Brick from Fordwich House

View this record on the National Museum of Australia's website

Type: Bricks
Date: 1830
Materials: Clay
Collection: Daryl Blaxland collection no. 2
Accession number: 2015.0001.0001

Description

An orange-coloured rectangular-shaped brick with dark surface patina on all sides. There is a diamond-shaped depression to one of the large faces and one corner is deteriorated.

About the collection

The Daryl Blaxland collection No 2 comprises two convict bricks from the foundations of Fordwich House near Broke, NSW. Each brick measures 220mm x 70mm x 105mm, weighs about 2.2kg and features a diamond-shaped depression to one of the large faces. Daryl Blaxland (b1925) - a scion of pioneer John Blaxland (1769-1845) of Fordwich, Kent - collected the bricks from a pile of the Fordwich home's half-buried foundations on a walk through the then deserted property in the late 1960s. John Blaxland was a captain in the Duke of York's Cavalry until he resigned to manage the family estates at Newington in Kent, England. Promised many 'indulgences' in the colony of New South Wales - including land, free passage and convicts - his brother Gregory arrived in Sydney with his family in 1806, while John stayed on to sell their English estates and arrived on 3 April 1807. John had agreed to invest £6000 in the colony and arrived with his wife and children, household staff, supplies and equipment. Considered difficult men by successive governors, the brothers shared close business interests in New South Wales and both contributed significantly to the life of the colony. They encouraged the cattle industry and produced some of NSW's earliest wine, while John also held a prominent place in colonial politics. An early supporter of trial by jury, he was a non-official member of the Legislative Council from 1829 to 1843. In 1843, he was reappointed to the partly-elective council and served until his retirement in 1844. He died at the family's NSW 'Newington' property on 5 August 1845.

Read live from the Museum's Collection API (12/11/2026, 4:58:23 am). Record last updated by the Museum 2026-07-16. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.