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The Chicory Kiln at Maddingley, south of the Werribee River at Bacchus Marsh, is a large brick structure that was built in 1885 for the process of drying chicory roots.
History Summary
Chicory was grown in Victoria from the 1860s to the 1960s for use as a coffee substitute and additive, with production centred largely on Phillip Island and French Island. Kilns were constructed to dry the roots of the chicory plant to reduce the weight and bulk for packing and transporting to Melbourne for roasting and grinding. Of thirty three kilns known to remain in Victoria, twenty eight are located on Phillip and French Islands and one in Bacchus Marsh. Chicory was grown in Bacchus Marsh from as early as 1867 by the Pearce family, owners of the first general business store in Bacchus Marsh, and by 1877 T G Pearce had installed innovative equipment to irrigate his crops, including chicory, with water from the nearby Werribee River. In 1885 the Pearce brothers constructed a brick chicory kiln with associated equipment on their property. After much agitation from farmers in the district, the railway line from Melbourne was finally extended to Bacchus Marsh in 1887, providing convenient transportation for the dried chicory. Chicory was a labour-intensive crop and by the 1890s its production in Bacchus Marsh had declined. Pearce established an extraction plant at his kiln in 1895 for the processing of another crop: sugar beet. By the 1910s the kiln was recorded as disused.
Description Summary
Constructed on the Taverner Street boundary of a farming property in Maddingley, immediately south of Bacchus Marsh and about 200 metres south of the Werribee River, the chicory kiln stands alone with no associated shedding, wash trough or other equipment remaining on the site, though archaeological evidence for these may survive. It is a large, square, red brick building, constructed in colonial bond brickwork, and set on bluestone and sandstone foundations. It has a hipped corrugated galvanised iron roof and a crowning cylindrical, corrugated iron vent. The western wall of the kiln is parapeted while the other three walls are eaved. The drying floor is situated about three-quarters of the height of the kiln above ground level and comprises a wire mesh rack supported on iron beams and rafters. A number of original window and door openings remain, generally at ground level and at the level of the drying floor. The south facade, which faces the road and the railway line beyond, features a large painted advertising sign for 'Dr Morse's Indian Root Pills'. This sign is highly visible from the railway line and probably dates from the mid to late 1890s when advertisements for this medicine first appeared in Victorian newspapers. The kiln was originally fitted with a root slicing disc, elevators to take the cut root to the drying floor and bagging facilities. |
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