Markwood Mill

Tucked in behind farm buildings between Everton and Markwood in northeast Victoria, is the only surviving standing building from a nineteenth century small scale water powered flour mill (as opposed to the huge Anderson Mill complex at Smeaton).

The "Ovens River Flour Mill" was constructed in about 1867 by partners James Henley and Jonathon Thomas Bell. Bell described himself as a mill owner in an 1868 inquiry into the death of Michael Manning, an employee at the mill, who accidentally drowned in the Ovens River.

In 1879 Bell left for Europe and held a clearing sale at the mill, after which little is heard about it, so presumably it had ceased milling.

The mill is a substantial structure of local sedimentary stone, with a grid of 4x2 290 mm square posts supporting two upper floor levels. the floorboards and beams were removed at some point to accommodate tobacco drying sticks. Shafts and pulleys from former milling equipment are also located in the roof space.

Evidence of the main wheel shaft and gearing can be glimpsed through gaps in the floor, and bolts from the bearings near the wheel pit. The shaft passed through the water wall through an arched opening.