Posted by Richard Blakeman
You may not be able to read it in the picture on the left, but if you click on Read more... below you will see a larger version of it and you should be able to read the words branded into the brick:  'Fritsch Holzer'. 
 
But who the heck is Fritsch Holzer? What is the story behind this brick, found in Burwood just lying around? And what has it got to do with Rotary?
Augustus Fritsch and the Holzer brothers, Johann, Martin and Anton formed the Upper Hawthorn Brick Company in 1883. The company employed about 50 people producing 250,000 of their trademark red and cream bricks a week at the height of the Company's success in the first half of the 20th Century. Many homes in Hawthorn and surrounds are made with the solid Fritsch Holzer bricks. But bricks were shipped throughout Victoria after the company secured a contract with the Victorian Government, particularly used in school buildings. In 1956 the company incorporated the Olympic rings into their bricks
 
The factory in Rose Street Hawthorn East closed in the early 1970's and the Hawthorn Council bought the 14 acre site in 1972, using it as a tip until 1986, and then as a temporary waste transfer station until 1989. 
 
And the Rotary connection? Our fellow Riverside Cluster club Rotary Hawthorn combined in a project with the City of Boroondara and the Commonwealth Government in 1995 to convert the old brick factory cum rubbish tip into a park, Fritsch Holzer Park, providing treed green space for the people of Hawthorn and surrounds, many of whom perhaps not knowing that the bricks in their houses were made many years ago, right where they are enjoying a summer picnic and throwing that frisbee.
 
  The Upper Hawthorn Brick Company's Yards (Fritsch, Holzer and Co.) - Acquisitions 080 PrintsPlaque at Fritsch Holzer Park | Rotary Club of Hawthorn
 
Rotary in Boroondara. Celebrating community partnerships in Boroondara in Rotary's Centennial Year Down Under