The Baker Brickyard

The area bounded by Douglas St, Tolmie and Topaz park is currently the site of Mayfair Mall but for the 70 years preceding it's opening, it was the home of a brickyard. 

In 1891, the Baker Brick and Tile Company was founded by brothers John and James Baker. By the late 1930's the business was managed by Aaron Parfitt and after the Second World War, the yard was operated by Evans, Coleman & Evans. 

The brickyard was a prominent feature of the area. Residents remember the piles of chopped wood stacked along Douglas street, and the specific way workers stacked wood around the bricks during the firing process. The weekend before the mall opened, all leftover bricks on site were being sold for penny; a local resident remembers her dad making several trips, including at night with a flashlight. Others still remember it as a premium spot for catching frogs and salamanders. 

For an unknown reason, only Baker bricks were made with a maker's mark, but this has made the bricks an easily identifiable piece of Victoria history.