Dights mill main

Dight Falls

By b123kittens
  • Period: to

    Discovery of Dight Falls

    The Surveyor General of New South Wales, Charles Grimes is
    believed to be the first person from Europe to explore the Yarra River. He
    led a survey party on a river expedition to the Yarra Falls area in 1803 reporting on the prospects of settling there.
  • Period: to

    Buying the land

    John Dight bought Melbourne block 88, which
    included 26 acres of land by the Yarra River for £481 at the
    Port Phillip land sales held in Sydney.
  • Period: to

    Building a mill and a weir.

    Dight built his water powered mill with bricks brought over from Tasmania.
    Dight used the river to power his mill. Water flowed along the bay to turn an undershot water wheel. In order to
    control flow or to guarantee flow for times when river levels were
    low, Dight constructed a rough stone
    [Link text] (weir.https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/27/Dights_falls.jpg/300px-Dights_falls.jpg)
  • Period: to

    Ownership changes of the Mill

    The Dight's quit flour milling and the land were sold to Edwin Trennery in 1878. Trennery later divided the land. The first mill on the river bank stayed vacant until 1888, when flour millers Gillespie, Aitken, and Scott built a new mill and connected buildings at the site.The mill race was rebuilt in much the same place using bluestone blocks from Dight’s old mill building, and a new mill and connected buildings were constructed. This enterprise was sold to the Melbourne Flour Milling Company.
  • Period: to

    Last of the Mills

    The mill was sold for a final time before it was
    destroyed by fire. The mill's ruins can still be
    found at Dights Falls today.
  • Period: to

    Reconstruction of Dight falls

    The reconstruction of Dight Falls when a part of the weir broke off and washed away in the flood
    [Link text] (waters.http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/30212863.jpg)
  • Period: to

    The breach of the weir

    The breach of the weir prompted the owners to rebuild it again.
  • Period: to

    A second breach of the weir

    Most of the weir washed away again. Anything that was washed away washed replaced the year after.