Bushbank Mill
Have you ever driven around the Kiama bends and wondered about the story behind the beautiful historic 'Bushbank' farm? While it's a working cattle farm and popular B&B today, its origins lay in an ill-fated movement to start a local wheat industry.
The first indication that a mill was to be built came in 1854 when local land owner John Sharpe purchased part of a property owned by William Manning, just south of Kiama. In 1856, John Sharpe built the Bush Bank Steam Flour Mill, beside a creek and halfway up the South Coast road, which at that time ran from Kiama to Mount Pleasant. The mill was built of basalt field stone with weathered cornered stones of less durable Kiama turf (red-brown stone). Its internal walls were mortared with a lime mortar and were originally set with a lime-set plaster. On its eastern external wall it carried a stone inscribed 'Bush Bank Steam Mill A D 1856' - still visible today on the ruined wall.
Initially, the Bush Bank Mill met with great success and soon the plant became too small for the requirements of the district. Accordingly, Mr Sharpe built a larger mill in Kiama and moved into town with his household. At this stage of his career, Mr Sharpe took an active part in political, municipal and social matters, and in due course became alderman and shortly afterwards mayor of Kiama.
In 1862, the Bush Bank Mill property was sold to George Miller, and then on to John Honey. In 1864, a devastating fungal rust disease began to affect crops throughout the district, signalling the end of the local wheat industry. In 1865, Mr Sharpe decided to leave for the north coast and the Kiama Mill property passed to George Bullen. The Kiama Mill, after lying unused, staged a comeback in 1878, when wheat was imported to Kiama for grinding from Adelaide and New Zealand, but the experiment was short-lived.
It is not certain when Bush Bank Mill ceased operation. All of the Illawarra flour mills had ceased operating by the 1870s, showing just how dramatically rust had impacted the local wheat industry.The mill ruins are a reminder of the lack of technical knowledge about grain crops back then.
The Weir family purchased the Bushbank property in 1882, and it remained in the family until 1986.
Bushbank Falls (located on the Kiama-Gerringong bends) water would have been used at the Bushbank Mill
Ruins of the Bushbank Mills located on the Bushbank farm on the Kiama-Gerringong bends
Ruins of the Bushbank Steam Mill
Bushbank walking track, from 'The Walking Tracks of Kiama Municipality' by Don Cottee
Bushbank farm and B&B as it appears today (the mill is located in the gully behind)
