Brickies: Working life at the Thirroul Brickworks 1972-1983
“Brickies” - Working life at the Thirroul Brickworks 1972–1983 Michael Organ [Initially published in Illawarra Unity , volume 6, number 2, November 2006, 55-71.] The annals of Australian labour history are full of stories of mining disasters, the hardships of long drawn out strikes, union battles with government and bosses, and instances of extraordinary individual actions to defend hard won wages and conditions. However the more mundane trials, tribulations and misadventures of working life for those involved in seemingly non-hazardous industries are often left unrecorded. The brick, tile and pottery sector is one which does not figure prominently in accounts of working class struggle, though of course it played a part and continues to do so. Between 1972–83 I worked at the Thirroul brickworks, located approximately 80km south of Sydney in Wollongong’s northern suburbs. Having opened as the Vulcan Fire Brick Company in 1919, on an area of flood-prone wetland between Bulli an...