The Yarralumla brickworks, also known as the Commonwealth Brickworks, was one of the earliest construction projects in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It was built in the suburb of Yarralumla to produce the bricks used to build many of Canberra's early buildings. It opened in around 1913 and operated until its closure in 1976. It is known for producing the bricks used to build itself.

Narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

goods

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

lines for the transportation of bricks linked Yarralumla to some of the major building sites in central Canberra such as Old Parliament House, and the Kingston Power House. No sign of this early Canberra transport system remains today. The original brick

kiln A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or Chemical Changes, chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects m ...

s were built according to

Walter Burley Griffin Walter Burley Griffin (November 24, 1876February 11, 1937) was an American architect and landscape architect. He designed Canberra, Australia's capital city, the New South Wales towns of Griffith, New South Wales, Griffith and Leeton, New So ...

's designs with fan forced short

chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typical ...

s intended to stay below the height of the surrounding pine trees. In 1950 after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

increased building demands in Canberra meant that a large 46 metre natural-draft chimney was built for the new kilns. This greatly increased brick production capacity. The tall chimney is visible from many locations around central Canberra. In recent years a report found that the tall chimney was not earthquake-safe. As the chimney was heritage listed and located within falling distance of nearby homes, an engineering firm was called in to make it safe. A frame was built inside the chimney to support it without affecting its external appearance. The brickworks today is closed to the public, but has had various uses over the past 20 years. There have been several recent ideas that haven't eventuated, including using the site for Canberra's new

gaol A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various cri ...

, making the site the new permanent home for Floriade (a yearly Canberra flower festival) or to turn the brickworks into a holiday resort. Future plans for the site are still undecided. As of February 2015 it was proposed that a housing estate could be constructed on the site, consisting of 1800 dwellings.

References

{{coord, 35, 18, 30, S, 149, 5, 26, E, display=title Manufacturing plants in Australia Buildings and structures in Canberra Brickworks in Australia Australian Capital Territory Heritage Register