Hawker Flour Mills

In the era of wheat growing in the Hawker area there were two flour mills. The operators were the Adelaide Milling Company and John Dunn Milling company. Many towns in South Australia had flour mills at that time, but Hawker was one of four towns that had two mills. The flour mills were built in about 1884, the Adelaide Milling Co mill was completed on the 24th May 1884 in many early photos of Hawker the chimneys of the flour mills can be seen.

The Boiler and fire box of one of the mills remains today on the block of 55 Cradock road this was Fred Teague’s home block. The railway line at the time run parallel to Elder terrace in Hawker and there were double gates in the fence opposite the mill that allowed a spur railway line to come through and across Elder Terrace into what was the mill yard, the line extended into the block almost to Cradock road.

My father (Fred Teague) told me that there were stacks of the bags of wheat in the yard.

Bagged wheat would have come from the North and from Wilson in the South.

 

All that remains now is the Boiler and firebox.

 Wheat Stack at Wilson Railway Station.

The Curyer children Joan, Kathleen and Bill, 1939.

Bill and his sisters played at the wheat stacks while their parents worked on the wheat stacks.

 

Wilson 1939 wheat stack. Bert Curyer on top of wheat stack, 33,000 bags of wheat were weighed and tallied by Mrs Gert Curyer.

Wheat lumped into stack and out again when rail trucks were available by Bert and his brother Jim Curyer.

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