Windmills - Callington Mill - Harnessing the Power of the Wind

Callington Mill in Oatlands (Tasmania) is a working Georgian windmill and the only operating flour mill of its type in the Southern Hemisphere.
It was built in 1837 in the style of a Lincolnshire tower mill, and consists of a stone tower with a wooden 'cap' or roof, which can rotate to bring the four sails into the wind.

After falling into disrepair, the mill was fully restored and re-opened in 2010. Today it is the only working example of its type in the southern hemisphere.

The grain is ground in the traditional fashion using millstones. These are powered by the wind which turns the massive blades on the windmill. (The attached pic of a millstone is from Woolmers and not Oatlands.)

 Local farmers grow wheat, spelt and rye, which is harvested in January and February each year. The quality flour produced by the mill is sold to bakeries, restaurants and the public to create products with a unique provenance.

Wind Power, as demonstrated here, dates back centuries, but with the demand for clean energy, wind power is again important to us. Tasmania, being in the band of the Roaring Forties, is an ideal place for wind farms and generation of power from the wind.

Earlier today I published a short story e-book for children - Grandma's Windmills which introduces them to three forms of wind power, including the flour mill.

Heritage Highway to Hobart - in search of Bushrangers

Last week I went to Hobart to learn of Tasmania’s history in particular about Van Diemen's Land bushranger, Matthew Brady.
It’s only a 200 mile journey from Launceston to Hobart but the Midlands are rich in the history of early settlement and most places still retain the names given by early settlers – Tunbridge, Jericho, Bagdad, Jerusalem (now Colebrook) and Oatlands.

The Heritage Highway, as it is now called, was once the stage coach route and in the early days there were four miliary posts between Hobart and the north and towns grew up around them. The soldiers’ duty was to apprehend bushrangers and escaped convicts.
The town of Oatlands still has 87 sandstone Georgian buildings, the largest collection in Australia – many of these were built by convict labour and today retain the character of the 19th Century. Included is the oldest Supreme Courthouse in the country.
Oatlands also has some remarkable modern metal sculptures dotted across the hillsides which remind the traveller of its history.
It is claimed that the first game of golf in Australia was played in the town of Bothwell on Alexander Reid's property 'Ratho' in the 1820s – this early golf course is still in use today. And Bothwell, being settled by Scots was the home of Australia's first and oldest pedigree Aberdeen Angus stud.
Pics: Metal sculptures on the hills – bushrangers and a troop of soldiers plus beautiful houses and Georgian buildings are everywhere