But a brickmaker has left a mark on the Holy Trinity Anglican Church of Lochinvar that cannot be erased.

Historian Ron Ringer has exemplified the engraved message scrawled on one particular brick that reads “on the vag” in his book The Brickmasters 1708-2008, as a rare piece of graffiti dating back to the late 1870s or 1880s when the building was built.

The message could be a reference to vagrants or nomads who moved according to where there was work, or the Government’s Vagrancy Act.

Either way, Mr Ringer was certain the message was an act of larrikanism.

“It was done when the brick was green or unfired,” he said.

“Everybody was in on the game – from the guy in the brick yard to the carter to the bricklayer.

“But why did he write it? Maybe he didn’t like the boss, or the people who passed through from town to town.”

Brickmaking giant Austral commissioned the book to mark its centenary, but the result has become a record of the settlement of Australia and a history told through brickmaking and building.

The book includes references to Maitland, including Henry Baker and Turton’s brickyards.

“Essentially it’s a story of Sydney and I suppose Australia through the eyes of bricks,” Mr Ringer said.

The book is available from McDonald Booksellers for $75 per copy.