Seeking Information on the Ceramco. AMBRICO Brick and Pipe history please

Greetings all We are seeking AMB& Pipe Co Brick and Pipe No 4 Pottery staff and information please .
I am the son of Mac(Ed) McCaffery Works / personel Manager Brick & Pipe works No 4 Pottery , Wellington Plants Manager AMBRICO 1947/8 Kamo- New Lynn - mid 1980s New Lynn Rotary Ceramics position holder untill death in 2002. With the impending demolition of the remaing brock works section of No 4 Pottery Ceramco AMBRICO plant by CSR / Monier very soon and the recent opening on the Ceramics Trust facility we are seeking to collect the history of the Brick and Pipe divisions for the Trust and possible publication by us or them so we can balance up the emphasis given to date only to the crockery operations. WE know the heavy clay bricks and pipes are not glamourous but they are a very important part of the Ceramco long magnificant story and certainly very important in the forthcoming new Lynn historical function/s to celebrate New Lynns (ceramics) history being organised by the Whau Area Board of ACC. for September.

Bcakground- My name is John McCaffery and I am the nephew of Tom Clark the former Managing Director of Crown Lynn and Amalgamated Brick Limited the family who developed and operated the previous Monier site purchased by AVANDA for apartments recentlyat New Lynn on Rankin Rd & Margan Ave . My father Edwin Joseph McCaffery (known as Mac to most but Ed in Rotary ) Tom’s brother in law was the Factory Manager of the Amalgamated Brick and Pipe Company No 4 Potteries until about 1964 ( see below ) that operated the Monier site. Dad reported to Toms brother Malcom Clark who was General Manager of all the brick and Pipe works throughout the country and of course under discussion for the pending demolition closing a very important chapeter in NZ and New Lynn history.

Crown Lynn Potteries managed by Tom making crockery was on the part of the site fronting Clark St and Astley Ave and has now all been demolished as has the Pipe works section was demolished in 1986/7 in where the No 34 Pottery office was right on the corner opposite the rail overbridge. No 4 Pottery also also managed and operated Gardner’s plant across the road in Rankin Rd, Glenburn factory at Avoldale/Block House Bay fringe and many other operations through out the country. For a long time before 1964 Mac was the Chairman of the New Lynn Businessmens Assoc and all his life a long time member of New Lynn Rotary Club well beyond this time which he often got to assist in the community and historical work. He also organised the 1984 building of the memorial to the Brick Pioneers in West Auckland that is on the little Delta Ave triangle on Gt North Rd, the 1961 brick Clock Tower along the road in Totara Ave opposite what used to be Ceramic House office Block and also supervised supply of bricks advice and building of St Marys church Avondale across the Whau-of which he was a member and where all us kids went to primary school.
As a youngster from about age 5 onwards we spent a lot of time in the brick plant and later during school holidays I worked for Dad (not the company, for pocket money) helping out around the plant and in later years helping him with attempts to retain and promote the historical information about New Lynn and the historical brick and pipe sites in the area. I am therefor plannig to donate our McCaffery Tamily Trusts material and most of our Crown Lynn collection for display or use of the new Trust. To get the project going we are contributing along with Malcom Clarks sons Jock and Tom jnr and llater Ceramco bricklayer Ken Hodder ( till closure in 1989) to the current video and historical articles being made for a September forthcoming New Lynn Historiacl function/s . We would appreciate any information you can post or send us- Posting under bricks and pipes on this site makes it immediately available and is best but our email is - j.mccafferynz@gmail.com best wishes

Welcome to the site John and good luck with your venture.
There is so much history associated with all of the clay industries and it all needs to be recorded and kept safe for future generations. I was hoping there would be a dig on the Monier site before the new owners took over, as that would give us a glimpse into the past through the years of Ambrico and Crown Lynn as there were reject pits somewhere there, where unsuitable pieces were placed/thrown, but alas that doesn't look like it is going to happen now.
Please let us know when any events will happen as there are people on here that would be very interested.

Would this be the "Mad Mac" that took me diving at the Poor Knights and with Wade Doak?

Yes Mac became a diver in Wellington when managing the Wellington AMBRICO plants from 1964 onwards to about the mid 1970s.- Wade Doak Lew Ritchie and a whole lot of divers were in Wellington at the Marine Biology School at Vic Univ. They started coming up to Matapouri weekends hols and every oportunity they could to explore the Knights and the Coast -Many were hosted by Lew and Wade as well. The very famous Val Monk was of course also a local famous early diver from the Matapoiuri Tutukaka Coast.
However Mac was there much earlier as he was offerred a job by Jack Crum at the Kamo brick factory at Whangarei when he returned from WW2 I'm not sure but I think AMBRICO purchased it before then or pretty soon afterards as Mac then left for AK to work at AMBRICO with Tom and Malcom. That where he met the Buckley girls and reported to AK AMBRICO relations of their beauty !! His father inlaw, my grandfather Dr H F Buckley had the regular use of a loan Woolley's bach at Wooleys Bay where we spent many happy summers there and exploring Matapouri and district and listening to Tom's exploits in the NZ Grand Prix in January. I believe from the early 50s many of the Buckleys met up over Xmas Hols - Josephine Buckley mum's sister was of course Tom Clark's lovely first wife who died tragically from a totally unforseen medical complication- Phillipa Trish and Latimer are my first cousins from this marriage.

Remember after dives with Wade and Mac the call for a Gorilla, cold beer from the plastic garbage can filled with ice and beer.

Last dive I did before going to Canada to be GM up there, was with Mac after cray, and as usual Mac was head down in gut's etc so I followed.

Suddenly realized I was stuck, jammed in a gut and couldn't back out. Bugger, I am going to drown on my last dive before heading to Toronto.

Luckily I got out but the memory remains.

The Kamo Plant Whangarei by 1946 after WW2 was already owned and operated by AB& P Co so I am unsiure about J J Crum's involvement on the Alamagamated company by that time. The plant had all three types of clay available and plenty of coal - Red, fire clay and some fine white china clay. Of most use was the firebrick clay which was used in The Portland Cement works, the oid burning furnaces of HMS Achillies, and in the firebox of every railway steam engine in NZ. Kamo was abandoned by 1920 and Gardner Bros & Parker in New lynn purchased the plant. Wilson Portland Cement Co. Ltd used many of the bricks in its cement kilns. In 1929 the new Amalgamated Brick & Pipe Co. purchased Kamo for 20,000 pounds.

This Amalgamation in 1929 included the 1920s NZ Brick Tile and Pottery Company New Lynn which Clarks had purchased significant shares in, eventually owning in 1925. Albert Crum and Hugo Friendlander had purchased the entire Crown Lynn, Margan Ave Rankin Ave site that had been started by them in 1905, except for Gardners which was located on its current AMBRICO site and remained separate until Amalgamation in 1929.
Jack Albert Crum (Albert Crum’s son) was the joint manager owner of the Avondale Glenburn site and later by 1925 assistant manager of The NZ Brick Tile and Pottery Company of at the time of amalgamation and his father Albert Crum become one of the directors of the newAmalgamated company and kept their links with it for some time
Very soon however he set up his own family plant on the courner of Gt North Road and Portage Road and went his own way.

Hi John,

I am a descendant of Edward Owen who arrive in NZ in 1860's. He owned Ponsonby Potteries (some remains of the pottery still stand and is part of Ponsonby Intermediate school) then merged with Carder Bros based in Hobsonville where my grandfather was born.

The next-door neighbours of Carder Bros were the Clark Family circa 1890's to 1929.

I'm researching the "Amalgamated Brick and Pipe" company with a focus on 1928-1930's

Paperspast
6th February 1929

Following the example of large business interests in England and Australia, four of the largest brick and pipe manufacturing companies in the Auckland Province have completed contracts for the amalgamation of their interests. The parties to the arrangement, which becomes effective on March 1st are E.O. Clark Ltd, Hobsonville. Gardiner Brothers and Parker Ltd, New Lynn, New Zealand Brick, Tile & Pottery Company, New Lynn and Glenburn Fire, Clay and Pottery Company Avondale.

Paperspast 26th February 1929

The Chairman of Directors Mr James Fletcher
General Managers are Mr T. E. Clark, Mr F Clark & Mr F. Gardiner

Can't help but the land purchased for the  works in Rankin Ave, was originally my 2nd G Grandfather John Foley's farm