Summary

A flourmill was first established at Natimuk by Bretag and Kuse in 1874 and later taken over by R.& A. Barker. After T.J. & E.B. Noske purchased the mill from Barker Bros in the latter part of 1905, they decided to relocate it to a site closer to the railway (which had opened in 1894), in order to make deliveries more conveniently by rail. The four-story brick mill building and chimney was dismantled by the contractor Mr Dunstan, of Ballarat, and re-erected 'on a commending site directly opposite the Natimuk railway station' with an 'excellent siding' constructed to connect it to the main line.

The mill building was adorned with the name "Noske" inlaid in white tiles into the brick facade on each side of the building, and was attached to "an immense grain shed of corrugated iron, capable of storing 15,000 bags of wheat", with additional stacks constructed outside in the surrounding yard when required. The up-to-date roller milling plant was installed by Mr Moller, of South Melbourne, with the entire process completed in the short space of just seven weeks. Machinery in the mill was driven by a 12-inch x 36-inch single-cylinder horizontal steam engine, with high-pressure cut-off, through a 12-inch wide double leather transmission belt, with steam supplied by a 100 psi internally-fired multitubular boiler made by Cowley's Eureka Ironworks, of Ballarat. The whole of the mill, stores and offices were lit by electricity throughout, using an electric generating plant installed by Mr W. Crossle, of Messrs Siemens Bros., Melbourne. Capacity of the mill was initially capable of gristing 7 bags of wheat per hour, later increased to about ton an hour, or 100,000 bags per annum. The reconstructed mill was officially opened on Friday 23rd February 1906 and remained in operation until destroyed by fire on the morning of Thursday 15th January 1920. It was never rebuilt because by that time economies of scale were influencing the concentration of flourmilling into larger regional towns and the metropolitan mills in Melbourne.

Noske Bros operated a group of flourmills through the Wimmera during the early decades of the 20th century, with mills at Horsham, Nhill, Natimuk, Bordertown, Charlton and Wycherproof, and later extended into South Australia.

Description of Content

Two large double-bogie Victorian Railways flat wagons or trucks (236 QR & 233 QR) loaded with bags (or sacks) of wheat. A large man with a dog is standing beside the rear corner of the front wagon resting his hand on the load, while a group of men are seated and standing in a group on top of the load on the same wagon. The wagons are standing on a siding near the Natimuk Railway Station. Behind the loaded railway wagons is part of a two storey corrugated-iron clad building, with the letters 'AR..' just visible on the facade. This building is possibly the corrugated-iron wheat storage shed erected for Noske Bros' new Arapiles Roller Flour Mills opposite the railway station in 1906.

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