The life and death of a flourmill: McCrossin's Mill, Uralla

Summary

To varying extents old buildings are historical documents. In the following paper Luke Godwin of the Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, University of New England, discusses his recent investigations of McCrossin's Mill, a late 19th century flourmill at Uralla in northern New South Wales. He sees the construction of the mill and the material remains of its working life, closure and subsequent use, as a reflection of the economic history of New England, in particular of the history of the former flour and wheat industry of this area. Furthermore, he sees the life and death of this mill as part of a changing economic pattern in Australia, in which flourmilling, like some other industries, gradually became concentrated in the main cities. The millstones of small country mills like McCrossin's were unable to produce a flour that could compete with that of the steel roller mills of the big cities and, because the country millers could not afford to adopt the new technology, their mills were doomed to closure.

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• Australian Journal of Historical Archaeology Archive

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Record Identifiers

TDAR ID(s): 7241

FAIMS ID(s): repo.fedarch.org/document/7241

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