J. Hallett and Son

J. Hallett and Son, founded in 1904, was for most of the 20th century South Australia's most important brickmaking firm.

Job Hallett

Its founder, Job H. Hallett (pronounced "jobe") (1855–27 October 1940) was born in Somerset, the son of Thomas Hallett (1820–1871) and Caroline Hallett (née Eves)(1824?–1913) of Kingsbury Episcopi.[1] and sailed to Adelaide in 1877. He started work on a farm in Riverton but having some experience in brickmaking (his father's trade), was soon in Hindmarsh working for Tom Sherring and T.T. Brown.[2]

In 1889 Job started his own brickworks in Chief Street Brompton[2] with some assistance from Charles Willcox. In 1904 he took his eldest son, Thomas into partnership.[2]

The firm's first big order came in 1903, to supply the bricks to build the School of Mines and Industries (now the University of South Australia) on North Terrace in the city of Adelaide. Hallett used his prosperity to expand the business, acquiring seven other brickyards in the suburbs of Brompton and Hindmarsh over the next few years, and in 1910 formed the company J. Hallett & Son Ltd.

Expansion continued. The company acquired the Federal brickworks in Thebarton and installed brickmaking machinery. Two Hoffman kilns were built at new highly mechanised yards at Thebarton and Welland, and smaller plants were bought or built at Gawler, Blackwood, Magill, and Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula.[3] By the time of Job's death, the company's main plants were located in Thebarton, Welland and Port Lincoln. It was the largest brickmaking business in South Australia, employing 170 men.[2] Halletts retained their identity until the 1960s when the company was absorbed by the Nubrik Hallett group (now Austral Bricks) and moved their main operations to Golden Grove. The company's Welland brickworks was demolished in 1993. The Hoffman kiln at Thebarton survived as part of the Brickworks Market. The Brickworks market has now been demolished to build a Woolworths shopping Centre, but the kiln still remains.

Job Hallett was an active Freemason and was at one stage a councillor for the City of Hindmarsh. He married Ann Jeanes in 1879 and they had two daughters Annie and Sarah who died in infancy and a son Thomas Job who became his partner in the business. Upon Ann's death in 1904 he married Caroline Jane Grinter and they left four sons Jack, Geoffrey, Charles ("Charlie") and George, and one daughter, Nancy (Mrs N.L. Sellars). At the time of his death Job had ten grandchildren.[2][4]

Thomas Hallett

Thomas Hallett was councillor for the ward of Brompton in the Hindmarsh Municipal council from 1907 to 1910 or perhaps later.

He was chairman of directors of Littlehampton Brick Co. Ltd. from at least 1945,[5] (This factory is among the oldest in South Australia, but apart from its refractory bricks, not a large supplier due to the distance from Littlehampton to Adelaide.) Note that Mr. H. G. Willcox, a son of Charles Willcox, was a director of this company.[5]

References
  1. Nick Gould Family History accessed 16 February 2011
  2. Death of Mr Job Hallett The Advertiser 1 November 1940 p.19 accessed 15 February 2011
  3. Anthony Moore, Brickmakers in South Australia 1836–1936, Department of Architecture (Working Paper No. 8), University of Adelaide, 1981, pp. 135–144
  4. Death Notices The Advertiser 28 October 1940 p.8 accessed 15 February 2011
  5. Littlehampton Brick Ltd. The Advertiser Friday 7 September 1945 p.2 accessed 17 February 2011

Further reading

West Torrens Historical Society:

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