HORSEMILLS /
HUMAN POWERED MILLS /
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WATERMILLS - BATTERIES
WATERMILLS - FLOUR /
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WINDMILLS - FLOUR /
WINDMILLS - OTHER
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Ships
In 1865 German immigrant John GELDMACHER commenced stockpiling building materials and over the next seven years, almost single-handedly built a stone tower windmill there, which was completed in 1872. However, he evidently had not consulted the regulations concerning windmills and he'd inadvertently built his mill too close to the road, with the result that, although it was initially constructed with sails, they were deemed to be too adjacent to the road where they would frighten horses. GELDMACHER evidently then used horses to work the mill, but this was apparently not very successful. He later used the mill [evidently the horse mill] for timber milling, but by 1885 the mill was out of use. The tower was restored by Monaro Shire Council in 1961 to serve as a tourist attraction, it being one of only three such towers surviving in eastern Australia, and is found in Clarke Street, west of the Highway. GELDMACHER also operated as a merchant and today Geldmacher House serves as the Nimmitabel Heritage Centre. Website
TOPIn 1937 the battery at Granites gold mine appeared to be powered by a windmill. view image
TOPIn 1903 the DOHLE family began taking timber from the area known as Dohles Rocks and built a timber windmill to operate their sawmill. It is not know what design was used.
TOPThere is a reference to an old flax mill on the North Para River near Seppeltsfield. It is not known whether it was wind or water driven, or when it was built.
TOPErected by W.F. OSBOURN in 1854 to use as a gold battery.
There was a wind driven gold mining machine erected there in the 1850s. Whether this has a connection to the Ballarat gold battery is not known.
Near Colac. In use in 1857 for water pumping. Most likely a post type with four wooden arms with frames for canvas covers. It was probably faced into the wind manually. Replaced in probably the 1870's.
This 5 sail tower mill was located c 1858 at WEBB'S FOUNDRY behind the new courthouse. It was used by Henry and William WEBB to operate the foundry machinery. 1861 image
Windmill Gardens Reception Restaurant was built in 1994. It is located at the corner of Melton Hwy & Leakes Road, Rockbank.
There was a wind driven chaff cutter built here. view image
A smock mill was built in 1881 for pumping water, cutting chaff and sawmilling. It was owned by George ROLFE, a Melbourne Tea Merchant.
TOP An innovative use of a windmill as a motive power source was for cutting wattle bark at a tannery in the Western Australian region of Geraldton from 1879 to circa 1894. The wattle bark was used in the tanning process. The windmill in question was home-made with four wooden legs for the tower and the four blades of the windwheel were covered with leather.
The proprietor of the tannery, known as the Victorian Tannery, was Carl Anton BERINGER, an immigrant originally from Germany, who came to Melbourne, Victoria from England in March 1864 on board the ship Napier. According to shipping records he continued his journey on to Sydney, New South Wales on board the Rangatira, arriving later that month. In April 1865 in NSW he married Elizabeth Christina HUBINGER and the couple had four children. In October 1875 BERINGER is recorded as traveling from Sydney to King George Sound (Albany) Western Australia. From there it is assumed that he made his way north to Champion Bay (Geraldton) as it is recorded that in April 1876 he applied for permission from the local council there to establish a tannery.
BEREAN was a barque built in Sunderland, England in 1869. She was a fast wooden clipper that plied the trade route between London and Tasmania for 27 years, carrying general merchandise out to the Antipodes and returning laden with wheat and wool, before being sold to the Norwegians after the death of her owner in 1896. They used her to carry ice from Norway to the Thames for 14 years. In 1910, when at anchor in the Thames estuary at Gravesend, Berean was run into by the German steamer Julia, and sank. She was later raised and used as a hulk. BEREAN had a 4 sail windmill towards the rear of the ship, near the second mast. This, and a 2-manpowered iron flywheel type bilge pump, were used to keep the ship's hold free from water.
Built in 1884-85 at E. SAMPSON's shipyard at Pt Lewis, Quebec, Canada, the CAMBRIA was a wooden barque of 1346 gross tons. She measured 205.9 feet in length, 38 feet in width and 23.8 feet in depth. It is not known what her primary purpose was, but from 1902 to 1909 she was owned by Norwegian company J. Johanson & Co. Cambria was scrapped in 1909 at Kristiania (former name of Oslo), Norway. The windmill at the rear of the ship was quite decorative compared with those of the LIBURNA and BEREAN, which were utilitarian but not pretty! This one had five wooden sails in a similar style to those seen on some European-type flour mills.
The barque CHANCEChance was built in Salem USA in 1846. Originally named the BENGAL, she was a full rigged whaling ship made from live oak with an immensely strong framework, later changed to a barque. With New Bedford, Massachusetts as her home port, the BENGAL made numerous successful whaling trips to the North Atlantic. During the American Civil War she was sold in Sydney as the NORTH STAR of New Bedford. A private individual purchased her and used her in the coal trade from Newcastle, NSW. He later sold her to a syndicate of Sydney merchants who refitted her out as a whaler again, and sent her on several whaling cruises, from Port Jackson, NSW, as the CHANCE. In 1874, CHANCE was bought by Messrs. Nichol Bros., merchants of Bluff Harbour, New Zealand. She did several more whaling trips around the Macquarie and Solanders Islands (between NZ and Antarctica) before becoming a coal hulk around 1882 at Bluff. During this time a 6 sail windmill on the deck was used to keep the hold dry. After serving in this capacity for 20 years, CHANCE finally became too leaky, and without means to be caulked she was beached for breaking up in 1902-03.
The LIBURNA was a barque of 467 tons, built in Grimstad, Norway in 1873. She was wrecked on 15th March 1905 at Shoreham, Sussex, England during a voyage carrying coal from Gothenberg, Sweden, to South Africa. LIBURNA had taken several feet of water in the hold following a voyage of some days through terrible weather. She ran ashore not far from the mouth of the harbour and the exhausted crew of ten were rescued by the Shoreham lifeboat. English weather reports from February - March 1905 indicate that there were violent storms throughout the region at that time and several ships were wrecked. The windmill on the deck of the LIBURNA was a stout upright spar with some gearing at the top, to which were attached some iron vanes. It would have been used as a bilge pump.
The ship ROLLO weighing 614 tons was built at Grimstadt in 1883. It had a 4 sail windmill on its deck near the mast. During this era the primary purpose of the ship's windmill was its use as a bilge pump. view image
The ship SKANDIA weighing 383 tons was built at Gefle in 1867. It had a windmill on its deck. During this era the primary purpose of the ship's windmill was its use as a bilge pump. view image
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