History of Pottery in Australia: Bendigo Pottery

It was purely by accident; in researching slipware pottery in Australia, I came across The National Museum of Pottery. This museum is physically located in Holbrook NSW but helpfully provides a website as a starting point of research. Early slipware dating back to 1850 is identified as originating at Bendigo Pottery although the Official name was established in 1850. Scottish migrant George Duncan Guthrie ‘stumbled’ upon a local clay deposit and from their built up a pottery business which would soon rival the Staffordshire potteries of England

It was not an accident that the pottery began and flourished in Bendigo; the nearby goldfields attracted approximately 15000 people worldwide to work on the gold seams. The infrastructure required to house these new residents demanded industrial pottery such as clay sewerage pipes, roof tiles, sinks and insulators. On a domestic level Bendigo Pottery produced functional wares for eating and drinking, pots for cooking, water filters, jars and teapots.

To fire the pottery Bendigo built Bottle kilns (see last edition for the feature on bottle kilns), now the most extensive collection in the world. A variety of kilns fired the range of pottery, bottle, rectangular and circular with a myriad of chimney styles.

The early pottery from Bendigo is understandably collectable. The following details the collections of wares from its establishment:

Majolica

Majolica is a richly coloured heavyweight clay pottery coated with enamel, decorated with paint and finally glazed

Bendigo Pottery was in decline in the 1950s; it took Bill Derham to kickstart a resurgence in 1970. It has been transformed into a successful tourist attraction and maintains its function as Australia’s oldest working pottery.

These salt glazed items with