Windmill - Windmill Farm
1203 Kyneton- Metcalfe Road,, GREENHILL VIC 3444 - Property No B1982
Statement of Significance
The Windmill, Windmill Farm, is a battered circular, stone tower believed to have been constructed circa 1856 for Joseph Hall. In some four main levels, the structure is constructed of random coursed masonry. There are openings arranged above each other and their sills are features. The Windmill is a very rare example of a stone windmill base and indeed is probably the only such structure in Victoria. The Windmill is representative of a technology little used in this state and is strongly associated with the period of extreme population growth in the early 1850s, when the mills in this area were erected. A local landmark, the structure also has historical associations. The windmill exists in a somewhat deteriorated state, only the stone base is remaining.
The mill and farm complex of Windmill Farm are of considerable significance in the history of flour milling in Victoria.
The windmill at Windmill Farm is Victoria's only surviving wind-driven flourmill. It was built in 1856 for Joseph Hall and William Hoad from bluestone quarried on the property. Despite lacking its sails and machinery, it still illustrates the function of the locality as Victoria's principal wheat-growing area in the mid nineteenth century. The significance of the mill is enhanced by the fact that it is still surrounded by the thirty hectare farm first alienated form the Crown in 1855. The mill retains its relationship to the Campaspe River and the Metcalfe Road, to which it is connected by a driveway lined with hawthorn hedges. The survival of the slightly later cottage, which forms the core of the present house, and of an appropriately scaled collection of later outbuildings, further enhances the significance of the farm complex.
This mill was one of six of its type in Victoria in the 1850s. Its technology was derived from English practice and the remaining internal structure indicates a set of overdriven mill stones turned by a central cast iron shaft. It was fitted with Cubitt patent shutter sails which represented the state of the art at that time. This was a late use in Victoria of a technology which had been generally replaced elsewhere by steam.
The mill is one of very few surviving in Australia. Other examples are at Brisbane (Qld.), Hahndorf (SA), Nimmitabel (NSW), Stirling (WA) and Oatlands (TAS).
Statement adopted from Heritage Victoria (May 2010).
Classified: 15/07/1965
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WINDMILL FARM
Victorian Heritage Register H0311 -
Windmill - Windmill Farm
National Trust H0311
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