Kamo Brickworks (Whangarei) Traditional Cache

The site of the old kamo brickworks, a small GJ subdivision has gone in. 

Please do not block access to the driveways or the lane, park on the green fingers side of the road and take care crossing the road. No need to venture down the lane or driveways or climb into any garden

The brickworks and the coal mine were local industries which helped hold and expand the population.

The brickworks date back to 1916. First run by Amalgamated Brick and Pipe Company, they were taken over by Kamo Potteries Ltd in 1920. Today the brickworks belong to Ceramco, one of New Zealand’s biggest public companies.

Initially two Dalmatian immigrants started the brickworks and produced ordinary building bricks.

When Kamo Potteries Ltd took over they found that the type of clay available was most suitable for firebricks and in its first year the new company produced 50,000 bricks a month.

Plant was extended, additional freehold land bought and rich and varied deposits of clay was found.

Wilson Portland Cement Co. Ltd used many of the bricks in its cement kilns.

The oil-burning furnaces in HMNZS Achilles were lined with Kamo bricks when she engaged and crippled the German battleship Graf Spee in the Battle of the River Plate during World War II.

At one time every railway engine in New Zealand was lined with Kamo bricks.

The cache is a 200mL sistema container