The Lucas Watermills Archaeological Sites are two heritage-listed archaeological sites in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The sites comprise the remnants of two convict-era watermills, the Brisbane Mill on the Williams Creek at Creekwood Reserve, Voyager Point and the Woronora Mill on the Woronora River at Barden Ridge. The original watermills were designed by John Lucas and built from 1822 to 1825 by assigned convict labour. The sites were added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 30 August 2017.
History
Early milling in New South Wales
In the first years of the colony of New South Wales, food production was problematic. The colonists relied on traditional European farming methods and crops which were not always suited to the Australian climate and conditions. While the production of wheat was restricted by climate, soil fertility and plant diseases, the conversion of grain to flour was largely influenced by issues of technology transfer. The adaptation of technology to a new physical and social environment was compounded by the restricted availability of skilled labour.
Experienced millers and millwrights were in short supply in the early colony.Pearson 1996:56 The First Fleet had arrived with four millstones but with no millwrights nor suitable millstream a substantial milling enterprise was not possible. The first grain was ground with forty iron hand mills which quickly wore and had an output as little as one bushel per twenty four hours.Birmingham, Jack and Jeans 1983:27 As early as 1791 Governor Phillip noted that a windmill was urgently needed, although Lieutenant-Governor Philip Gidley King argued that the building of a mill would be too labour-intensive and expensive and stone querns presented a more practical option.Tratai 1994:14 Governor Phillip sent several requests for skilled tradesmen, to no avail. In 1793 a convict called Wilkinson eventually produced a treadmill. The treadmill garnered only one bushel per hour with two men walking the boards.Tratai 1994:19 - 22 Better treadmills followed with some still in use till 1825 for punishment. Horses and bullocks were also used to power mills such as that at Cox's estate at Winbourne and a mobile mill in the Hunter Valley, both operating in the 1830s.Birmingham, Jack and Jeans 1983:32
When Governor Hunter arrived in 1795 he brought designs and components for a windmill and by 1797 one had been erected at Millers Point in Sydney. Despite this one success the industry remained at a standstill. Mill technology was not easily acquired and implemented without the knowledge of experienced skilled tradesmen. Carpenters were also working with new timbers whose properties they were unfamiliar with. Various other problems including storms, theft, inexperienced operators and an economy drive by the British government further slowed the development of milling. A second windmill, at Parramatta, was eventually built in 1805, but by 1799 when Governor Hunter departed, the Sydney mill was the only operating unit and most milling was still being done by hand.Tatrai 1994:24-29
Meanwhile, both the first watermill and the first windmill in the colony had been built in 1794 on Norfolk Island under the direction of Lieutenant-Governor King. King was advantaged by the availability of more suitable timber and the use of Nathaniel Lucas, a convict who was an experienced carpenter with knowledge of millwrighting.Tratai 1994:19, 30 When King became Governor of New South Wales, he found that transfer of British mill technology to Sydney continued to be limited by the continuing lack of skilled tradesmen, and building materials and techniques, particularly suitable timber and strong mortar. The output of the one operational mill, at only six bushels per hour, could not meet the demand of the increased population and increased wheat production.Tatrai, pp30-31 King implemented regulation to control the quality and price of bread and moved to increase milling capacity. Under his direction Nathaniel Lucas prefabricated two post mills and quarried millstones on Norfolk Island. One was erected in 1797 at Miller's PointFarrer 2005:17 and was operated by the government. The other, erected in The Domain, was operated privately by Lucas and later Kable.Tatrai 1994:32 Government-owned mills began to be supplemented by private enterprises in this way. Nathaniel Lucas built several more mills which he operated privately and was followed into the milling and building trade by his son John.
The development of water mills, specifically, was hampered by the Australian climate, characterised by variable rainfall and consequent variation in river flow. Early attempts at Parramatta in 1779 and 1803 failed due to intermittent water flows and dam collapse, poor sighting, bad construction and a continuing lack of skilled labour. Even after significant repairs the output was disappointing,Birmingham, Jack and Jeans 1983:38 and much grain was shipped down to Sydney for milling.Tatrai 1994:35 However, in the next 10 years, understanding of the local conditions improved, designs were adapted and skilled labour increased.
The number of mills in the county of Cumberland began to decrease in the 1860s due to decreased grain production in the area and the opening up of new agricultural land. There was a massive spread of mills into expanding rural areas in the second half of the nineteenth century till the development of the rail system and cheaper transport costs along with more capital intensive technology encouraged the concentration of milling in capital cities in the early twentieth century. Steam power was developed in England at the end of the eighteenth century and was first implemented in Australian at Dickson's steam mill near Darling Harbour in 1815. Steam mills became common by the 1830s and became the dominant type of mill from the 1850s.Birmingham, Jack and Jeans 1983:45 From the late 1870s there was a gradual change to roller mills and increasing centralisation.Connah 1988:133
There were 11 mills in 1821, 46 by 1830, 100 by1840 and a peak of around 200 before the start of centralisation in the 1880s.Farrer 2005:18
Nathaniel Lucas
Nathaniel Lucas, a builder, joiner and carpenter, was transported to Sydney as a convict in the First Fleet. Upon his arrival he was among fifteen convicts specially selected for their character and vocation to pioneer Norfolk Island, arriving on 6 March 1788.Herman 2006- 2012
He married one of the fifteen convicts, Olivia Gascoine, and the two had thirteen children between 1789 and 1807.
Having proven his unmatched skill, Nathaniel was named master carpenter in 1795. In addition to supervising the construction of many of the island's buildings, he constructed an overshot mill on Norfolk Island in 1795. This was notable as the first successful mill of this type in the colony.
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser reported his return to Sydney on 17 March 1805 to take up the position of Superintendent of Carpenters in Sydney. With him on came two prefabricated, disassembled windmills and several mill stones fabricated on Norfolk Island.Ancestry.com 2006-2012 The two smock mills were erected; one above the Rocks and the other in what is now the Domain. The Sydney Gazette and NSW Advertiser on 16 February 1806 described Nathaniel Lucas erecting an octagonal smock mill near the Esplanade of Port Phillip, the present site of the Sydney Observatory. This mill had a height of 40 feet with a base diameter of 22 feet and worked 2 pairs of Norfolk Island mill stones. Nathaniel is credited with building six mills. He apprenticed at least one of his sons, John, in the building and millwright trades at his mills at Sydney and Liverpool from around 1805–1815.
Nathaniel's success extended to various entrepreneurial pursuits. By 1809 he was building and selling boats. For his own uses he built a 60ton schooner, Olivia, in Port Dalrymple. The Olivia was key in the Lucas family goods-shipping enterprise until the late 1820s.
Over time, the matriarch and a number of the Lucas children made either temporary or permanent moves to the Launceston area in Van Diemens Land. The family established a number of inter-related businesses, culminating in a regular trade between Van Diemens Land and Sydney Cove.Kate Matthew 2011
In 1818 Nathaniel gained the contract for building St Luke's Church, Liverpool, designed by architect Francis Greenway. The two had a tempestuous relationship. Greenway had previously quarrelled with Lucas over the building of the Rum Hospital and in 1818 alleged that poor quality stone was used the foundations of the church, and that Lucas was a drunkard.
On 5 May 1818 Nathaniel Lucas' body was found in the Georges River at Liverpool, his death having "proceeded from his own act, owing to mental derangement".Herman 2006-2012 After Nathaniel's death The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser for Saturday 5 September 1818 advertised his wind mill in Liverpool for sale.
John Lucas John Lucas had been born on Norfolk Island on 21 December 1796 to Nathaniel Lucas and his wife Olivia (née Gascoigne). Both parents had arrived in the new colony as convicts on the First Fleet, and had married on Norfolk Island. He moved to Sydney with his family at the age of 9 and eventually followed in the footsteps of his father, apprenticing in carpentry and milling and pursuing various entrepreneurial ventures.
In addition to building and operating three mills John is known to have owned an inn on George Street, Sydney, "The Black Swan", in addition to a warehouse and goods emporium at Liverpool.
In 1817 John married Mary Rowley, the illegitimate daughter of wealthy land owner and Captain of the New South Wales Marine Corps, Thomas Rowley at St Philip's Church, Sydney. The marriage resulted in 10 children.
Like many enterprising colonials, John's ventures were exposed to considerable risk. His substantial investment in his 1822 watermill on Harris Creek, known as the Brisbane Mill, in modern-day Voyager Point was hampered by a series of drought and flood. With an imperative to satisfy prominent creditors, Lucas attempted to supplement the Brisbane Mill with a new watermill, known as the Woronora Mill, in a remote area on the Woronora River near Engadine whilst he undertook significant repairs. The location of the two mills on tributaries of the Georges River may have allowed John to avoid paying duties on the flour he produced through shipping it in small boats to Liverpool, and using land transport to travel directly to the markets in Sydney, thereby avoiding the customs presence in Port Jackson.Jackson, Forbes, 2012 Ultimately, due to a combination of climactic events, the sinking of his family schooner, Olivia in 1827, the death of his brother and occasional business partner, William Lucas, and increasing competition from steam mills, John was declared bankrupt in 1828 and his two mills were transferred to his creditors.
In time, he recovered from his financial problems, largely due to a substantial inheritance received by his wife in 1832. He became a prominent landholder in the Burwood district and in 1841 built the dam for the Australian Sugar Company sugar mill at Canterbury.SMH, Friday 2 February 1883, p.5 He died in 1875 at Murrumbateman. John Lucas is remembered in the name of the suburb on the ridge above the Woronora Mill, known until recently as Lucas Heights. His name is also remembered in several place and street names at Richmond, Moorebank, Five Dock, Camperdown, Emu Plains, Panania, Lalor Park and Cronulla.