Development of the Industry

After housing the early settlers, the need arose to provide adequate housing in rural and often remote areas to provide shelter for those who pioneered the wool, cattle and agricultural industries.

Timber was the logical material for frames and for cladding rough log slabs gave way to weatherboards. Corrugated iron became almost the universal roofing material and the traditional wide verandahs created a distinctive appearance. Since little attention was given to thermal insulation, verandahs often gave welcome relief to the occupants on hot summer evenings. Also they provided accommodation for guests and, too often, to the detriment of the general appearance, repositories for bicycles, boots, buckets and other farm paraphernalia.

In the cities during the second half of the last century, with the ready availability of bricks, a considerable quantity of accommodation was provided in the form of terraced cottage housing, designed along traditional European lines. For the more affluent individuals, spacious houses with solid double brick walls came very much into favour. For the masses, however, while weatherboard houses remained significantly cheaper to construct, maintenance when properly performed became quite expensive.

In the immediate years following the Second World War, inability to fund housing during the depression, re-direction of construction resources during the war and a rapidly increasing population after the war, created enormous demands for homes. At this stage of our history people required homes of quality at acceptable prices. Land was still relatively cheap compared with overseas prices and the solution to the problem of quantity lay in the development of mass housing schemes, both public and privately funded. These schemes were developed in all capital cities and major provincial centres. While satisfying the quantitative need for houses, they created significant problems for public authorities in the provision of services; and the excessive demands for resources, both human and material, were largely overcome by importation, particularly from the United Kingdom, Europe and North America.

While it was the ambition of most citizens at that time to own solid brick homes, the cost was prohibitive and it led to the development of a most effective compromise between brick and timber -the Australian brick veneer home. It was a home in which the outer wall was of single brick construction tied to a timber studded frame, the timber usually being hardwood, pine or imported Oregon. The lining on the inside consisted of plaster and various other types of wallboards and roofs were constructed usually with either terra cotta or cement tiles. In later years colour-bonded steel and aluminium roofing planks also were used extensively for roof cladding.
The advantages of the brick veneer design were -

1. Lower capital cost than solid brick,


2. External appearance equivalent to brick,


3. Exterior maintenance cost lower than for timber construction,


4. Improved suitability for thermal insulation,


5. Simple installation of services.

Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering