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December 16 Day's Milll and FarmDays Mill and Farm is the best preserved 19th century flour mill in Victoria and contains probably the finest example of traditional milling technology in working form in it original setting in Australia.
The property consists of the Mill, a house and about a dozen farm buildings on 4 hectares of land south of Murchison in the Goulburn Valley, 150 km north of Melbourne.
In 1865 William Day selected about 420 acres in the Parish of Murchison and built a two story flour mill. He also operated a bush sawmill and a punt over the Goulburn River and his wife Ann ran a local store.
William died in 1872, leaving Ann to support seven children aged 5 to 19.
Ann Day very capably ran the Farm and Mill from 1872 until 1891 during which time the property was considered one of the more advanced in the district. Farm documents reveal a strong woman astutely conducting business in the male dominated Victorian business world.
When Day's built their mill in 1865 they employed traditional mill stones which were not entirely suitable for the hard grains of Australia. The Day family did not make the transition to the expensive new roller mills developed in the 1870's and they simply stopped milling flour in the late 1880's.
After 1891 Joseph the eldest son, took over the mill on Ann's retirement and from then on the property operated simply as a farm.
Parts of the house date from 1865, the same time the mill was built, but the two storey house was added in about 1905. |
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