The Hoffman company was established in 1870 to mass-produce bricks using the Hoffman patent kiln and the Bradley and Craven brick press. Once established the company entered a period of expansion aided by Melbourne's building boom from 1870 to 1890. During this time approximately ten brick machines were in operation producing some 18,000 bricks per hour. An extensive pottery works were established initially supplying mainly tiles and drainpipes and later domestic pottery such as the company's Melrose ware. The company even had its locomotive shunt the works siding which connected with the Victorian Railways at South Brunswick. By 1890 Hoffman was the largest brick and pottery works in Victoria, however, the 1890s depression halted company expansion. The company joined the Brick Co-operative when it was formed in 1896. The cooperative regulated prices and output from member brickworks. As the depression ended business picked up and the works were expanded to increase the production of stoneware pottery, especially domestic wares. The brickworks, however, never recovered the momentum of the early period. During the 1920s and 1930s, the works gradually ran down, and following the Second World War, production reached an all-time low. The No.1 works were stripped and sold. (For further information regards Hoffman Kilns see note section of this document.) An item made in Melbourne by at the time the largest pottery works in Australia making industrial and domestic wares for the home and building industries. Stoneware Demijohn jug with cream and brown glaze. Printed around base of jug, MELBOURNE, 1929"flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, great ocean road, jug, melbourne, 1929, stoneware jug, hoffman potteries

The Kaolin quarries at Bulla were an important industry in the district and supplied clay products to the Cornwell and Hoffman companies in Brunswick. The Kaolin deposits were found in the 1850's and were considered to be some of the largest in the colony.A landscape photograph of a valley with a post and wire fence and a partial view of a farm gate in the immediate foreground. A clump of native trees are on the LHS and a small grove of almond trees has been planted on the river flat. Kaolin quarry is on the hillside and two buildings can be seen on the hill top. High tension pylons are in the distance near the skyline.kaolin quarries, almond groves, bulla township, deep creek, hoffmans kaolin mine, hoffmans potteries, cornwell potteries, george evans collection