AUSTRALASIAN HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY I5, I997

Water-PoweredFlourmills in Nineteenth-CenturyTasmania

WARWICK PEARSON

The author, a consultant in archaeology and heritage management, presents a physical survey of the production technology and processespreserved at five of nineteenth-century water-poweredflourmills in . These mills were included in data collected for comparative analyses of nineteenth-century watermills in Britain and for a recently completedPh.D. in historical archaeology at the University of New England, Armidale N.S.W. The aim of the research was to construct a model for technology transfer between the two counties in the nineteenth century. The results of the research have been published previously in this journal.

This paperpresents the resultsof field surveyscarried out on Tasmaniaand the New England Tablelandsof New South the materialremains of five nineteenth-centurywatermills in Wales.From this, a generalisedmodel for the transferand Tasmania(Fig. I ). Thesesurveys represent part of thedatabase adaptationof industrial technologyinto nineteenth-century for researchundertaken by the author for a Doctoratein the Australiawas put forward.lThis emphasisedproduction inputs Department of Archaeology and Palaeoanthropologyat the and physicalresource endowments in the recipientcountry as Universityof New England,Armidale, from 1991to 1995.The the most influential selection pressures,and defines the aim, rationale,methodology and resultsof the researchhave relationshipsof these with other factors, including the beenpreviously published in thisjoumal. presenceof skilledoperators and supportiveindustries for the Briefly, the aim of the researchwas to answerthe question, technologyin therecipient country and the cultural makeup of 'Can we constructa model for the transferand adaptationof both thedonor and recipient countries. industrial technology from Britain to Australia in the There is a general lack of published research on nineteenthcentury'? In order to answer this question. nineteenth-centuryAustralian watermills.2 Further, no publishedresearch on internationaltechnology-transfer was previously published researchon watermills in Australia used to identify and define the most importanteconomic, contains a detailed description of how the technology environmental, industrial, human and cultural factors worked. Finally, only a handful of the many hundredsof influencing the process.These factors were then used as watermills built throughout Australia in the nineteenth startingpoints for a comparisonof two countries,Australia and century preservetheir technologyand productionprocesses Britain,between which a giventechnology, that of watermills, for study,and the continuedpreservation of still lessof these was transferred.From this comparison it was possible to is assured.With this in mind,this papercontains a detailed hypothesiseabout how the technology should have been description of the technology of five water-powered adaptedas a resultof its transfer.These hypotheses were tested flourmillsin Tasmania,set in a contextualdiscussion of the by a comparisonof the physical remains of watermill history of that industry in nineteenth-centuryTasmania and technology preservedin the West Midlands of England, Australia. This sampleof Tasmanianwatermills represents only one part of the spectrumof conditionsinto which the technology was introducedin nineteenth-centuryAustralia, however. A more completepicture will be given by comparisonof this sampleof mills with a discussionof thehistory and technology of a second sample of nineteenth-centurywater-powered flourmills from the New EnglandThblelands of New South Wales.3Viewed in conjunction,the two samplespresent a wider range of technologicalresponses to a wider range of adaptivepressures. Both thesesamples form thedatabase upon which the generalmodel for transferof the technologyfrom Britainto Australiawas formulated.a WATERMILLS IN NINETEENTH. CENTURYTASMANIA The climateof Tasmania(known as Van Diemen'sland until 1853)lived up to the expectationsof the Britishcolonists in beingmore akin to thatof Britainthan the climate of any other Australiancolony. Bum, writing in 1840-1841,states: The riversof Van Diemen'sLand which take their rise in the greatWestem tier of mountains,have always had an amplevolume of water,even in the driestsummer, suchfor instanceas the Sorrel,Thames, Plenty, Styx, Russel'sFalls, Jones,Broad etc., which flow 0h from LakesSinclair, Echo, Clarence, and the nineteen 0 50 16km Lagoons,are alike fortunatein a never-failingample stream- a circumstancewhich not only rendersthe Fig. I: Location of watermills studied in Tasmania.All are Jlourmills, arul operationsof the miller continuous,but enablesmany range in date of constructionfrom the I 820s to the I 850s. of thelandholders to irrigatetheir meadows.5

66 This naturallyled to a heavy relianceon watermillsto Table 1 powerearly industryin Tasmania.The first of theseclustered aroundthe initial settlementsat Hobartand Launceston. YEAR Water Steam UnsDecified & Wind RobertNash, who hadconstructed the first watermill in the Australiancolonies on Norfolk Islandin 1795,is reputedto 1834 I 121 havebeen the first to takeadvantage of the favourableclimate. 1840 J/ t4 31 After the forced closure of his mill on Norfolk Island due to 1845 26 2 12 30 1850 46 '1 11 4 was relocationof the settlementto , he recompensedin 1855 45 9 223 1 1814with landto build anothermill in thesecond colony.6 It is 1860 42 2 19 probablethat a flourmill equippedwith an overshotTwater 1865 45 9 321 wheel and suppliedwith waterby a weir and race from the 1870 45 727 '1875 '5 HobartRivulet, in operationby 1816,was this secondmill of 36 5 22 Nash's.8By Januaryof 1818,Nash had sold this mill, known 1880 33 J 323 1885 26 'I 123 asthe 'Old Mill', to AmoldFisk.s 1890 24 '| 120 Hobart's secondwater-powered flourmill, the 'Waterloo 1895 20 13 Mill', built by Fisk,was also in operationby 1818.r0Also in 1900 14 16 this year,after requestsfor machineryto be sentfrom England South Table l: Statistics the use of water-power in the Tasmanianflourmilling as early as 1805, a govemment-ownedwater-powered Jbr er and industry throughout the nineteenth century.Numbers of steam-powered flourmill, built and operatedunder the supervision entury of the fourmills are adr)edfor compttrison(lnstiture of Engineers 1988). inputs convict EdwardYates, was opened.llBoth thesemills were equippedwith overshotwheels supplied with waterfrom weirs 0try as Table 2 :s the erected in the . From the 1820s, the rg the GovemmentMill was leasedto privateentrepreneurs.l2 In STATE FlourmillsSawmills Mining Textiles TOTAL 1826it wasdescribed as, for the N.S,W 45 21 194 2 262 eupof ... a brick stuccoedbuilding 80 by 35 feet at the V.D.L 509 2 62 basementand four storeyshigh. In theeast end aresix vrc. 18 10 443 471 :h on good apartmentsoccupied by the miller, and in the S.A. 6 6 W.A. 11 4 15 r. no otherare machinery for two pair stones.13 QLD. 1 25 26 istralia After a shortperiod as GovemmentMilleq Yatesopened rology 130 45 662 852 his own water-poweredflourmill in 1820,in partnershipwith eds of powered Table 2: Comparison of water-power use in Tasmaniawith thal in other 'teenth JamesTedder.la This was also by an overshotwheel, fed by a race from the Hobart Rivulet. This was followed nineteenth-century Australian colonies (Co ktnial Statistical ReRisters, cesses by WilliamRayner's'Sorell'Mill in 1822,which was powered by Returns and Blue Books). f these two overshotwheels.15 etailed r* ered The nameof PeterDegraves was prominentamong these A summary of pattems in watermill use in all of the of the earlywatermill ventures on theHobart Rivulet. In additionto a Australian colonies in the nineteenthcentury is presentedin ia and sawmill, which was powered by a conventional22 foot Table2. Thesefigures show the maximumnumber of watermills diameterovershot wheel, he had erecteda flourmill powered recordedin operationin the Colonial Statisticsof eachcolony at by a Fourneyronturbine by 1836.16This must have been Jy one any point during the nineteenthcentury. Reference to Table 1 amongthe first usesof the new turbinetechnology nology outside shows that throughout much of the nineteenth century France,where it had beenpioneered tn 1821 Degraves rer. A .t't had particularlythe latter part, the actual number of watermills in erecteda secondwater-powered flourmill on Rivulet of this the by the operationin any onecolony wasmuch lower thanthis maximum I nology 840s.r8 figure.Also, thesemaxima did not all occur at the sametime in nuered Thus, therewere no fewer than sevenflourmills powered all colonies, but at various times throughout the nineteenth South by the watersof the Hobart Rivulet operatingby the early century.Finally, the figures quoted in the Colonial Statistics sent a 1840s.The Rivulet also poweredsawmills operated by Peter sometimesdo not agreewith data availablefrom other, more n-seof Degravesfrom 1825and ThomasStace from 1827.teFurther reliable, historical sources,such as newspapers,so that the . upon north,the first watermillwas erected in theLaunceston area by figures in Table 2 should be seen only as a guide to the v from JamesBrumby and EdwardYates in 1821-1822.20This was importanceand role of water-powerin the nineteenth-century locatedon theNorth Esk River. Australianeconomy. At times the supply of water tappedby water-powered Figure 2 showsthe relativedistribution of the maximum mills could becomean oversupply.Sibbald and Ferguson's numberof nineteenth-centurywatermills by colony.Given the CataractGorge Flourmill, located on theSouth Esk River, near relativesuitability of the climateof eachcolony for the useof Launceston,was washed away by floodssoon after it was water-power,the distributionis as expected,with the bulk of d until built in 1833.21The navigabilityof Tasmania'slarger the mills recordedin the more suitableclimates, such as ristsin neverthelessencouraged the sitingof mills on themfor Tasmania,New SouthWales and Victoria. Howeveq given that r other easeof accessto trade and supply routes. Guillan and Symes' it hasthe mostsuitable climate of all, the figure for Thsmania flourmill on the , near Launceston,and John appearsto be quitelow. This anomalymay be explainedby the rse Terry'sflourmill on the DerwentRiver at New Norfolk near fact that water-poweredsawmills and water wheelsused in ud Hobart,both built in the 1820s,were well situatedin this mining,of which therewere many in usein nineteenth-century ler. resPect.22 Tasmania,were not recordedin the Colonial Statisticsfor that !'x, The first watermill to be constructedin the interior of colony,as they were in New SouthWales and Victoria, perhaps ow Tasmaniawas built at Baghdad,northwest of Hobart, in dueto theephemeral nature of theseindustries.2a ]en 1822.23Other early watermillsin the interior includedthose The relative distribution of the maximum number of ple built on 'Thorpe'and'Nant'Estates in 1823and 1824-1825 watermills by industry is shown in Figure 3. This showsthat the respectively(see below). By 1861there were up to 50 water- water-powerwas most important numerically in the mining my poweredflourmills in use throughoutthe colony (Thble l). industry,followed by the flourmilling and sawmillingindustries. Fourteenof thesestill remainedin useby 1900. This is a much more restrictedranse of industriesthan thosein 67 theAustralian colonies and, for a long time, the only industry. It remainedone of the most importantindustries throughout the nineteenthcentury in mostcolonies. Accordingto Linge, the Hawkesburyarea of New South 40 Waleswas the main sourceof colonialgrain by the beginning of the nineteenthcentury.26 However, Linge statesthat during o/o30 the years1841-1843, 1847 and 1849,the areasown to wheat in Tasmaniaexceeded that in New SouthWales.2u From 1839 20 throughto 1850,42per centofthe totalTasmanian wheat crop was exported(25 per cent as grain and 17 per cent as flour), 10 80 per cent of this through the port of Launcestonto destinationssuch as New Zealand,the United Statesand even 0 Britain.28With the settlementof new coloniesin Queensland, WestemAustralia, Victoria and South Australia in the late Fig.2: Distribution oJ the mcximum proportion oJ'water-powered mills at 1830sand early 1840s,new marketsfor flour from Tasmania any time during the nineteenth century, by c,lony. werecreated, with grainalso being sent from thesecolonies to be groundthere. 80 However,it did not takethe newer colonies long to develop self-sufficiencyin flourmilling capacity. By 1843 South 70 Australiahad a small export capacityof its own; a sign of 60 thingsto come.2eThe role of the largestproducer of grainand exporterof flour shifted from Tasmaniato South Australia 50 during the late nineteenthcentury, at least until agricultural %40 expansion in that colony overreached environmental constraintsin the early I 880s,precipitating 30 a markeddecline in production.soVictoria, which had previouslybeen a flour 20 importer, also became self-sufficient by the 1860s.: t 10 Queenslandremained a large-scaleimporter until the 1870s.:z Such moves towardsself-sufficiency by the late nineteenth 0 century produceda slump in the extemaldemand for flour from Tasmania,whose flourmilling industrylanguished after Fig. 3: The relative rlistribution of the maximum proportion of water- 1875.33 powered mills at any time during the nineteenth-century,by iru)ustry. While thesetrends in flour production,export and import would necessarilyhave influenced the numbers of mills which water-powerwas usedin nineteenth-centuryBritain and constructedin each colony over time, it is important to can be seen to reflect the colonial nature of the nineteenth- rememberthat the expenseand difficulty of overlandtransport century Australian economy, gearcd to mainly primary and would have encouragedthe constructionof numeroussmall extractiveindustries, rather than manufacturing.zsIt shouldbe mills, servinglocal marketsonly, in all of the colonies.s+With notedthat the relationshipof the figuresfor the mining industry the comingof the railwaysand the growthof largepopulation with thosefor the other industries,particularly the flourmilling centrestowards the end of the nineteenthcentury, this trend give industry may an inflated pictureof its relativeimportance. reversed towards a major reduction in the number of The mining industrywas only a major userof water-powerfor a flourmills, an increasein the scale and mechanisationof relatively short time in the mid-to-latenineteenth century in operationsin thoseremaining and a concentrationof thesein Mctoria, Thsmaniaand New South Wales. For most of the largepopulation centres, as notedby Jonesand Jonesin their nineteenthcentury and in all of the colonies,the flourmilling surveyof Victorian flourmills throughoutthe history of industrywas in fact the largestuser of water-power. that state.35 Finally, in assessingthe economicimportance of water- Linge assertsthat thesegeographic powerin Tasmania,it is also necessaryto examinethe extent trendsmay be broken phases.36 of its use in relation to altemativepower sourcessuch as down into a numberof The first of thesecomprises animal, wind and steam power. Unfortunately,due to the the flourmills erectedby or with the assistanceof colonial vagaries of nineteenth-century record-keeping, the Govemments,to ensure the rapid self-sufficiencyof the flourmilling industry is the only industrywhere the data is colony.Mills suchas the GovemmentMill in Hobartfall into completeenough to allow a comparison(Table 1). The figures this category.The secondphase was the constructionof small are indicativeof the fact that the very long and expensive flourmills by settlersto maketheir estatesmore self-sufficient transport links to Britain would naturally have initially as they moved into previouslyunsettled areas. Mills suchas favouredthe useof watermillsover altemativessuch as steam Thorpeand Nant Mills fall into this category.The third phase technology,at leastin thoseparts of the continentsuitable for was the emergenceof purely commercialenterprises. Large- their use, as the former could be largely constructedin the scaleflourmills suchas the Yatesand TedderMill in Hobart colonies,while the latter would have had to be transported characterisethis phase.The fourth phasewas the development from Britain. and locationof establishmentswhich more clearly reflected growth WATERMILLS IN THE TASMANIAN the of largersettlements. This phaseis reflectedin the FLOURMILLING INDUSTRY decline of all types of small-scalerural flourmills and the emergenceof large flour factoriesto supply urban markets. While watermillspowered a wide varietyof industriesin the This decline of the small-scalerural mill is seen in the nineteenthcentury, including flourmills, sawmills, mining examplesdiscussed in moredetail below. At leastin Tasmania, machinery of various descriptions and textile mills, these phaseswere not strictly sequential,however. All of flourmillingwas, of necessity,the first majorindustry in all of Linge'sfirst threephases were present by the I 820s. 68 rstry. SURVIVINGWATERMILLS IN TASMANIA Closeto the mill, a woodensluicegate with a rack-and-pinion rhout control allows overflow back to the creek via a short concrete It is into this historical context for water-poweruse in race. A second sluicegate admits water to another short flourmillingin Tasmaniaand the rest of theAustralian colonies concreterace, which feedsa turbine for electricity generation, iouth that the five watermills described below fit. Along with housedin a small shedon the streambank. ning Anderson'sMill at Smeatonin Victoria,Bridgewater Mill in The main headracecontinues directly onto the wheel, rring SouthAustralia, Yallingup Sawmill in WestemAustralia and locatedinside a wheelhouseattached to the mill. At the wheel, ;heat Gala, Mayfield and StrathmoreMills in Tasmania,they are a final rack-and-pinion-operated,wooden sluicegateadmits amongthe few known to havewater wheelsand/or machinery l 839 water onto the wheel at the nine o'clock position.39The survivingor restoredsuffrciently to allow a detailedstudy of crop sandstonebreastwork in which the wheel is housedis curved their technologyand manufacturingprocesses.3T With the our), to fit the wheel to improve the water retainingefficiency of the exceptionof YallingupSawmill, all are flourmills. The bias nto buckets,and is equippedwith a ventilationshaft to act as a towardsflourmills is a resultof two factors.Firstly, as we have even valve, preventingwater backing up in the tailrace and seen,flourmilling was one of the earliestand most important land, impedingthe rotation of thewheel. colonial industries. most watermills late Accordingly, in the nineteenth-centurywere flourmills. Secondly,mills in rural The breastshotwater wheel (Fig. 4) (see Table 3 for lanla locationshave a far greaterchance of survivaland preservation details)is built aroundan iron axle.Two setsof eight wooden esto from theforces of demolitionand redevelopment than those in arms are set into iron hubs,or'spiders', carriedon the axle. largerpopulation centres. The arms supporttwo iron rims, known as 'shrouds',each elop bolted together in eight sections.These, in tum, support outh Connorville Mill 40 woodenbuckets, with wooden 'sole'boards forming the nof interior surfaceof the wheel. The wooden parts of the wheel The water-poweredflourmill on 'Connorville' Estate,near are pine. and constructedof TasmanianKing Billy Cressyin centralTasmania, was built in the early 1860s.A ralia The inner end of the water wheel axle carriesa sear known study of the ValuationRolls for the estateindicates that the tural as a 'pit' wheel(Fig. 5) (seeTable 3 for details).ihe teethof Rockford Mill, on the St Paul's River, was added to the :ntal this meshwith a smaller,iron pinion wheel2 feet in diameter, propertyof the estatebetween 1850 and 1858.It ceasedto :line carried on a first motion shaft.The inner end of this carriesa exist after 1866,so it is likely that this mill was demolished secondlarge pit flour wheel identicalto the first, driving another and the machinery used in the erection of the mill at pinion wheelidentical to the first, carriedon a secondmotion 0s.3I Connorville.l8The mill is still part of a large pastoraland shaft, providing a second step up in the gearing ratio and 0s.32 agriculturalestate founded by the O'Connor family, settlers resultant rotational speedof the mill machinery.The second rnth from lreland. motion shaft canies two iron pulleys for belt drives to a chaff lour Ordersand prices, scribbled on the insideof thefront door cutter, sawmill and lathe machinery,located in a shed rfter of the mill by the millers,ranging in datefrom 1885to 1956, adjoiningthe mill. indicate that the mill remainedactive until well into this Inside the mill proper,the secondmotion shaftcarries a port century with the water wheel remainingthe sole sourceof third pulley for a belt drive to a layshaft located on the first nills power.Due to its prolongeduse-life, only minor restoration floor of the mill, providing power for machinery located on tto work hasbeen required in recentyears on the waterwheel and both the first and secondfloors of the mill. The inner end of port someof themachinery inside the mill to preserveit in working the second motion shaft canies an iron gear wheel with mall order.For themost part, the mill remainsas it wasconstructed, bevelledteeth, which meshwith the woodenteeth of a second vith preservingintact the technologicalintegrity of a nineteenth- gear wheel.This is attachedto a vertical shaft,or'spindle', rtion century, colonial, water-poweredflourmill. It remains an which carriesthe upper of the two millstones,known as a part preserved rend integral of a largecomplex of earlynineteenth- 'runner' stone, on the first floor of the mill. The lower centuryfarm buildings,all classifiedby the NationalTrust, of 'bedstone' remained stationary.The lower end of the stone comprising 'Connorville' Estate,which is still a working rof spindle rests in a screw-adjustedbearing, allowing the gap property. betweenthe millstones process ein to be adjusted;a known as 'tentering'. fieir The water-supplyfor the mill (seeTable 3 for details) that comprisesa small earth dam, which createsa pond on Pisa The singlepair of millstoneson the first floor is housedin Creek,a tributaryof the Lake River.At oneend of the dam,a a vat calleda 'tun' andfed grainvia a funnel,equipped with a lever-operated,wooden sluicegateset in a spillway admits vibrating feeder,or 'shoe', at its base,and mountedon a ften water to a headrace.constructed as an unlinedearth channel. wooden frame, known as a 'horse', on top of the tun. The ises nial the Table 3 into Connorville Thorpe Nant Riversdale Millbrook nall ient WATERSUPPLY dam/weirlength by height(teet) 100x 6 15x6 25 ras x2 Headracelength (approx. yards) 450 500 450 i ouo 1 250 ulSe Headracewidth by depth (feet) 6x3 10x 3 8x4 7x2 5x3 Be- WATERWHEEL bart ConstructionMaterials Wood& lron Wood & lron lron Wood Wood& lron Ent Diameterby width (leet) 16x4 7x7 12x4 15.5x 2 10x5 :ted GEARING the Pit Wheel (diameter,in leet) lron,8 lron,5 lron & Wood,5 Wood& lron,5'6" lron&Wood,6 the Wallower(diameter, in feet) lron,2 lron,1'6" lron,1 .ets. SpurWheel (diameter, in feet) Wood & lron, 6 lron,6 lron,5 (diameter, the CrownWheel in feet) lron,3 lron,4 nia, Table 3: Details of the v'ater supply systems,waterwheels, and gearingfor theJive mills studied of Note: Dimensions given in imperial to preserve their historical meaning. For conversion to metric oneJbot = 30.5 cm and one yard = 0.914 m 69 Fig.4: Breastshot water wheel supplying power to Connorville Mill. Water is adnitted into the bucketsof the wheel through the sluicegate at right foreground. Range pole divisions are 50 centimetres (Photo W. Pearson,July 1993).

funnel is in tum fed via a sackchute from a bin on the second floor of the mill. Also located on the hrst floor is a grain- cleaningmachine, or 'smutter'usedto removeimpurities from the grain prior to grinding. This is fed grain from the second floor via a woodenchute and poweredby a belt drive from a layshaft('c'in Fig. 5). It bearsthe inscription: ELIREKA SMUT & SEPARATINGMACHINE MANUFACTURED BY HOWES. BABCOCK & CO. N.Y. PATENTEDMAR.161858 REISSUEDMAR.5 1872 PATENTEDFEB.231864 LEGEND PATENTEDIN GREAT BRITAIN JULY 231872 E Bsaring - HorizoMltufr machinewas most likely imported a Voilcal *n This indicatesthat the --l- puley from the United States, sometime after 1872. Imported * Spu ged tt machinesfrom this companyalso servedflourmills in Victoria. -8€wlgeal Pbnotg@or ^ A 'Howes & Babcock' grain-cleaningmachine installed at v dldom elc- - - -86ll Clark's Mill, Benalla,was said to be capableof cleaning40 to ti lB l* c 60 bushellsof grain per hour.ao : Gubs pull€y * The first-floor layshaft also powers a large flour-sifting Lcver SIONE FLOOR a watof wh€el shaft machine,or 'bolter', locatedon this floor of the mill. This is a b Slubegalo 94r large, cylindrical, revolving sievewhich separatedthe ground c,d.. Layshds flour into various grades of fineness, each bagged from separatechutes on the ground floor. The machine bears the 3 Spurwh6l .-1]----€ inscription: 4 Stone nds

LAUNCESTON B Gain cleanef W.H. KNIGHT, Hf C R@r sifter indicating that it was of local manufacture.Leavitt statesthat D Grain bins W.H. Knight was in the businessof manufacturingand E Grain elevato( F Leorb supplyingmilling machineryat Launcestonfrom 1859to the G Slais L:l " H Sack bid rapdoor 1870s.+tKnight had originallyanived in Tasmaniain 1854to BIN FLOOB J Sack hos bollad install machinery brought from England for Grubb and is known Tyson'ssawmill, near Launceston. He also to have Fig. 5: Diagram of machinery layout in Conrcrville Mill. installedthe Leffel turbine at the WaverlyWoollen Mills, also nearLaunceston. The frame,or'hurst'supporting the gearing on the ground floor of Connorville Mill also bears his The grain is poured into a hopper on the ground floor, from inscription,suggesting his firm may havebeen responsible for where an enclosedconveyor belt of bucketsraises it and the reconstructionof the Rockford mill at its Connorville site, depositsit into the single grain storagebin locatedon the sometimein thelate 1850sor early 1860s. secondfloor. This bin altemately feeds the smut machineor A pulley on the end of the first-floor layshaftalso powersa millstonesbelow. The mill buildingcomprises three floors: the belt-drivensack-hoist located on the secondfloor of the mill. ground,or 'meal',floor housingthe gearing for the millstones, The mill is also equippedwith a grain elevatorpowered by a the first, or 'stone',floor housingthe millstonesand auxiliary belt from a secondlayshaft on the second'floor('d' in Fig. 5). grainand flour-processing machinery, and the second,or'bin', 70 floor housing the sack-hoist,grain storagebin and further A headracecarries water from the millpond to the mill. grain storagespace. This arrangementallowed for milling This is constructedin the form of an earthchannel built up on processesto be gravityfed, andwas a commonarrangement in eachside with leveebanks (Table 3), and is equippedwith an nineteenth-centuryflourmills.a2 The mill is built of brick with eel trap to supply the mill-owner with an extre source of a gabled, comrgated iron roof, replacing original wooden income.Close to the mill, a largewooden sluicegate supplies shingles.Two weatherboardmiller's cottages also form partof the field irrigation systemwith water.The headracesupplies a thecomplex of farm buildingsat 'Connorville'. woodenchute, or'penstock', above the wheelinside the mill, from which water is admittedto the wheel at the 12 o'clock Thorpe Mill position through a final sluicegateoperated by a lever inside ,. the mill. A long tailrace retums the water to the river ThorpeMill wasbuilt by ThomasAxford in 1823as part of his 'rte downstream. largepastoral and agricultural estate, 'Thorpe', at Bothwellin is I central Tasmania.Axford had arrived in Tasmaniain 1822 The siting of the mill in relation to its water supply rly from Berkshire,England.a3 As the mill wasone of the earliest unusualin that the headraceis much shorterthan the tailrace,a in thedistrict, and indeed in Tasmania,it wouldhave been built reversal of normal practice in designing water supplies to not only to ensurethe self-sufficiencyof'Thorpe'Estate but watermills situatedon relatively flat ground. Becausethe also to supplythe surroundingdistrict. The multipleuses to tailracehad to be dug below ground level at the mill to allow which the water wheel was put attest to the vital role of the the water to flow away after turning the wheel, it had to be mill in ensuring the self-sufficiencyof the isolated farming constructedalmost one mile long before it reachedthe level of settlement.The race supplying the mill with water also the river into which it discharged.The normal and more supplieda complexsystem of field irrigationchannels, in what efficient practicewas to constructthe headracelonger than the must have been one of the earliestsuch enterprisesin the tailrace,as this only had to be deepenough to conveywater to Australiancolonies, attesting to the willingnessof Axford to the mill. Only a short,deeper tailrace would thenbe required adaptand experiment;a trait further testifiedto by aspectsof to return the water to the river. Thus Thorpe Mill is unusualin the mill design.These adaptive experiments did not always that it is locatedcloser to the inlet end of the water-supply resultin the mostefficient design, however. systemthan the outlet end, which wasless efhcient in termsof The historyof themill wastroubled.a An earlyshortage of costand ease of construction. skilled millers in Tasmaniaforced Axford to rely on convict The overshotwater wheel is locatedentirely below ground labour to run the mill until the 1840s,after which time level in a stone-linedwell undemeaththe mill building(Table professionalmillers were employed.Axford himself was 3). It is constructedaround a solid wood axle 16 inchesin murderedby bushrangersin 1865.An advertisementin the diameterand 18 feet long. Iron rings strengthenthe ends, Colonial Times in the year 1836advising customers that he which carry iron gudgeonpins on which the axle rotatesin had '. . . finishedhis new mill ...' suggestsa majorrefit of the joumal bearings.The major iron partsof the wheel comprise mill by Axford at that time.45This refit was accompaniedby two spiders,each carrying five woodenarms, which support -T the cutting of a channel from Lake Crescentto the Clyde the woodenshrouds of the wheel.Each spideris cast in one River, in partnershipwith William Roadknight,to ensurea pieceand held in placeon the axle by woodenwedges. The more reliable water supply to Thorpe Mill, and to wooden shroudsare constructedin hve sectionsand bolted Roadknight'smill at Hamilton, further downstream.During togetherwith iron ties.A third woodenrim in the centreof the the mid-late nineteenthcentury the mill passedthrough a wheel is not supportedby arms from the axle, but is held in I successionof lessees,continuing to produceflour until at least placeby long bolts acrossthe width of the wheel.The shrouds I 1897, when competitionfrom steamroller-mills in larger have15 woodenbuckets mortised between them, with wooden ; centresforced its closure.a6The water wheel continuedto sole boards.The woodenparts of the wheel are all constructed power chaff-cutting machineryfor the farm until the wooden of Tasmanianpine. The designof this wheelis unusual,in that I axlebroke in 1916. it is as wide as it is high. The extra width maximisesthe ! I Restorationof the mill to working orderwas undertakenby carrying capacityof the buckets,to suit it to a site with a

J the presentowners of'Thorpe'Station during the 1970sand is limited fall but a good flow of water. describedin detailby Bignell.+rOriginal parts, materials and Also carriedon the water wheel axle is a pit wheel (Fig. techniques were used wherever possible to ensure a 6) (seeTable 3 for detailsof gearing).The bevelledteeth of sympatheticreconstruction and to preservethe nineteenth- this wheel meshwith thoseof a 'wallower' gear,carried on a centurytechnological integrity of the mill. The work included thin, iron verticalshaft. Above the wallower,this shaftcarries rebuildingpart of themillpond dam, cleaning out thehead and a largegearcalled a'spur'wheel. This drivestwo smalliron tailraces,fitting a new wheel axle and woodenparts to the pinion wheels, which in turn drive two iron gears called wheel, cleaning and refitting gearing throughoutthe mill, 'stone nuts' attachedto the millstone spindles.The two I redressingthe millstonesand replacingthe roof shinglesand I intermediatepinion wheelsmay be raisedor loweredon their I someflooring andwindows. The restoredmill is classifiedby shaftsby meansof woodenwedges, enabling the drive to the theNational Trust. millstonesto be engagedor disengagedas requiredby the The source of water for the mill is the , miller. The lower ends of the millstone spindlesrest on augmentedby Lake Crescent.By 1836the Clyde supported screw-adjustedhorizontal bearersknown as'bridgetrees', three mills, including Thorpe Mill, Nant Mill and allowing for the tenteringof the millstones.Only one pair of Roadknight'sHamilton Mill. Later, a canalwas also dug so millstonesand stone nut remain. This arrangementof pit that the Lake Crescentsupply could be augmentedby Lake wheel, wallower, spur wheel and stone nut gears was Sorell.In 1857the Clyde WaterTrust was formally setup to commonin nineteenth-centurywater-powered flourmills, and rom overseethe supply of water to the mills and associated was known as a two-stage,underdrive system, as it involved 'Thorpe' 'Nant'Estates.This and irrigationschemes on both and two steps up in gearing and rotational speed of the private today. the Trust is one of the few remainingunder control machinery.a8The intermediatepinion wheels betweenthe tor To supply Thorpe Mill with water, the River Clyde is spur wheel and stone nuts at Thorpe Mill representa the dammedabove the mill to form a millpond.The main dam is departurefrom the standardtwo-stage, underdrive system, nes, constructedof two dressed sandstonewalls, flanking a and suggestthat the original spur wheel may have been iary concretespillway (Table 3). This is equippedwith a frameinto replacedby one of smaller diameter,possibly during the )in', which woodenhatches could be droppedto damthe flow. 1836refit of themill. 7l threefloors in additionto the undergroundwheel and gearing tas pit. The split-levelmeal floor containsthe millstones $a9e on the upper of its two levels,the stonefloor containsthe grain- cleaningand flour-sifting machinery and the bin floor contains the sack hoist and grain storagebins. This arrangement representsa departurefrom the standardnineteenth-century tl three-floorflourmill layout, due to having to site the water b wheelbelow ground level. MEAL/STONEFLOOB Thorpe Mill is built of locally-madebrick on dressed sandstonefoundations, and has a gabled,tile roof.Traces of an adjoiningmiller's cottagecan GEND be seenin the brickworkof the I &ad€ mill. The adjoiningsingle storeywing of the mill structure -tutdtdM =le servedas a bam andchaff-cuttins shed. -{- e,uy 7 *sprSar a E x! Nant Mill -e.61 9s -r v mall$m.tc I 'Nant' Estate, near Bothwell in central Thsmania was ---&t tl F Lr--t establishedby Edward Nicholas in the 1820s. The first L:l u -^ flourmill built to servethe propertyhad beenconstructed by FIRST FLOOB a Wal6 wheol *fr 1825,soon after that on neighbouring'Thorpg'.ae No traceof b Slukrgdo Sar this mill, built of locally-madebrick, now survives,save for a brick bam which wasattached to the mill andwhich continues to servethe presentmill. 3 Spurwnecl o D D D The mill now occupyingthe sitewas constructedin 1g57, accordingto a date stone set in one of the masonrywalls. F "I lA Ordersand pricesscrawled on the insidewalls of the mill date D qain dns to 1884,indicating the mill was still at work at this time.The E G.ah cl.vato. D 0 D Retums of Mills and Manufactoriesindicate that the mill T:J G Slats operateduntil at least1 897.s0 H S*t bid kap&l BIN FLOOF J Srk bB blbrd After commercialoperations ceased at the mill, the water wheelcontinued to play an importantrole asa majorsource of Fig.6: Diagram of machinery layout,Thorpe Mill power for the operationof the property,powering a saw bench and,from the 1930s,a pumpto supplywater to .Nant'house. r Also, as with nearbyThorpe Mill, the headracesupplied an Therewere originally two pairsof FrenchBurr millstones extensivesystem of field irrigationchannels, in use from the (a type of stone imported only from France) in the mill, the 1820s.The continueduse of the wheel at the mill until well runners of which were balancedon the upper ends of the into the twentiethcentury has contributedto the preservation spindlesby a ball-and-socketjoint known as a 'rynd'. The of the mill andits largelyintact machinery. stonesare fed grain from horse-mountedhoppers, which The mill is supplied with water by the same hydro- dischargeonto vibrating shoesand thenceinto the eyesof the engineeringscheme which suppliesThorpe Mill, operated runnerstones. The millstonesare mountedon the upperlevel underthe auspicesof the ClydeWater Trust. To providewater of the split-level meal floor of the mill, to allow sufficient to Nant Mill, a low concreteweir acrossthe Clyde River spacefor thewater gearing wheel, pit andflour baggingchutes divertswater into a headrace(Table 3). The headraceis formed to be locatedbelow them.Above the spur wheel,the vertical by an earthchannel flanked on both sidesby leveebanks and shaftalso carries a gearknown as a 'crown' wheel.This drives feedsnumerous small irrigationchannels along its length.A two small, bevelled,iron pinion wheels attached to two pondis formedat the mill by a stone-builtdam 3 feethigh and separatelayshafts. The first ofthese('c'in Fig. 6) carriesa belt approximately60 feet long. This incorporatesa spillway drive to a layshaft('e' in Fig. 6), on the hrst floor of the mill, overflow. An overflow race leaves the headraceabove the while the secondshaft ('d' in Fig. 6) powersa belt-operated millpondto join the pondoverflow below the mill. A wooden sack-hoistlocated on the bin floor of the mill. Large, sluicegate,with a rack-and-pinioncontrol operated by a wheel hexagonalcentre holes in the spur wheel and crown wheel, inside the mill, admits water from the pond onto the water blockedin with woodenwedges, indicate that the thin, iron wheelat thenine o'clock position.After tumingthe wheel, vertical shaft replaced an earlier, wooden vertical shaft. the waterjoins the pondoverflow probablyat thetime of the 1836refit. to form a tailrace,which reioins theriver downstream. The layshafton the first floor of the mill ('e' in Fig. 6) The breastshotwheel is mounted carriespulleys for belt drives to a large flour bolter locatedon inside the mill, half belowground level, this floor, and a secondlayshaft ('f in Fig. 6), caniespulleys in a stonebreastwork built to fit the curve of the wheel.It is for a belt drive to a grain cleaneralso on this floor. This bears built arounda solid iron shaftof 5 inchesin the inscription: diameter,rotating in joumal bearings.Two iron hubs are lockedin placeon the shaftwith iron keys.To theseare bolted THOMAS TYSON two sets of eight flat iron arms, in turn bolted ro two sets MELBOURNE of eight shroud sections,also bolted together.These carry 32 curvediron buckets,with iron soleplates. An inscriptionon SOLE AGENT FOR AUST. thewheel reads: -l indicatingan overseasorigin. The secondlayshaft also powers R. KENNEDY & SONS,HOBART a grain elevatorto transportgrain from the meal floor of the 3; mill to storagebins occupyingmost of the bin floor. The bin identifyinga local foundryas the manufacturerof the wheel. floor also containsa hopperfeed to the grain cleaneron the As this firm did not commenceoperation until 1883,this floor below,and the sackhoist bollard.The mill comorises wheelmust have replaced an earlierwheel at the mill.st i'i 72 anng n the :rain- rkins ment nrury ilater ssed Fig. 7: Two-stage,underdrive gearing, Nant Mill. The screw jacks to engage of an the stone nuts, and bridgetees for ,f the tentering the millstones can also be cture seen.The hnnd wheel at left operates the sluicegateadmitting water to the wheel (Photo W. Pearson.J uly I 993). was first dbv :e of for a nues q{7 alls. The outer end of the water wheel axle carries a cam date attachedto an iron shaft.This providesan oscillating motion to The a water pump.The inner end of the wheel axle carriesa pit mill wheel (Fig. 7), which mesheswith a wallower on an iron verticalshaft. This carriesa spur wheel,which mesheswith LEGFND ater two stonenuts, in a conventionaltwo-stage underdrive gearing I Bearing arrangement(see Thble 3 for detailsofgearing). The stonenuts - Horizontal shatt 'e of a V€rlical shatt may be disengagedfrom the spur wheel by being raisedon :nch U- euttey their spindlesby meansof jacks, gear use. screw thus disengagingthe -Spur runnerstones on the upperends of the spindlesfrom thedrive. .-B€vdgear lan Planofggaror The lower ends of the spindles rest on screw-adjusted 1l^ the v millstone elc. bridgetrees,providing *ell the tentering mechanism for the - - -Belt millstones. Hild wh@l rion - : Guide pullsy While the runnerstones and millstonefumiture are now missingfrom the mill, they probably a Waler whel lro- would have been fed shall grain via wooden hoppers b Sluicsgate g€a rted mountedon horses on top of circular woodentuns, as was the case in most nineteenth- c,d.. Layshafts ater 1 Pit whe€l century flourmills.52A rotating piece iver odd-shaped of iron, 2 Wallower calleda 'damsel',fixed to the top of the 3 Spur wheel ned stonespindle agitated the woodenshoe feeding the grain into the centralhole, or 4 Stone nuts and 5 'eye', of the runnerstone. The hopperswere fed by wooden Crown wheol t.A A Millstones chutesfrom binson thefloor above. and B Grain cl€ansr C Flour t :]lu ray Above the millstoneson the stonefloor, the verticalshaft sifi€r -^ carries a crown wheel D Grain bins the with bevelledwooden teeth on its E Grain €levalor den underside(Fig. 8). This drivestwo iron pinionwheels attached F Lucomb N-=__jo rel to layshafts.One of theselayshafts ('c' in Fig. 8), carriesa G Stai6 H Sack hoist trapdool H Iter woodenpulley for a belt driveto a flour-siftingmachine, only J Sack hoist boltard the the cylindricalreel of which remainsin the mill. The other ins layshaftis now missing,but wall bracketsindicate that it also canied pulley a for a belt driveto anothermachine located on BIN FLOOB the stonefloor. nlf Fig.8: Diagram of machinery layout, Nant Mill n'e The verticalshaft continues through to the bin floor of the ;in mill, whereit carriesa small,iron, bevelgear, which meshes are with anotherattached to thebollard of a sackhoist. The hoistis led engagedremotely from the groundfloor by meansof a rope stoneworkas the mill. This whole complexforms part of a €ts and pulley system,which lowers the end of the bollard largercollection of preservedearly-to-mid nineteenth-century fry carryingthe gear wheel onto the gear on thevertical shaft. farm buildings,which areclassified by the NationalTrust and remain on The mill comprisesa standardnineteenth-century three- in useas partof 'Nant'Estate. floor arrangementand is built of undressedsandstone with a Riversdale Mill gabled,shingle roof. A single-storey,two-room wing provided accommodationfor the miller. The mill abutsa brick bam The water-poweredflourmill on 'Riversdale'Station, near el. contemporaryin datewith the first mill on the site,to which Swanseaon the east coast of Tasmania,was built between his accessis gainedat the stonefloor levelof the mill. Adjoining 1838-1844by a Scotsmillwright, John Amos, for theproperty the bam is a row of cottagesbuilt in the same stvle of ownerGeorge Meredith, who camefrom Wales.53Amos also

IJ constructed the nearby Gala Mill, now derelict but still standing,to an almost identicaldesign as the RiversdaleMill, in 1842.The small size of thesemills, and concomitantsmall

scaleof operations,indicate that they were designedand built LEGENO ,Gala' largely to serve the needs of the 'Riversdale' and E B€aring estates,and the immediatearea, a duty which RiversdaleMill - Hodzontal shaft fulfilled until at least1887-1890. From 1858,Riversdale a Vertical shatl Mill -l- eurey was leased as a commercial venture by the miller William gear -Spur Gibson, later of Gibson's Flourmills in Hobart. However,as ...... *Bsvslg€ar with so many other small-scalerural flourmills, this mill Plan ol gear ot also ^ COG PTT/ MEAL FLOOR eventually succumbedto the forces of centralisationof the v millstone etc. industryand technologicalchange. - - Bolt * Hand whsl After it ceasedto function, someof the machineryfrom the : Guide pulley mill was transferredto a steamflourmill operatingin Swansea. The mill itselfremained essentially intact until theearly 1990s a Water wheel shaft b Sluicegat€ gear when approximatelyone third of the building was destroyed c,d.. Layshatts by a tree fall. The mill has now beencompletely restored as a 1 Pil wh@l tourist attraction. 2 Wallgwer 3 Spur wheel Waterwas suppliedto the mill from the Wye River, tapped 4 Ston€ nuts at a point over one mile distantfrom the mill. All tracesof any 5 Crown wh@l dam or weir in the river, which would have servedto regulate A Millstsos the level of the river and divert water into the headraceto the B Grain deaner mill, have long since been removed C Flour sitler by floods. However,the D Grain bins remains of a shallow earth channel serving the mill as a E Grain elevator headracecan still be tracedfor a distanceof nearly one mile F Lucomb (Table3). Closeto the mill the water-supplygoes underground G Stai6 into a ceramicpipe. From this, water enteredthe wheel at the H Sack hoist trapdoor J Sack hoisi bollard l0 o'clock position.After tuming the wheel,the waterflowed through an undergrounddrain for a short distance,and then into an opentailrace, thence to rejoin the river. BINFLOOB The high breastshotwater wheel is housedinside the mill, and situated almost entirely below ground level in a stone Fig.9: Machinery luyout tliagram, Riverstlale Mill breastworkbuilt to fit thecurve of the wheel.It is built around a square-section,wooden axle, measuring 2 by 2 feet, comprising four smaller, square-sectionbeams held together at the endsby iron rings (Table3). At eachend of the axle an the top of the spindle.This carriestwo horizontal,wooden iron gudgeonrests in depressionsin wooden bearing blocks. pulleys,one on the stonefloor of the mill, andone on the bin Two sets of four wooden clasp-arms,measuring 3 inches by floor. That on the stonefloor carried a belt drive to someitem 6 inches, held in place on the axle by wooden wedgesand of machinerynow absentfrom the mill. This wasmost likely a mortised into each other at their crossingpoints, support flour-siftingor grain-cleaningmachine, added at a later date woodenshrouds made up of sectionsof unevenlength, bolted thanthe initial constructionof the mill to improvethe quality together.The shrouds have wooden buckets mortised into of the product.This machinewas an improvementconsidered them, with woodensole boards.The wheel is strengthenedby importantenough to sacrificea pair of millstonesto provideit iron bolts acrossits width. Thsmanianpine has beenused for with power.The pulley on the bin floor of the mill carried a constructionof the wheel. belt drive which most likely providedpower to ir sack-hoist. The The inner end of the water wheel axle drives a additionof this would haveimproved the capability of the mill conventionaltwo-stage, underdrive gearing system(Table 3). to handlebulk quantitiesof grain. The pit wheelis againof clasp-armconstruction, with original The mill building comprisestwo storeysin additionto a wooden teeth replacedby segmentediron castings (Fig. 9). cog pit, or cellar,containing the waterwheel and gearing. The This is held in placeon the axle by woodenwedges, and also stonefloor containsthe millstones,and spacefor auxiliary by iron braces.The vertical shaft is of wooden construction. grain or flour-processingmachinery, while the bin floor The spur wheel is held on the vertical shaft by wooden comprises grain storage space and a power-take-off for wedges,a difficult task,as its centrehole is squarerather than additionalgrain or flour-handlingmachinery and/or a sack- round, indicating possiblerecycling of this gear wheel from hoist.By housingthe gearingbelow ground level in a cog-pit, anothermill. The spur wheel drives two iron stonenuts, with only two floors neededto be built aboveground level; the wooden teeth. These may be disengagedby being raised on stoneand bin floors.The buildingis of brick constructionon a their spindlesby meansof woodenwedges. The lowerends of stone rubble base. It has a gabled, shingle roof. The the spindlesrest on screw-adjustedbridgetrees, providing the demolishedsection of the mill compriseda barn.A wooden, tenteringmechanism for the runnerstones canied on the upper lean-tostock shed is alsoattached to the rearof the mill. The : endsof the spindles.The mill originallycontained two pairsof mill is listedon the Registerof the NationalEstate and, with I millstonesof local quartzite.The single remainingpair of Gala Mill, displaysunique features among the few surviving stonesis housedin a woodentun, which supportsa wooden, water-poweredflourmills in Australia,including the almost horse-mountedhopper equipped with a damsel-agitatedshoe, exclusive use of wood and the clasp-arm method of l to feed the grain into the millstones.The original 2 feet square constructionfor the waterwheel and some of thegearing. hopper has been enlarged at some point in time by the 7 superimpositionof a larger 4 feet squarehopper, to allow Millbrook Mill largervolumes of grain to be processedautomatically. S Millbrook Mill, nearOuse in centralTasmania was built on the d The runner stoneof the secondpair of miltstoneshas been propertyof WalterBethune in 1835.saAlthoughlocated on a removedat somestage, and a vertical shaft of iron attachedto property,the mill was closeenough to Ouse,a regionalrural b 74 centre,to haveserved a more extensivemarket throughout the district. Bethune retained ownership of the mill until the

1860s.It is not knownwhen milling ceasedat the mill, but by watea wheol

the mid-twentieth century the flourmill gearing had been LEGEND dismantledand replacedwith that for an irrigation and water- I BeaIi|lg supplypump, powered by thewater wheel, in whichcapacity it - Ho.izstal shafi continued to operate until the 1960s. The wheel suffered a Verlical shatt lf Ruttey damageto its bucketssoon after, and it and the mill havesince gear - Spur T-=--l G beenallowed to run down. Nevertheless,the extendeduse-life ,...... B€v6l g€tr !- of the wheel has contributed to an excellent state of Plan ot gear o. f-) preservationof the mill and much of its machinery.With the v millslore 6tc. MEAL FLOOR exception of the gearing removed to make way for the - - -Belt - Hand whoel installationof the waterpump, the wheel remains intact. Some : Guids pulloy internal stabilisationwork to the fabric of the building hasalso * Lsver necessitatedthe removalof the millstonesand the hurst frame. a Watswh6slshafi The dismantledparts are storedin the mill. b Slui€gat€ g€tr c,d.. Layshalts The nearby River Ouse provided the water to power the 1 Pil wheel mill. The headraceleaves the river at a point approximately 2 Wallowor threequarters of a mile from the mill, wherea seriesof rapids 3 Spur wh€el 4 Stong nuts createa natural weir and pond. No evidenceof a constructed 5 Crown whesl STONEFLOOR dam or weir is visibleat the site,although this may havebeen A Millston6 erased by floods. A wooden rack and pinion-operated B Grain cleaner sluicegateadmits water directly from the river into a headrace C Foursilter xl:,x formed by an earth channel and levee banks (Table 3). An D G.ain bins E Grain €lsvator overflow raceof similar constructionleaves the headraceclose F Lucomb to the mill, diverting excesswater aroundthe mill to rejoin the G Staire tailrace immediatelybelow the mill. A wooden sluicegate H Sack hoisl lrapd@r operatedby a lever inside the mill admitswater to the wheel at J Sack hoisl bollud thenine o'clock position. l;l G The breastshotwheel is situatedoutside the mill, half AIN FLOOR below ground level in a sandstonebreastwork built to fit the curve of the wheel (Table 3). It is constructedaround an iron Fig. l0: Diagram of machinery layout, Millbrook Mill, axle 5 inches in diameter,tumed down at the ends to form gudgeonson which it rotatesin joumal bearings.Two iron hubs,held in placeon the axle by iron keys,have two setsof den eight flat iron arms bolted to them. These,in tum, carry two inscriptionsattesting to their manufactureby the firm of 'O.C. bin iron shrouds, each bolted together in eight sections. The Schumacher'based in Adelaidefrom 1882. and Melboume tem shroudscarry mortisesfor 40 wooden buckets,with wooden from l887.ssSupplying flourmills in Victoria,South Australia, lya sole boards.The wheel hubsbear the inscription: WesternAustralia and Tasmania,Schumacher was an agentfor manyoverseas firms, including:Leffel and (U.S.A.), late FORD & PYE, HOBARTTOWN Co. and rlity E. R. and F. Turner Ltd, England, as well as manufacturing :red indicatinga local manufacturefor the wheel. milling machinery to his own patents.At least two of the le it Insidethe mill, thewater wheel axle originally carried a pit sifting machinesat Millbrook Mill were therefore installed da wheel, now dismantledbut still at the mill (see Table 3 for during or after the I 880s. rist. detailsof gearing).A circulariron hub carriedeight flat iron The secondlayshaft ('d' in Fig. 10),on the first floor of the the arms bolted to it, each cast with a sectionof the bevelled mill alsocarries a belt driveto a third layshaft('e' in Fig. l0), wheel, which was fitted with wooden teeth, to reduce the on the bin floor of the mill. This, in tum, carrieda pulley for a oa friction of iron teethmeshing with iron. Along with the rest of belt drive to a sack-hoist.Unfortunately, the hoist mechanism Ihe the gearing,and the wooden hurst frame which supportedit, has been dismantledto allow repairs to the roof of the mill. ary this was dismantledin the 1930swhen the pump gear was However, the remaining parts stored in the mill permit the @r installedand now rests outside the mill. As a result, the conjecturethat it was of the belt-driventype. Partsfor a grain for methods of disengaging the drive to the stones, and of elevator, also supplied by O. C. Schumacher, but never ck- tenteringthe millstones are not now evident. actuallyinstalled, are storedon this floor of the mill. pir, The millstones,also removed to outsidethe mill, comprise The mill is of the conventionalthree-floor alrangement and the one pair of French Burr stones and one pair of locally- is built of dressedsandstone with a hipped roof. This was na manufacturedquartzite stones.These were housedin wooden originally of woodenshingle, but has sincebeen replaced with lhe tuns and fed grain via wooden horse-mountedhoppers comrgatediron. A two-room miller's office and quartersare bn, equippedwith damsel-agitatedshoes. These in turn were fed containedinside the mill on the secondfloor. the by woodenchutes from grainbins on thebin floor of the mill. ;ith The mill also containsa rare, completeset of steel picks, or CONCLUSION ing 'bills', interchangeablein a woodenhandle, used for hand- Collectively,this group of five watermills is significant for a ost dressingthe grinding surfaceof the millstones, by cutting numberof reasons.Aspects of their technologytell us a great of pattemsof shallowgrooves into them. deal about economicconditions in the industry they servedin The horizontallayshaft ('c'in Fig. l0), canieda pulleyfor nineteenth-centuryTasmania. Their small scaleof production a belt driveto a secondlayshaft ('d'in Fig. 10),located on the indicates that many mills were built to serve local markets stone floor of the mill. This carried pulleys for belt drives to only. The extensiveuse of auxiliary grain and flour processing he three large flour-sifting machineslocated on this floor; one and handling machinery may have been a result of several DA with a wire reel, one with a cloth reel and one with rotating factors:a shortageoflabour to do thesejobs,the typesofgrain ral brushesinside a clothreel. The lattertwo siftinsmachines bear grown, and the quality of productdemanded by the consumer. 75 The dateswhen the mills ceasedoperating all coincide with a mills form a tangiblelink to the pivotalrole of waterpower in late nineteenth-centurytrend towards the demise of small- the formative stageof Tasmania'sindustrial economy.More scalecountry flourmills in favour of large-scale,urban-based thanany othersource of motivepower, water was relied upon opemtions making use of technologicalinnovations such as throughoutmuch of the nineteenth-centuryfor most industrial steelrollers in placeof millstones,producing whiter flour. This activity in Tasmania.The wheel has come full circle, with geographic concentration favoured the use of steam over Thsmania'sreliance on hydro-electricpower in the twentieth water-power. century. Aspects of the water-power technology of the mills surveyedare inforrul'tive on the suitability of the Tasmanian ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS environmentfor watermill technology.The formation of the The content and presentationof this paper has benefited Clyde WaterTrust to supply water to threemills spreadover a greatlyfrom a readingby fellow molinologist,Keith Preston. large geographic area, including Thorpe and Nant Mills, However, any errors of fact or omissions remain the indicatesthe high degreeto which the favourableclimate of responsibilityof theauthor. the colony renderedcapital investmentin water-powerviable. This is the only known privately-ownedsystem of its type in NOTES Australia. I SeePearson 1996. Other aspectsof the designand constructionof thesemills are informative about the developmentof early Tasmanian 2 SeePearson 1996 for a detaileddiscussion of previously industry.While the constructionof someof the earlier mills in published research on nineteenth-centuryAustralian the sample,such as Thorpe Mill and RiversdaleMill, relied watermills. heavilyon localmaterials, such as the local speciesofpine, for 3 Pearsonin prep. water wheels and gearing, some iron parts for watermill 4 Pearson1996. machinerywere neverthelessavailable. The first iron foundry 5 Bum 1840-1841:140 capableof castingitems of mill machinery,such as gearing, was in operationin Hobart by 1822.s6By 1834, colonial 6 HistoricRecords of Australia(HRA) SeriesIII, vol. iv:33. foundries were capable of casting all iron parts for mills, 7 An overshot wheel receives water at its apex, and includingwater wheels up to 40 feet, 6 inchesin diameter.5T generatespower by the weight of the waterdescending in Local supplycould not entirely meetdemand, however, and its buckets.These can be of two types:'overshot'wheels mill-owners still found it necessaryto import iron mill parts revolvein the samedirection as the flow of waterentering from Britain in 1830,and to re-usemachinery as late as the the wheel,and 'pitchback'wheels revolve in the opposite 1860s,as with the Rockford Mill machineryused in the direction.These types of wheels are about 75 per cent construction of Connorville Mi1l.58 Evidence of the efficient as power generators.A 'breastshot'wheel is replacementof somewooden parts of gearingwith iron partsat poweredby a fall of water amountingto less than the Thorpe Mill from as early as the late 1830sshows the gradual diameterof the wheel.That is, the waterenters the wheel improvementin the availability of iron partsfor mills. By the at somepoint betweenits apexand base.Again, poweris 1880swhen the foundry ofR. Kennedyand Sons, Hobart, cast generatedby the weight of the water descendingin the thewheel for NantMill, locally-castiron mill partswould have bucketsof the wheel. This wheel type is approximately beenin widespreadsupply. 65 per cent efficientas a powergenerator. An 'undershot' wheel receiveswater at its base and generatespower This group of mills also indicates the importance of throughthe impactof the flow its paddles. importedflourmilling technology,such as millstones,grain- on This type of wheel is about30 per cent efficient.A cleaning,flour-sifting and grain and flour handling machinery, detaileddiscussion of the relativeefficiencies of the differenttypes of water from overseassources such as France,Britain. and the United wheels as power generatorsis containedin Reynolds States,for the developmentof the local industry.Along with ( I 983). the machineryfor mills, the importationof skilled millwrights from Britain, men such as JohnAmos and EdwardYates, also 8 Hobart TownGazette 20 March, 1816. remained crucial for the construction and maintenanceof 9 Hobart TownGazette 3 January,1818. I colonial watermills,especially during the early nineteenth- 10 Hobart TownGazette 3 January,1817. century.The mills built by thesemillwrights in Tasmaniaare I I HRA SeriesIII, vol. i:343; Hobart TownGazette 3 Mav, E also instructive on the international transfer of nineteenth- 1818. century innovation in watermill technology. The early E nineteenthcentury was a time of rapid developmentin I 2 Seefor exampleHobart TownCourier 12 July,I 828. watermill technology, from traditional techniques and 13 Correspondenceof the Colonial Secretary'sOffice (CSO) materials,such as wooden,clasp-arm, undershot and overshot v10'7t2597. wheelsand simple,wooden drive mechanisms,to extensive 14 Hobart TownGazette 2 September,1820. use of breastshotwheels of advanceddesign, incorporating 15 Hobart TownGazette 23 November,1822. extensiveuse of iron for wheels and gearing.s9British millwrights coming to the coloniesfrom industrialcentres l6 Hobart TownCourier 13Mav. 1836. wouldhave been familiar with thenew technology, while those 17 Reynolds1983:339. originatingfrom country districtswould havebeen more likely 18 Hobart TownGazette 24 Julv,1844. to have continued the use of traditional techniques.Use of 19 Ross1831:91. traditional,techniques by the Scotsmillwright, John Amos, is seen at Riversdale Mill, for example, while the work of 20 Hobart TownGazette 26 Oaober, 1822. Englishmillwright, W. H. Knight, at Connorvilledraws more 21 Monis-NunnandTassell 1982:25. hqvily from nineteenth-centuryadvances in watermill 22 Dallas1959:85; Hartwell 1954:148; Linge 1979:122. technology. 23 HobartTownGazette23 November.1822. Thesefive mills areperhaps most significant in beingable 24 Dallas1959. to demonstrate a now-defunct technology, that of the applicationof the power of water to the flourmilling industry. 25 Reynolds1983. In this,they are almost unique in Australia.Beyond this, these 26 Linge 1979:47. 76 ar ln 27 Linge 1979:122. DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, 1980. The 'lore 28 Hartwell 1954:148;Linge 1979:127-129. BridgewaterMill, BridgewaterSouth Austalia,Australian lpon Heritage Engineering Record Survey, Aboriginal and 29'Linge 1979:143. n-ial Historic Relics Unit, Department of the Envfuonment, with 30 Davis1988:21, 25; Hanison 1979:23, 45. Adelaide,South Australia. tieth 3l Linge 1979:320. DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVAIION AND 32 Rafferty1988:6. ENVIRONMENT, 1990. Anderson's MiU, Smeaton, 33 Linge 1979:654. Historic PlacesSection, Department of Conservationand Environment,Melboume, Victoria. frted 34 Connah1988:129-30. ;lon. 35 Jonesand Jones 1990:xxii. See also Jack 1983:28. GLAMORGAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. n.d. Riversdale Mill, ms. Tasmania. the 36 Linge 1979:82-110. SwanseaPublic Library, 37 Department of Conservationand Environment 1990; HARRISON, L. 1979. Flour Mills in South Australia, Departmentof Environment1980; Connah 1988; Preston Departmentof Architecture,University of Adelaide. pers.comm. HARTWELL, R. 1954. The Economic Developmentof Van 38 Prestonpers. comm. Diemen'sLand 1820-1850.Melbourne Universitv Press. usly 39 O'clock positionson water wheels are noted with the Melboume. .lian recorderstanding on the power-take-offside of the wheel. Historic Recordsof Australia 1914-1925, SeriesIII: vols i & 40 BenallaStandard l7 Januarv.1879. iv, Library Committeeof the CommonwealthParliament, Sydney. 4l Leavittn.d.:33. 42 Jones1969. Hobart TownCourier 43 Bignell1988:83. Hobart TownGazette 44 Bignell1988:83. INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERS (AUST.), 1988. Survey of unO Trades, gtn 45 ColonialTimes8March 1836. Manufactories& Industries,Heritage Commiftee, ThsmaniaBranch. .€ls 46 InstituteofEngineers 1988. xng 47 Bignell1988. JACK, R. 1983.'Flour mills', in J. Birmingham,R. I. Jack& site D. Jeans(eds) Industial Archaeologyin Australia: Rural 48 Jones1969. :enI I ndustry, pp.27 -52, Heinemann,Melboume. I is 49 Hobart TownGazette 24 June1825. JONES,D. 1969.'The water-poweredcom mills of England, the 50 InstituteofEngineers 1988. Walesand Isle preliminary reel the of Man: a accountof their 5l Macfie1985. development', 'r is in Transactionsof the SecondInternational the 52 Jones1969. Symposium on Molinology, pp. 306-56, Wind and Watermill Section, for Protection Ancient r:l'' 53 GlamorganHistory Society n.d. Society the of 'toi' buildings,London. 54 HobartTownCourier 30 January1835. lrer JONES,L. AND JONES,P. 1990.The Flour Mills of Victoria, 55 Jonesand Jones 1990:354. :of 1840-1990: An Historical Record, The Flour Miller's non 56 Hobart TownGazette 30 March 1822. Councilof Victoria,Melboume. rter 57 Hobart TownCourier 19December 1834. ilds LEAVITT, T.n.d. JubileeHistory of Tasmania,vol. II, Wells & 58 Hobart TownCourier 2l Aueust 1830. Leavitt, Melbourne. 59 Reynolds1983. LINGE, G. 1979. Industrial Awakening: A Geography of Australian Manufacturing 1788 to 1890, AusUalian BIBLIOGRAPHY NationalUniversity Press, Canberra. MACFIE, H. 1985. - Iar. Benalla Standard IndusrriaLEngineering Mills and Milling in Southern Tasmania Nineteenth Century, BIGNELL, J. 1988. 'The restorationof Thorpe Watermill, EngineeringHeritage Committee (Tasmania), Institute of Bothwell, Australian Historical Tasmania', Journal of Engineers,Australia. iOr Archaeology6:83-88. MORRIS-NUNN,M. AND. TASSELL,C. 1982. Launc e ston' s BlueBook of WesternAustralia, 1837-1895. Indusrial Heritage: A Survey, Australian Heritage BURN, D. 1840-1841.A Pictureof VanDiemen's Land, a Commissionand the Queen Victoria Museum of the facsimile of work publishedin the Colonial Magazine LauncestonCity Council,Tasmania. 1840-1841,Cat and Fiddle Press, Hobart. New SouthWales Statistical Register, 1 849/l 858-1900. CONNAH, G. 1988.Of theHur I Builded:The Archaeology of New Sout h WaIe s Statis ti c a I Return s, 182Zl 1 842-1 8 48 I | 857. Australia's History, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. PEARSON,W. 1996. 'Water-powerin a dry continent:the transferof watermilltechnology from Britain to Australia Colonial Secretary'sOffice, conespondencefiles. Archives in the nineteenth century', Australasian Historical Officeof Tasmania. Archaeologyl4: 46-62. Colonial Times PEARSON,W. n.d. 'Water-poweredFlourmilling on the New DALLAS, K. 1959. 'Water power in Tasmanianhistory', EnglandTableland of New SouthWales', in preparation. Papers and Proceedings of the TasmanianHistorical Port Phillip District ResearchAssociation 8 (July):85-93. Statistics,1850. DAVIS, E. 1988.Flourmilling in SouthAustralia: A History, QueenslandStatistical Register, I 852-1873. The Millers ProduceCo. of SouthAustralia. Adelaide. QueenslandStatistical Register, I 859-1900. 't'1 RAFFERTY, M. 1988. The History of Flourmilling in Queenslandto /988, QueenslandFlourmillers Association. Brisbane. REYNOLDS, T. 1983. Srronger Than a Hundred Men: A History of the Vertical Water Wheel, Johns Hopkins UniversityPress, Baltimore. ROSS, J. 1831. The Van Diemen's Land Anniversary and Hobart TownAlmanacl<, Hobart Town. StatisticalRegister of SouthAustralia, I 859-1900. StatisticalReturns of SouthAustralia, 1841-l 858. StatisticalReturns ofVan Diemen'sLand, 1824-1839. Statisticsof the Colony ofVan Diemen'sLand,186G900. Statistics of VanD iemen's Land, I 838/I 84I - I 865. Statisticsof the Colonyof VanDiemen's Land, I 866-1900. Otr Statisticsof the ColonyofVictoria, I 852-l g73. sJrs Victorian Statistical Register, 1874-1900. bc rq Fr ptc cb Pc @c ph

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