Dight's Mill, 1863

Dight's Mill

Dights Mill is one of Melbourne's oldest and most significant industrial sites. The falls besides which the mill was built, is one of the few waterfalls on the Yarra River, and provided the perfect means whereby a mill could be drive. Prior to European settlement, the area was occupied by the indigenous Wurundjeri tribe of the Kulin nation. The rock falls would have provided the Aboriginal people with a natural river crossing and place to trap migrating fish. It was also a meeting place for many clans where they would trade, settle disputes and exchange brides.

On a ridge above the falls, 250 metres to the east, is an historic marker commemorating the "first white men to discover the river Yarra reaching Yarra Falls on 8th February, 1803. Also to make the first crossing near here with the cattle by the first overlanders John Gardiner, Joseph Hawdon and Captain John Hepburn in December 1836".

In the 1840s, an artificial weir was built on the natural bar of basalt boulders to provide water to the Ceres flour mill, one of the first in Victoria. Situated by the Yarra River in Collingwood are the remnants Dight's Mill. In the early 1840s John Dight established Melbourne's first water-powered flour mill on the site. Then in 1888, Yarra Falls Roller Mills built a water-turbine powered mill, which was the largest and most sophisticated of the thirty two water powered mills built in Victoria before 1900.

The site is of major significance to the flour milling history of the state as it is believed to be the earliest surviving mill site in the state which has not been substantially built over or altered and has been associated with several prominent milling firms and families. The turbines at the Dights mill site represent one of the few surviving examples of a nineteenth century industrial prime mover that survives in situ anywhere in Victoria. The Weir although partially rebuilt in 1941 in oder to help control the flow of the Yarra River, indicates the position of the original weir and the role it played in diverting the river to the turbine house. Built to help control the Yarra, its presence demonstrates the importance of the Yarra River in the role of the mill. The site illustrates the importance of the Yarra River to the development of European settlement and industrial development in Melbourne.

The former Yarra Falls Roller Mill turbine house and its associated mill race and water turbines are the most intact installation of its age and type. Historically, the Yarra Falls Roller Mill was the largest capacity flour-mill in Victoria at the time of its construction. At the time of its installation in 1888, the turbines represented the largest capacity water-power system in Victoria, and were even more remarkable in their lack of any alternative back-up power system. The two 'New American' mixed flow turbines installed at this site are the earliest recorded instance of the use of this type of turbine in Victoria. Although designed primarily as a direct-drive mechanical system to operate roller flour-milling machinery, the turbines were also coupled to two small electric-lighting dynamos, making them technically the first hydro-electric plant to operate in Victoria.

History of the site

John Dight, a miller of Campbelltown, NSW, acquired portion 88, Parish of Jika Jika, County of Bourke, on 7 November 1838. Over the next few years, he constructed a brick mill on the site and began the production of flour. In November 1843, ownership of the land passed to John Dight and his brother Charles Hilton Dight. In 1864, the flour milling use was abandoned and the mill leased to Thomas Kenny. In the mid 1870s, the site was used by the Patent Safety Blasting Powder Co. The Dight family sold the mill site to Edwin Trennery in 1878 and he subsequently subdivided the land.

The original mill on the river bank remained unoccupied until 1888, when flour millers Gillespie, Aitken and Scott, operating under the name of 'Yarra Falls Roller Flour Mills' constructed a new mill and associated buildings on the site. The mill race was rebuilt in much the same position on the site using bluestone blocks from Dight's old mill building, and a new mill and associated buildings were constructed some distance from the site of the original mill building. This enterprise was sold in 1891 to the Melbourne Flour Milling Company, run by the Hon. James Bell.

In 1890, the founding Act of the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works was established and the Board issued a licence to the company in 1895 for the construction and maintenance of the weir at the Falls. In 1909 The Melbourne Flour Milling Co sold its mill and plant on the banks of the Yarra at Abbotsford to Messrs John Darling and Son, the well known millers and wheat merchants of South Australia. John Darling and Son extended the lease with the Board of Works, but for a period of only three months. Within this time, however the mill suffered a disastrous fire and was destroyed. Most of what remained of the mill buildings was dismantled and removed from the site in the twenty years following the fire. The site today consists of the remains of the head race, tail race, turbine house, retaining wall and weir.
Location: Dights Falls, Yarra Bend Park, Abbotsford

About John Dight

John Dight (1808-1867) was born near Windsor, on the Hawkesbury River, NSW, to a pioneer family who had emigrated from Devon, England, arriving in June 1801. His father, a surgeon also named John, was among the first land grantees at Richmond. His farm, where his son John was born, was "Durham Bowes", situated on the river at Mulgrave. John had 12 siblings - four brothers and eight sisters. One of his sisters - Elizabeth - married explorer Hamilton Hume, in 1825. John operated a mill built by his father, Dr John Dight, at Airds near at Campbelltown until 1837, when he and his younger brother Charles took up Bungowannah Station near Albury, which he held up to the period of his death.

It appears that the station did not afford sufficient scope for the enterprise and industry of John Dight, for he and his brother Charles Hilton Dight moved to Melbourne where they returned to flour milling. Over the next few years, they constructed a brick mill and a weir across the river on the site and began the production of flour. In November 1843, ownership of the land passed to John and Charles. At the opening of the first Legislative Council by Governor Latrobe on 13th November 1857, Charles was made a member of the first Legislative Council. In 1864, John returned to Bungowannah Station, and the mill was leased to Thomas Kenny. The Dight family sold the mill site to Edwin Trennery in 1878 and he subsequently subdivided the land. Through a life of perseverance, energy, and prudence, Dight amassed a large fortune; and if not exactly a colonial millionaire, his possessions were considerable. He died at Bungowannah Station on 3rd May 1867, age 59 years.





Mill wheel


Mill water race


Dights Falls