009)
Issues of personality and family are brought to life in ways that are rare in company history. The work is never dull. Though it may be technical at times, explanations are clear and accurate. Anecdotes and insights also enliven what could have been a very dry subject. This work will sit on my book shelves next to other key brickmaking texts such as Nora Peek and Chris Pratten’s Working the Clays: The Brickmakers of the Ashfield District and Warwick Gemmell’s And So We Graft From Six to Six: The Brick Makers of New South Wales. And it will be referred to just as often as key text on brickmaking in Sydney for a long time to come.
Graham Holland, Architecture Science Review, 18 March 2009
This book was commissioned for the centenary of the Austral Brick Company Limited. Like the company histories that established Geoffrey Blainey’s reputation, it is much more than a recitation of names and extracts from annual reports, but places bricks and brickmaking in their proper social and economic contexts, beginning in 1788 and concluding in 2008. The author is an historian with no previous connection with brickmaking thus avoiding the lack of objectivity that sometimes occurs with “insider’s” accounts. It shows how and why demand for bricks grew and how it was met. Production processes are well explained and illustrated.
It is a substantial (430 pages), handsome volume, well written and illustrated and is a fine contribution to building history.