Collected Material File #01
Brick Rubble
Collection Details
47 Easey Street, Collingwood, 3066, Victoria
Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country
Courtesy of Robbie Neville, Revival Projects
April & November 2022
Collection Type
Construction and demolition rubble/byproduct from an adaptive reuse warehouse renovation
Previous Use
Wall construction on Ground and Level 01 of building
The story of collection
The first batch of material collected as part of the Breaking Ground research project included brick rubble, reclaimed from a 1920s warehouse at 47 Easey Street, Collingwood. In 2022, after their inaugural MDW talk, I reached out to Robbie Neville from Revival Projects, a B-corp certified sustainable building practice based in Collingwood.
Hoping that I could go on site and collect exposed clay or earthworks that were about to be displaced or sent to landfill, I realised when arriving on site that there was instead an abundance of construction and demolition ‘waste’ or byproducts that were deemed unsuitable for recycling.
These aren’t just any old bricks though. There’s a story, history, and meaning behind them. They’ve been exposed to countless hours of music while PBS fm radio station was housed within the walls they were part of. They’ve witnessed raves, accommodated squatters, hosted a website server warehouse, bootmakers, a chocolate factory and wool storage*.
The building materials are site specific and hold geographic identifiers: these bricks were made in surrounding suburbs using clay from clay pits within the Melbourne area. Read more about Melbourne’s Urban Fringe Claypits via this conference paper.
The frog mould imprint could be seen on some of the whole bricks (that were able to be reused), reading ‘CLIFTON PRESTON’ or ‘CITY’. See the photo reference of the Clifton brickworks at the very end of this page, via the Darebin Heritage website.
*47 Easey Street building history, from https://easeystgroup.com.au/space/
Extended Material Data
Coordinates
-37.79785412649077, 144.98661158830336
Council / Zoning
Yarra, C2Z (Commercial 2)
Material Origin
Clifton Brickworks. Assumed Preston and Brunswick claypit sites
Composition
Clay (alumina and silica) and grog (fired crushed clay for workability, strength, and low shrinkage)
Measurements (mm)
Standard brick assumed, 110(w) x 230(l) x 76(h)
Absorption
Range from 6.5 - 15.6%
Inside Clifton Brickworks, courtesy of Darebin Libraries, https://heritage.darebinlibraries.vic.gov.au/archiveimage/3011
Appearance
Ranging from dense, deep red with coarse grog to crumbly and light orange with no grog. Consistent colour throughout individual bricks. All are unglazed. Frog mold impressions with text: 'Clifton Preston', 'City', or none
Characteristics & Crushing Notes
Ranging from:
Harder samples - semi-dense, loud
Softer samples - easily crushable, powdery when struck
Post-firing Characteristics (Cone 6)
Retains form, does not melt. Colour darkens to deep red-brown, especially under glaze
Potential Applications in Ceramics