Early Description
Dr B. A Kent arrived in South Australia on board the Warrior together with his wife and children in April 1840. According to his farewell speech when he left the colony to return to England in 1854, extensively reported in the Adelaide Observer:
“ In consequence of having suffered in my health very severely from arduous professional duties in England, it was thought desirable by my medical and other friends that I should seek a temporary, if not a permanent, suspension of them and after much anxious deliberation, I determined on bring to this Province to erect here, and to work, machinery invented by the Marquis of Tweedale, for the rapid and economical manufacture of bricks and tiles.”
Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 – 1904) Sat 23 Dec 1854
Kent had options to lease (Preliminary) Section 46 bordering on the River Torrens or Section 255 through which ran the Greenhill Rivulet, (now called First Creek).
South Australian Preliminary Sections as surveyed by Colonel Light.
He decided on Section 255 as most suitable for the industry he intended to establish and arranged for a pre-built cottage to be erected and for the brick/tile-making equipment to be unloaded, including one of the first steam engines in the Colony. (see below).
View of East Park Farm (Dr Kent’s Paddock)
Dr Kent’s Residence [B 5768] State Library of South Australia
While Kent continued with his brick/tile making enterprise, he was persuaded by Governor Gawler to also construct a flour mill based on the steam engine he had bought out from England. A description follows:
- KENT’S MILL.
THIS is a steam mill and is situated in the section immediately beyond the Park Land, to the north-east of South Adelaide. It was commenced in August,1840, at the express desire of his Excellency Governor Gawler—there being at that time no flourmill in the colony, nor any in progress of erection. It commenced work in the first week in January 1841. The original millhouse was constructed of wood, and this, with the subsequent addition of a second story, still contains all the machinery, excepting the steam-engine.
It is of great strength, the sleeper, the corner posts and the beams, being made of timber 12 inches square, with strong knees, fastened by iron bolts, at all the corners. There are now three rooms in this house, each 7 feet in height, and 20 feet square and in front, on the west side facing the town, a store, or shed, extends 30 feet by the breadth of the mill, for the reception and weighing of the wheat, and for storing the produce for delivery. The approach to this is by a fenced road branching from that leading to Payneham, Klemzig, &c.
To the above erections were added, last year, a brick building, 30 feet square, and the same height as the mill house, 30 feet to the top of the gable and, at the same time, the chimney stack was raised to a height of 55 feet. The brick building contains the engine-room, in which are the steam-engine and the boiler. To the north of this, on the ground floor, is a blacksmith’s shop, and a shed for storing wood in wet weather. Above these, approached by a flight of steps on the outside, is the head miller’s residence, above which, again, and covering both it and the engine room, is a store for wheat, 30 feet square, connected with and opening into the upper floor of the millhouse. Into this store the wheat, on its reception, is hoisted by machinery, ticketed and arranged in order, as it is to be ground.
The machinery of the mill consists of a very excellent standard beam engine of 9 horse power, by Cottam & Hallen, Winsley-street, Oxford-street, London, who were also the manufacturers of the extensive brick and tile machinery brought to the colony by Dr Kent in April, 1840, some parts of which it was used to drive, until its power was applied to the flour-mill.
The temporary machinery first attached to the engine for driving one pair of stones, was made entirely in the province, although there was no foundry here at the time, nor were many other mechanical appliances to be obtained.
The spindle carrying the runner, or upper and revolving millstone was made of crow bars, and other bars of malleable iron, welded together, and the stone pinion or small wheel driving this spindle of strong circular rings of iron, into which the cogs were fixed, by dovetailing. These and other contrivances, rendered necessary by the causes above alluded to. were executed with great ingenuity by Mr. Cain, of Currie-street, the contractor for the work, and answered the temporary use for which they were applied. They were replaced in 1842 by an arrangement of machinery, designed by Dr Kent, and ordered by himself, at the foundry of Messrs Easby and Robertson, of Hobart Town. This consists of a hexagon-laying shaft, coupled on to the crank shaft of the steam-engine, on which is keyed two iron wheel with wooden cogs, each of which drives a pinion on a spindle carrying the runner of a pair of stones above. There are two pairs of very excellent French Burr millstones, each 4ft. 6in. in diameter: one of these pairs is at work, and the other under the hands of the stone-dresser, alternately. The first of the two wheels on the shaft, in addition to the stone pinion, also drives a second pinion on a smaller shaft, at right angles to the first, on which are keyed the pulleys for the hoisting tackle, and the drum for the dressing machine. The bins for the reception of the meal, and the delivery spouts from the dressing machine above, are also in the room on the ground floor. In the first floor are placed the two pairs of millstones, the wheat being supplied to them from hoppers, into which it is conducted by means of a trough, attached to a large conical bin in the floor above. Here are also the dressing-machine, having a cylinder of 6 feet in length, by 20 inches in diameter, and capable of dressing nearly one ton of meal per hour, and also a smut-machine, made by Mr Wyatt, of Grenfell-street, having two blasts from fans placed so as to act on the wheat as it enters, and as it leaves the cylinder. The second floor is occupied partly as a cooling floor for the meal and contains also the hopper to conduct it to the dressing machine, the hoisting tackle, and the large conical bin receiving the wheat, before alluded to.
This mill is in excellent order, and seems to perform a great deal of work, though we did not ascertain the exact amount.
Southern Australian (Adelaide, SA : 1838 – 1844) Tue 14 Mar 1843 Page 2 STATISTICS OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
A few years after Kent (1843), the South Australian Company built a mill on the Torrens in Hackney shown below in a sketch by Frederick Robert Nixon.
State Library of South Australia- [B 7188]
While no view of Kent’s mill has survived, the detailed description in the Southern Australian of 1843 (above) of a three storied building complex with chimney stack suggests that at least part of Kent’s mill may have had a similar appearance to the SAC mill.
Where was Dr Kent’s Mill and what happened to it?
One of the main reasons for Kent choosing Section 255 was the availability of water from what we call First Creek, now running as a covered drain for most its length (and almost invisible in Kent Town). A water supply was an essential part of any business involving steam engines, so the flour mill had to be on or very near to First Creek.
An advertisement in the Register suggests that Kent’s mill was operational a few months after he arrived in the Colony and that it was at the Rundle Street end of Section 255. At that time, Rundle Road, the continuation of Rundle Street into the East Parkland, did not exist, nor did Dequetteville Terrace or any of the current road structure in Kent Town.
DR KENT’S STEAM MILLS.
DR KENT begs to announce that he is ready to receive Corn to Grind and Dress, at his steam mills on Section 255 immediately opposite the East End of Rundle-street.
South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 – 1900) Sat 26 Dec 1840 Page 3 Advertising
The advertising continued for several years.
EAST PARK STEAM FLOUR MILLS.
DR KENT begs to inform the public that the price of grinding and dressing wheat at the above mills will be reduced to one shilling per bushel, on and after Monday the 10th of April instant.
April 6, 1843.
South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 – 1900) Sat 8 Apr 1843 Page 1 Advertising
However, by 1845 Kent was insolvent and had to return to medical practice for a reliable income. The steam mill was moved to Grenfell street where it was still standing in 1932.
LOCAL NEWS OF THE WEEK.
STEAMMILL —Dr Kent’s enlarged medical practice having rendered almost imperative the relinquishment of extra professional pursuits, he has leased his removal and unmodeled flour-mill establishment in Grenfell-street, now rapidly approaching a state of completion, to Mr Paxton.
Mr R. Cocke will personally undertake the management of this important concern and we believe it will be generally admitted that extensive mechanical capabilities and valuable business connexions could not be placed under more able direction.
South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register (Adelaide, SA : 1845 – 1847) Sat 20 Dec 1845 Page 2
Old Flour Mill Still Standing
“THE Grenfell street flour mill mentioned by Sir Herbert Phillipps in the article on early Adelaide in ‘The News’ is still standing.” said Mr. A. T. Saunders, of North Adelaide. today.
“It is part of Milne & Co.’s stores. Originally it was Dr Kent’s flour mill and before being moved to Grenfell street, it was at Kent Town, where it was first used for making clay tiles.”
In 1865, the Grenfell street mill was owned by Beeby & Dunstan, flour millers, who had removed there from Parkside. In August, 1865. Both partners died in the same week. and their business stopped.
In January, 1866, D. & J. Fowler bought the mill and land for £12,000.
News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 – 1954) Thu 10 Nov 1932 Page 12
The exact location of Dr Kent’s mill may have been where the remains of Logue’s Brewery are now in 19 King William Street (Kent Town) as indicated by the plaque on the building.
There are views of this building in 1863 (also showing First Creek) and in 1880 by which time the new Kent Town Brewery had been built by Edwin Smith on the site of Dr Kent’s residence.
James Shaw: Logue’s Brewery 1863 (The Art Gallery of South Australia)
The Old Kent Town Brewery 1880 B2896 State Library SA
Enough of the building still stands for it to be recognisable although the chimney is now missing.
View of Logue’s Brewery building 2022
Whether this building incorporates any remnants of Dr Kent’s mill remains an interesting question; there have been many alterations over the years as can be seen in the back view of the building (below).
Apart from the plaque on the building, there are some newspaper articles that support Logue’s Brewery as being at least close to the site of Dr Kent’s Town steam mill. An example follows (Water, Wind, and Steam. By A. T. Saunders)
Early Steam Mills.
The first steam flour mills were those of Dr Kent and Mr Ridley, respectively at Kent Town and Hindmarsh. Both mills and their owners arrived in the Warrior (see Southern Australian, 23/4/40, p. 3, col. 1 and 5). The same paper, 7/3/43, p. 2, col. 4, in an article on Ridley’s mill, says it is the oldest steam flour mill in South Australia, and was first used in December, 1841, and that only 500 bushels of wheat were ground in 1841-2. The engine was eight horse-power, working up to 12 horsepower, with high pressure steam at 32 lb., the steam being fed into the furnace.
The mill had two pairs of stones. A saw mill was driven by the engine when it was not grinding corn. The engine was by Watt (his “Grasshopper”) and is now in the yard behind the whale skeleton house, North terrace. Dr Kent’s mill was originally on the First Creek, Hackney, where was Logue’s brewery, afterwards E. T. Smith’s; but it was soon moved to Grenfell street and let to Paxton & Cooke.
The Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 – 1929) Mon 9 Apr 1923 Page 8
ADELAIDE’S FIRST MILLS
More on the arrival of Dr Kent.
In 1839, Dr Kent was induced to enter into a negotiation in London with Colonel Torrens for the occupation of one of his Preliminary Sections (46), which was described by one Stephen Blunden as having on it the best clay in the world for the formation of bricks and tiles, for which manufacture Dr Kent had taken out a patent. It was further stated by Blunden that a large navigable river ran by the section, which section Dr Kent agreed to take on lease for five years with a right of pre-emption, and a proviso that should the section not answer the purpose for which it was taken Dr Kent should have power to determine the lease by the forfeiture of £200, paid by him as rent in advance to Colonel Torrens.
Dr Kent arrived in this colony in the month of April, 1840, and found Osmond Gilles, Esq, agent for Colonel Torrens, and was by him shown over Section 46, when he ascertained that Blunden’s statement of the quality of the clay was incorrect, and if the ‘ big river’ had ever been there it had flowed away.
Dr Kent apprised Mr. Gilles of his intention to forfeit the £200, upon which that gentleman drove him to another section (255), which appeared well adapted for his purpose, as Mr. Gilles had made 172,000 bricks upon it.
Dr Kent expressed his willingness to take Section 255 instead of Section 46, and Mr. Gilles gave him possession of it previously charging him £102 10s., the amount expended on the section on Colonel Torrens’s account.
Dr Kent immediately erected on the section a wooden house, with outbuildings, and laid out a garden at an expense of £600; of all which proceedings he duly apprised Colonel Torrens, who wrote a reply expressing a desire to meet all his wishes, or even to allow him to relinquish the agreement altogether and return the deposit— (Dec. 1st, 1840.)
South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 – 1900) Sat 3 May 1851
