Published Resources Details
Conference Paper
- Title
- Where have all the Flour Mills gone?
- In
- Engineering Heritage Victoria, Speakers Programme
- Imprint
- 22 August 2018
- Url
- https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/Event/where-have-all-flour-mills-gone
- Abstract
Over 280 flour mills existed in Victoria at one time or another. At least 32 of these were water powered. One water mill survives relatively intact, but most of the others ceased operating within a couple of decades of their commencement in the mid-nineteenth century. Why did the wheels stop turning and what became of them?
This presentation looks at the history of the early water-powered flour mills near Melbourne and considers some of the factors that may have been influential on their early success or failure and the possible causes of their ultimate demise.
Recent research and survey of mills in England and Scotland shows the nature of the technology available to the originators of the first Victorian watermills.