Ian Hodge's family has lived in Macksville since the 19th century and, as generations of concreters and bricklayers, have quite literally had a pivotal role in building the foundations of the town.
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This is an historical account he has written according to his own experiences, and those as told to him by his father, grandfather and other notable forefathers of the town and shire.
The bricks used in the earlier buildings were either locally hand-made sandstocks, or were brought from Sydney as ballast in the coastal ships, and unloaded at the Government Wharf in River St. This wharf was located about 150 metres east of the present traffic bridge.
The bulk of the buildings were of concrete construction. The gravel for this was brought downstream by steam drogher - large, flat-bottomed, paddle wheel punts which would go upstream with the high tide, load their gravel as the tide fell, and await the turn of the next high tide to come down again.
These droghers were also mainly used for conveying logs, corn, ore and farm produce downstream to the ships.
One of these - owned and operated by the late George Fortescue - was still working in the 1950s. George had gravel screens set up on a wharf in the bend in the river below Midco Abattoirs.
I can recall George once having to swim out to rescue his drogher in flood waters. As George weighed over 20 stone, and was wearing next to nothing, it must have been a sight worth seeing.
The concrete for the buildings was usually mixed by hand on large sections of flooring, specially made for the job. The concrete was formed up in timber, and later cement rendered, and marked out in oblongs to represent large blocks. My grandfather, W.D. Hodge, was especially skilled in this type of work.
Many years later I worked on one of these buildings, where the owner used far less cement in his concrete than was required. As a result, once the render was removed, the concrete could be crumbled with a bare hand. Needless to say, I rendered these areas as quickly as I could.
As the lower areas of Macksville sit on floodplain, deep foundations are not a good idea, and most large buildings are of concrete raft design. King tides can have a profound effect on deep footings, as I well recall. The builder on this occasion - not a local - was having trouble clearing his trenches of water during wet weather, even with three pumps going full bore. And he could not work out why. It was suggested that it might help if he had a look at the river height, and waited until the tide dropped. It worked.
The Gov. Wharf mentioned earlier was allowed to fall into disrepair after the end of the shipping era, and became a favourite fishing spot for adults and kids. But it was eventually considered dangerous and was removed by the same George Fortescue mentioned earlier. This was done with the use of his drogher, as not only were the buildings pulled down, but the piles had to be removed also. He used the derrick and steam winch on the punt to do this.
The Fortescues were also involved in milling, as his father, Jim, had a sawmill in West St on what is now the bottom playground of the primary school. Jack, his brother, was in the sand and gravel business, and also supplied ready-mixed concrete. Jack's son, John, is still in the trade, and also has earthmoving equipment.
When the foundations for Midco butcher shop - now Dangerous Dan's - were being dug, logs were found buried in the ground, which had been used as corduroy for the road leading to the ferry which crossed the river from the end of Prince's (now Princess) St.
Later still, when the BP service station in Cooper St was being built, the plans called for strip footings. As I was contracted for the job, and knew what was underground, I suggested the footings be redesigned. This was done, although the job was delayed for some time.
Across the road at the Golden Emblem Motel, strip footings were used, with concrete blocks being laid to a height of four feet. The land was then filled to this height, both inside and out, before concrete slabs were laid on blocks. This was an awkward job as it was done in rainy weather, and the owner - Sven Hallstrom - had to keep one of Jack Fortescue's front-end loaders on site to tow the concrete and block delivery trucks on and off the site. The blocks were made in Coffs Harbour and were delivered daily. There were 42,000 of them, and all laid by Kevin Kinnear and myself, with the help of two labourers.
In 1947, when I began my time with my father, he was the only bricklayer on the river. When he moved to Sydney in the late 50s, there was only Paul Lawson and myself in partnership in Macksville, and Keith Davis at Nambucca Heads. Keith came here at the building of the hospital, and Paul arrived in the early 50s to play football with the local club. He was a very good athlete and ran in the Macksville Gifts, and trained other runners.
We were together for five years, and in that time worked on many jobs including the BGF (now Carpet Court), the Commonwealth Bank, Telecom, Mid Coast Motor Inn, the high school, Nambucca RSL, the original Golden Sands (where Woolworths is now), Bowraville Central School, along with buildings in Kempsey, Coffs Harbour, Wauchope, Moree, Mt Moombil and other towns in the area. In that time we employed quite a variety of men with some very memorable characters among them.
