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Exploring the Yarra River
Charles Grimes, Surveyor General of NSW, was the first European to explore the Yarra River with his survey party. He reported unfavourably on the prospects of settling there. -
Melbourne Settlement
Melbourne was eventually settled. The first public land sales were held after the land was sub-divided. -
Port Phillip Land Sales
John Dight purchased Melbourne block 88, which came along with 26 acres of land along the Yarra River for £481 at the Port Phillip land sales held in Sydney. -
Leaving business
John Dight had a business for flour milling and he owned a mill near Campbell Town in New South Wales called Ceres. In April, he notified his customers through The Sydney Herald, telling them that he was leaving to go to Port Phillip. -
The First Steam Powered Flour Mill
The first steam powered flour mill was built in Melbourne. Before Dight had built his water powered mill, bricks were delivered from Tasmania. -
Abandoning Flour Milling
The Dight family had abandoned flour milling and all of it was sold. -
Sold
After the Dight family had abandoned flour milling, the property was then sold to Edwin Trennery. He then eventually subdivided the land. -
The original mill on the river bank stayed unoccupied until, flour millers, Gillespie, Aitken and Scott constructed a new mill and associated buildings at the site. They worked under the name of 'Yarra Falls Roller Flour Mills'.
The original mill on the river bank stayed unoccupied until, flour millers, Gillespie, Aitken and Scott constructed a new mill and associated buildings at the site. They worked under the name of 'Yarra Falls Roller Flour Mills'. -
Sold
The mill race in a very similar position bluestone blocks from Dight's old mill building. A new mill and associated buildings were also constructed. This was then sold to the Melbourne Flour Milling Company. -
The existing weir to Dight Falls
A timber structure was built to provide water to the Melbourne Flour Milling Company. -
Destroyed
The owner of the mill changed another time in 1909 before it was destroyed by a fire. The ruins of the mill race can still be found at Dight Falls today. -
First Reconstruction Document
The first reconstruction document occurred in 1918 when a part of the timber weir washed away in the flood waters. The Minister for Public Works that the Weir would be rebuilt at the time, even though the area of these works are anonymous. -
Distribution and Rebuild
A breach of the weir prompted another distribution and rebuild of one and a half tonnes of rock from the edge of the weir downstream. -
Flood
After a heavy rainfall, another further breach of the weir occurred. Most of the wailings, rock fill and timber decking had washed away or were damaged during this flood. -
Barrier for Native Fish
In Melbourne water, you could see that there was a barrier to fish migration constructed a rock fishway to allow to move around the weir. While at the time, it was considered best practise at the time, the rock fishway way was only effective and the Dight Falls Weir on goes to act as a major barrier to native fish migration in the Yarra River.
