Hidden in a back lane behind Sydney Road, Brunswick is a relic of a former wheelwright and carriage works. This tyre bonding plate was used to align and attach the steel tyre onto the wooden wagon wheel.
Bonding is the process of shrinking the iron tyre on to a wooden wheel. The tyre is measured and welded including enough shrinkage to close any gaps and to pull the wheel very tight. It is an essential part of the wheel making process and all of our carriage and cart wheels are hot bonded.
Once the wheel sections have been fitted together it is taken to the dished circular metal plate known as a tyring plate where it is clamped firmly into position using a metal bar that runs from the center of the plate through the tapered iron box. The traditional way of heating the iron tyre to obtain the required expansion is in a bonfire and the red hot band is then lifted by tongs and dropped over the rim of the wooden wheel.
The wheelwright and his assistant now work quickly to hammer down the band to get it level with the plate and thus the side of the fellies, before pouring water on to quickly cool it before the timber catches fire and to ensure the metal shrinks evenly.
Gilbert Matthews was listed in the directories in 1880 as a "coach builder" in Brunswick near the Cornish Arms. George Martin was a wheelwright and blacksmith and Joseph Clark ran a business as saddler and news agent in 1885 both a little south of the Brunswick town hall. In 1890 J. T., Chavasse, produce merchant occupied the site.
The
MMBW 40 foot plan from 1904 shows a shop front and rear yard at 219 Sydney Road and a vacant lot at 217.
In the 1930s and 40s it was the premises of Trevas Motors (William G Trevascus) selling and servicing motor cycles.
In the 1950s it became Frank Mussett's motor cycle parts salesroom. Frank went on to run the largest British motor cycle dealership in Victoria. He had two workshops, one opposite in Sydney Road and the other in Saxon St. When Frank retired and the business finally closed in the 1980s, employee Phil Pilgrim bought up all the stock and spares and continued to sevice pre -1988 Triumphs under the name
Union Jack Motor Cycles.
There is often a surprising continuity in transport related businesses: blacksmiths becoming service stations, stockfeed merchants becoming fuel depots and carriage builders becoming motor body builders. It's worth checking out the back of country petrol stations for evidence of earlier activity.
