Victorian bluestone is a basalt or olivine basalt, quarried from the Victorian layer of basalt from Melbourne in the east, to Portland in the west, and as far north as the Great Dividing Range.  It's blueish-grey colour giving it its name.

 

It was first quarried in the 1830s and 1840s, throughout several locations in Melbourne, guaranteeing an abundant supply of bluestone for Melbourne's early buildings, curbing and laneways in an attempt to replicate Englands cobblestone streets. 

 

Basalt was plentiful at that time and stronger than the majority of other building materials available and was therefore abundantly utilised. The Bluestone pitchers, or paving blocks, were originally split by hand to inconsistent sizes.

 

Bitumen and asphalt has replaced a lot of the surfaces that were formerly bluestone pitchers and we couldn’t let these beautiful pieces of stone go to waste. So we recycle them into our pitcher pavers.