Bloodworth and his bricks
James Bloodworth, like James Smith, was an early arrival in Sydney Town.
The similarity ends there, however, as Smith's time was not successful, but Bloodworth was a stunning success.
In many ways, he was critical to the survival of the infant settlement.
Born on 7-3-1759, he was convicted in October 1785 of the dreadful crime of stealing a game cock and two hens! He left England on the “ Charlotte “ on 13-5-1787.
Such was his worth to the colony that by 1-9-179,1 he was appointed Superintendent of Brick Makers and Layers.
He died at the age of 45 on 21-3-1804 . Governor Philip Gidley King accorded him an early form of a State Funeral.
Not a bad effort. Arrives as a convict and 16 years later has a State Funeral.
Transcript
Arrived in a convict ship and departed with a state funeral.
Speaker:This is the story of James Bloodworth and his bricks.
Speaker:Hello and welcome to Urban Ley.
Speaker:Make here and today unusually.
Speaker:Um, I'm joined by my son Duncan, uh, which is most appropriate because it was
Speaker:in fact something he did that alerted me to the existence of James Bloodworth
Speaker:because I'd never heard of him before.
Speaker:So, uh, over to Duncan to explain how all this came about.
Speaker:Thank you Mata for having me.
Speaker:Hello everybody in Urban Ling.
Speaker:I am Duncan, the son of Mata, AKA Maketa son.
Speaker:my father and I went on a journey through the rocks.
Speaker:We went ling.
Speaker:As you do when you are urban ars.
Speaker:And we discussed how the bricks of the rocks were made in their history because
Speaker:if you walk around Sydney, you see it's such an integral part of the story is the
Speaker:building materials of the city itself.
Speaker:Um, during that process, we discovered James Bloodworth.
Speaker:We're actually looking.
Speaker:Initially on a, on a bit of a goose chase with Mr. Francis, the
Speaker:architect, but when we really got stuck into it, Francis Greenway.
Speaker:Francis Greenway, that's right.
Speaker:When we got stuck into it, we discovered Mr. Bloodsworth, who, uh,
Speaker:is probably the unsung hero of the, uh, city of Sydney, if not the country.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well, Doug, it's interesting you say that because I. A bloke called Ron Ringer, who
Speaker:is described as an industrial historian.
Speaker:And I must say I hadn't heard of that before, said this, and it
Speaker:really comes back to what you just said, and he said this forgets the
Speaker:city's love affair with sandstone.
Speaker:From the very start, most of Sydney was built out of bricks that's a
Speaker:very interesting, uh, observation and, uh, in fact the reason we're
Speaker:out in the rocks is you very kindly bought me the trip for my birthday,
Speaker:which must have been I think in 2024.
Speaker:and in addition to just seeing all the brick work when we were on to drown.
Speaker:I'm sure we saw a plaque, which we did.
Speaker:We did see a plaque, but unfortunately we both looked, subsequently
Speaker:find the plaque, but we can't.
Speaker:But it's a bit of a Mandela effect, right?
Speaker:'cause we all thought it was the Francis Greenway.
Speaker:And then once doing research, we realized it's all about James
Speaker:Bloodworth when it comes down to bricks.
Speaker:Then we thought, oh, there was the Plath to James Bloodworth.
Speaker:We went, I went looking and found Francis Greenway.
Speaker:So anyway, we got there in the end and we discovered probably one of
Speaker:the most underrated, interesting figures of Australian history.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Well he's certainly that.
Speaker:And I've found the end by notes.
Speaker:Which I can now give you.
Speaker:Sydney was built out of bricks and millions of them.
Speaker:So you think I'd learned to make my lines continuous.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:But interestingly they in fact brought bricks with them from England and that was
Speaker:on the Scarborough, and they bought 5,000 bricks when they came in the first fleet.
Speaker:So they, they clearly knew that they were gonna need them, but that
Speaker:quantity of bricks might have built you a reasonable safe food store.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Um, and of course the, you know, the colony was in a dreadful state from early
Speaker:on because there was limited supplies they brought, they were having trouble growing
Speaker:anything that convicts understandably, uh, weren't madly keen about doing anything.
Speaker:So they were really in trouble.
Speaker:So a bloodworth indeed was a blessing.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Now what, what happened is that Governor Philip pretty quickly realized
Speaker:they had a problem and that the 5,000 bricks wasn't gonna do much.
Speaker:So within a couple of weeks of the, uh, the settlement, the European
Speaker:settlement starting, uh, they went hunting ground for clay, which is
Speaker:obviously the basic necessity for bricks.
Speaker:And they found two creeks running into Cockle Bay, which is.
Speaker:Part of Darling Harbor, and this would sort of be about where Chinatown now is.
Speaker:And they found quite good workable clay and unbelievably within two
Speaker:weeks of finding the clay, um, they had between 20 and 30,000 bricks.
Speaker:Ready to fire.
Speaker:Now all of that was due to Bloodworth, uh, with his skills and also his industry.
Speaker:He, as I just said, when we were talking, a lot of the convicts, understandably,
Speaker:were quite put out about having been dragged halfway around the world to what
Speaker:must've seemed like the end of the world and weren't very interested in working.
Speaker:But Bloodworth was a. Different sort of cut of a person.
Speaker:And he, he was keen and he got stuck into it, and that's really
Speaker:why he, he had the success he did.
Speaker:Now, just in terms of knowing a bit about Bloodworth we know that he
Speaker:was born in Kingston on Thames, uh, on the 7th of March ninth, 1759.
Speaker:uh, we know that he married at one stage a young lady called Jane Marks,
Speaker:and at the time of their marriage, Bloodworth was 23, as was Jane, and
Speaker:that was on the 9th of December, 1782.
Speaker:Now they had four children between that time, uh, when, uh, they married and the
Speaker:time when he was, uh, convicted of the crimes, which we'll come to in a minute,
Speaker:which was on the 3rd of October, 1785.
Speaker:So poor old Jane Marxist experience of marriage was marrying a man, uh,
Speaker:having four children in the space of.
Speaker:Barely three years.
Speaker:Uh, then he gets convicted, uh, and gets transported.
Speaker:And that's the last you ever saw of him.
Speaker:Uh, so it was a, it was a pretty cruel old world.
Speaker:Now we don't know whether Bloodworth or what he'd done before he left
Speaker:England, but clearly he must have had experience in brick banking.
Speaker:Now.
Speaker:Uh, he was convicted at the court in Escher, in Surrey on
Speaker:the 3rd of October, 1785 and, uh, precisely what he was convicted of.
Speaker:Some say forgery.
Speaker:And that could be right, because I did hear it was fraud.
Speaker:Fraud, yeah.
Speaker:But I've heard that it was a roll of silk.
Speaker:Well, that's interesting because roll of silk fraud, forgery, and
Speaker:of course Greenway was a forger.
Speaker:That's what he was uh, transported for.
Speaker:But the other crime of which is mentioned by some is that he had the
Speaker:temerity to steal a cock and to hen.
Speaker:Mm. And now such were the distorted views of property of the world in
Speaker:those days that that heinous crime of stealing a few chooks was thought to be
Speaker:requiring seven years of transportation.
Speaker:So that's what he got.
Speaker:And as I said, poor old, um, Jane Marks and the kids.
Speaker:He just disappears.
Speaker:So he, uh, he came and as I said, he clearly, I think he was picked straight
Speaker:away by Governor Philip, probably because of his attitude, also because
Speaker:they found out he had these skills
Speaker:mentioned before.
Speaker:They brought some Brits with them, but it wasn't enough to
Speaker:build all the buildings, so, yeah.
Speaker:Uh, what did they build out of?
Speaker:Initially they had, uh, crude w and DOB shelters with mud and sticks.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But there's one thing that even modern, modern Britain's, uh, surprised
Speaker:at, and they come to Australia.
Speaker:Is that it doesn't rain constantly, but when it does,
Speaker:it comes down with a vengeance.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:With the hard flooding pressure that just basically washed away the mud on
Speaker:sticks, wattle, and do huts that they had clearly this needed to be rectified.
Speaker:So they needed to improve the building materials, which
Speaker:is where the bricks came in.
Speaker:So they had the, the brick layer brick maker.
Speaker:James Bloodworth on board, and they also brought with them some equipment for, uh,
Speaker:making bricks like the presses and things.
Speaker:Now, I guess in that time would mean like simple molds, simple
Speaker:pressing equipment by hand.
Speaker:So they began, they found a source of clay, brick, field hill,
Speaker:and they started making bricks.
Speaker:The first bricks were not great because they didn't have kilns,
Speaker:so they had to make crappy bricks, which they then used to make kilns.
Speaker:Of course.
Speaker:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker:And they, they made the kilns out of them.
Speaker:Then they made better bricks and, you know, progressively
Speaker:built up the industry there.
Speaker:And then with these bricks once they got to the sort of correct quality that they
Speaker:needed, they started to build with 'em.
Speaker:Uh, and it's, you know, it's very tactile experience.
Speaker:If you go around, uh, Sydney, especially older parts of Sydney
Speaker:and look around, you will see.
Speaker:Bricks upon bricks, upon bricks, upon bricks, just absolutely everywhere.
Speaker:And some of those may well have been made by James Bloodworth himself.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well
Speaker:it's interesting you say that duck, because, uh, even and just as he
Speaker:was doing the brick making and, and doing that, he was also building.
Speaker:And he was obviously a bit of a builder.
Speaker:Mm. And he's credited with building the first government house and
Speaker:that was on the corner of what is now Philip and Bridge Streets.
Speaker:And it's where the Museum of Sydney is.
Speaker:And thankfully due to agitation by citizens at the time, they didn't
Speaker:allow the actual site to be built over.
Speaker:And if you go to the Museum of Sydney, you can there see a part of the foundation.
Speaker:So you would certainly be looking.
Speaker:At Bricks that were certainly laid by Jones Bloodworth, even
Speaker:if they weren't made by it.
Speaker:So you mentioned Brick Hill and that's really that area
Speaker:just outside the town hall.
Speaker:And that hill that runs down George Street, down towards
Speaker:Central, that's all Brick Hill and across, sort of towards, uh,
Speaker:Chinatown.
Speaker:And it may well be less of a hill due to
Speaker:the
Speaker:mining operations.
Speaker:Well, that's very true.
Speaker:That's very true.
Speaker:I think they.
Speaker:Started with the clay down more near the creek near Chinatown where Chinatown now
Speaker:is, and then gradually worked up the hill.
Speaker:But interestingly, brick Hill Hill ended up being a terrible
Speaker:place, which eventually one of the governors finally, I think in about.
Speaker:The 1830s said, enough is enough, and, uh, we're gonna move you out to further out.
Speaker:And they then pushed them out.
Speaker:And of course, that's why we ended up having all those brick pits
Speaker:at Tempe and, uh, St. Peters.
Speaker:St. Peters.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But
Speaker:I've heard that it was better.
Speaker:There was a better time What out there?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:They, they were able to reduce much better bricks.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But, um, one of the governors, whoever was governor in the 1830s was so
Speaker:concerned about the, uh, the brick works on Brick Field Hill, and that's,
Speaker:he's the one who laid out Hyde Park and he had surveyors very clearly, mark.
Speaker:The boundaries of Hyde Park on the Western and southern side.
Speaker:And he made it very clear that if any brick layer stepped on there, then uh,
Speaker:that would cause huge troubles for them.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But Brick Field Hill, the problem was of course it was, it was an enormously.
Speaker:Industrial place.
Speaker:There was a lot of dust.
Speaker:And of course there was all the attendant pubs and everything else, but one of
Speaker:the real problems was they used to have something called brick field or southerly.
Speaker:So when a good southerly blew wall and blew across brick field hill and
Speaker:blow all the dust and muck over the infant colony, so it, it wasn't, uh.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Much longer.
Speaker:And that may have happened
Speaker:every
Speaker:afternoon in the summer.
Speaker:Well, it could've, it certainly would've happened this afternoon,
Speaker:but, uh, due together, I think we need to come back a bit.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Think about what, uh, ties this all together.
Speaker:What ties all the bricks together?
Speaker:Ah, so we understand that they had the bricks and they were using the
Speaker:bricks to replace the Waterloo door and make more weather proofs to
Speaker:higher quality sturdy buildings.
Speaker:Still had the rain problem because bricks on their own.
Speaker:You need, you need another ingredient, you need the mortar.
Speaker:But what do you need to make mortar?
Speaker:You need lime.
Speaker:Lime.
Speaker:Where do they get lime from?
Speaker:There was no ready supply of lime.
Speaker:There was no mine.
Speaker:Uh, I mean, I'm not entirely sure where they get it now.
Speaker:I'm sure we just dig it out the ground somewhere, but, uh,
Speaker:it's an interesting point.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It must be made.
Speaker:It's made an alarm.
Speaker:K. I
Speaker:Now, if you've ever had a Sunday lunch, you may have had champagne
Speaker:and something else called an oyster.
Speaker:Very popular around the, uh, Sydney and surrounding regions.
Speaker:Uh, what a oyster's got.
Speaker:They got a shell.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So they used to get the shell and they crushed the shells up.
Speaker:And that's how they'd make wine.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So, yeah.
Speaker:This led to an oyster shortage eventually, and it wasn't
Speaker:because they were eating them.
Speaker:They were fueling their building practices.
Speaker:As you can see, they didn't eradicate them.
Speaker:We have.
Speaker:Many, many oysters.
Speaker:Luckily we all enjoy eating.
Speaker:But, um, that's, uh, another tactile link to the past is next time you're
Speaker:having an oyster, just remember that, um, without them they wouldn't
Speaker:have been able to build anything.
Speaker:Help build
Speaker:Sydney.
Speaker:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker:So it could be said that Sydney was built on oysters and bloodworth.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:Bricks.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:That might be a new advertising thing.
Speaker:Uh.
Speaker:Yeah, but they, they had to get away from the oysters because
Speaker:they almost, uh, didn't extinct.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well just dealing with Bloodworth history again a bit.
Speaker:He was so, um, so.
Speaker:Such a great worker, such a great servant of the crown that Governor
Speaker:Philip, in fact, pardoned him in 1790.
Speaker:So I mean, he only got here in 88 and by 90 he was pardoned.
Speaker:He built government house in 9 17 89, and I mean that probably wouldn't
Speaker:have done him any harm for getting his pardon that he built the a nice house.
Speaker:Mm. He also built some barracks as well.
Speaker:And then on the 1st of September.
Speaker:Superintendent of brick makers and layers, and we mustn't forget all the
Speaker:people who would've laid the bricks.
Speaker:And in the same time as he was pardoned, he began living with Sarah Bellamy in
Speaker:what was then called South Street, but would now be O'Connell Street, which.
Speaker:Oddly enough is the strength where I started work really my first day
Speaker:of work was in a building in two O'Connell Street, which doesn't,
Speaker:and you know, where did some of those bricks come from?
Speaker:You never know.
Speaker:Well, that's right.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So, uh, it was 19 O'Connell.
Speaker:He was thought to live.
Speaker:Now, Sarah.
Speaker:Bellamy had been a convict that came out in the lady pen.
Speaker:Now, once again, this same pattern I suppose it was just the times,
Speaker:but they then had eight children four of whom died, uh, in infancy.
Speaker:And sadly, uh, he died prematurely.
Speaker:And we'll come to that shortly.
Speaker:But when he did die, his youngest child was about a week old.
Speaker:Brutal times.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And again the governor was so pleased with him when he gave him the land grabs
Speaker:which was about 25 acres and it's down on Old Canterbury Road, sort of on the the
Speaker:boundary of Junction Road and Canterbury Road, sort of the bottom of Summer Hill.
Speaker:But interestingly, just this morning before we started, I was just looking at.
Speaker:Old plan of the grants from that time, and I noticed that to the
Speaker:southeast, there was a grant in 1794 to West Bellamy, so I assumed that's
Speaker:his, his partner Sarah Bellamy.
Speaker:So she picked up a grant too.
Speaker:Quite odd.
Speaker:It has to be her because it's, it's too big a coincidence that
Speaker:that Bloodworth is in one spot and right next to him is Cere Bellamy.
Speaker:So he, uh Oh yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Quite extraordinary.
Speaker:And I'm sorry, I said 25 acres.
Speaker:It was, uh, it was 50 acres.
Speaker:And over time that rose to be with other grants, 245 acres.
Speaker:And, uh, he farm it.
Speaker:For a while as well as having his government job as superintendent
Speaker:of bricks, layers and bricks.
Speaker:And, um, such was the esteem in which he was held in the colony
Speaker:that in 18 two he's made a sergeant in the Sydney Loyal Association.
Speaker:so sadly, um, he died on the, at O'Connell Street South Street on the 23rd of March,
Speaker:1,804, at about the age of 45 years.
Speaker:So he came to the colony in 1788.
Speaker:So in the space of 16 years, he went from being a convict to being so well regarded
Speaker:that the then governor Philip Gidley King.
Speaker:Paid the state, paid for the funeral, and in essence gave him probably
Speaker:one of the earliest state funerals.
Speaker:And the, the obituaries at the time said it was a huge thing and that a
Speaker:huge number of the members of the colony came out to pay their tribute to him.
Speaker:And in his, um, funeral possession from LL Street to what was then called
Speaker:the Town Cemetery, which is down now, it was where the town hall now is.
Speaker:He, uh, the members of the Loyal Sydney Association escorted
Speaker:his coffin with muffle drums.
Speaker:So it was quite.
Speaker:Quite a significant event.
Speaker:And in fact, he was buried with military honors, so Yeah.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:An extraordinary thing that a man commits whichever heinous crime it
Speaker:was, uh, and, and achieves all that.
Speaker:But then it's entirely forgotten.
Speaker:It's an amazing thing.
Speaker:It,
Speaker:it's, it's, yeah, it's super interesting researching this thinking that,
Speaker:yeah, okay, you're in the rocks.
Speaker:It's full of bricks, and they talk about Francis Greenway and that.
Speaker:It was the, the sort of mixed up memory we had.
Speaker:But when you look at James Budworth, there was just one little plaque in Yeah.
Speaker:Western regional, little country town in New South Wales.
Speaker:And it's like this guy, it just, it, there just probably wouldn't
Speaker:be like an Australia without his efforts like modern Australia.
Speaker:And, and yeah.
Speaker:It's just
Speaker:not spoken of at all.
Speaker:Can I mention another thing?
Speaker:As I said, we said Brick Hill sort of runs from Bathurst Street down
Speaker:the hill and in that block, Golburn George Pitt where there's now I think,
Speaker:or towers or residential buildings.
Speaker:But that was, uh, the site of.
Speaker:A retail, a very large apartment store called Horton's and Horton
Speaker:Brothers, and it occupied two acres.
Speaker:And when it was built back in about the 1920s or 1930s, it was the largest
Speaker:building in the southern hemisphere.
Speaker:The largest Really?
Speaker:Yes, the largest building in the southern hemisphere.
Speaker:Even defeating things in Latin America, which was quite wealthy at the time.
Speaker:That's,
Speaker:but in terms of just the area covered, because it was a two acre site, so there
Speaker:was sort of a two acre footprint of a building, and interestingly, it ended
Speaker:at the northern end on Swan Street.
Speaker:Went looking for Swan Street but couldn't find it.
Speaker:But apparently it was a little cul-de-sac off George Street up
Speaker:near where Bathurst Street now is, was called Swan Street because
Speaker:there once been a Swan Hotel there.
Speaker:So there we go.
Speaker:So look, that's I think, the story of James
Speaker:for your company and as I promised little facts.
Speaker:And the little fact for the day, uh, or this episode is St. James Church.
Speaker:Now, St. James Church is that wonderful church.
Speaker:The, in the eastern end of King Street, opposite Phillips Street.
Speaker:It's a church I'm very fond of.
Speaker:It's a wonderful church, both outside and inside.
Speaker:And I suppose I walk past it nearly every day in my working life.
Speaker:So I know it very well.
Speaker:But interestingly, it, it was again, designed by Greenway who.
Speaker:You know, the forger who did well.
Speaker:And, but it was originally designed to be the courthouse.
Speaker:Now what happened is later it became a church and the Supreme
Speaker:Court was built next to it.
Speaker:But it's a wonderful building.
Speaker:It was built in about, uh, between 1820 and 1824.
Speaker:And it's still in existence.
Speaker:It's still a church.
Speaker:And had has been in continuous use as a church since its concentration in 1824.
Speaker:So of course it recently passed.
Speaker:Its 200 years.
Speaker:And of course it was built out of bricks, the whole thing.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:Well, thank you Dun, and thank you.
Speaker:Thank you all.
Speaker:That's it for now.
Speaker:Stay Well choose to be happy and always take time to Apple.
Speaker:Until next time.
Speaker:Cheerio.
