Hidden local history

I must say, I'm pretty impressed with how my hubby can meet all sorts of interesting people.  The stories he comes back with are often quite amazing.

Mid last year, he decided to drive around to a few local properties to see if he could photograph any older buildings.  One particular older gentleman was more than willing to let him explore for the price of a slab of beer (a very Aussie thing to do!) on his large private property. He also said he had an old flour mill that the children may like to see, so we headed there on Friday for a family outing.

Yes, I felt a bit awkward roaming about someone's private property, but we were told to "follow the track, turn at the old gum tree, cross the creek and then keep walking until we find it".

First of all it took a little while to find the right tree to turn at, then we had to find the crossing at the creek.

We walked along for about 15 mins before we saw the ruins in site.  The path runs parallel to the creek, but you can quite clearly see that it's not running as high as it used to.

The location was most serene, with volanic cliffs worn back by a small flowing creek.  The soil is a lovely brown/red colour, but very fine, most likely from kaolinite which prompted the building of the mill, brickworks and pottery works in the area (information found here).

A closer look at the cliffs, showing the vertical volcanic rocks:

 

The cicadas were busy making their joyful summer noise, but the only evidence we saw of them were their exoskeletens clinging to various plant species:

Once home again, I tried to find more information on this flour mill we'd just visited.  All I could find were a couple of pages.

From what I can make out from this report, the mill was built somewhere between 1830 and 1850.  It was only in use for a short time, closing in 1861.

A copy of an essay written in 1910, containing more local history, can be found on this Family History blog.

What a refreshing day!