Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                

The Watermills of John Lucas: The Woronora Mill

The archaeology of the Woronora watermill built by John Lucas in 1825 south of Sydney...Read more
The Watermills of John Lucas: Part 3 Pam Forbes Greg Jackson Authors Note: The number of images that can be included in this article is naturally limited and many of them are hard to interpret in black and white so all the images in this article as well as some extras can be viewed or downloaded from: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/85728880/Woronora-Mill-Images.doc Depending on your internet speed this download may take a little while. This is the third article covering covered the history of John Lucas and his watermills. In this article Lucas’ Woronora Mill, built in 1825 and its archaeology is discussed. The Woronora Mill site is a steep valley on the Woronora River below the Pass of Sabugal and about 60 meters upstream from the extent of navigation. The mill was on the rivers south eastern bank with the dam extending across the river. Latitude: 34.045753°S Longitude: 151.007679°E NSW Department of Land and Property Information (SIX) 2012 The isolated Woronora Mill site is largely uncontaminated by later development. The location of the site has long been subject to speculation by local historians such as Cridland (1924:131) and Curbie (2004:25) but the location remained unknown or at least unreported until recently and is undisturbed by human activity It has however been largely destroyed by natural forces. Description: Causeway, Pass of Sabugal Woronora mill site
The site is in a steep valley with residential development currently restricted to the ridge tops. The surrounding vegetation is open woodland. There is a fire trail that provides public access upstream at the Pass of Sabugal. A large Water Board supply pipe from Woronora Dam runs above the site on the southern bank of the river. The river is navigable for small boats to approximately 60m below the dam site. The aerial map above shows the mill site on a large, rough but level shelf of bedrock on the south eastern bank of the Woronora River. Access to the site is provided either by From the north side, walking down the Water Board access track shown on the aerial photo. This track approximately follows Mitchell’s 1843 road from Sir Thomas Mitchell Drive in the suburb of Barden Ridge. From the south side, walking down the track leading from the end of Woronora Road. By boat up the Woronora to the extent of navigation. On reaching the causeway, at the Pass of Sabugal, a bush track leads on the northern side to the mill site along the north western riverbank. High water levels may cover some of the archaeological features show on the site plan as well as making the crossing of the river unsafe. How the site was located: On 18 May 1843 Major Sir Thomas Mitchell, then NSW Surveyor General, wrote to the Governor describing the “direct line of road to the Illawarra” that he had surveyed and was being built. A photocopy of this letter numbered 43/161 was located in the Local Studied Section of the Sutherland Library (the original is in the State Archives). The letter states, ‘It will be obvious from the accompanying map that the River Woronora which is navigable for boats to Lucas’ Mill Dam, (at A)…’ and the ‘Punt proposed on the Georges River’ at B’. The map mentioned was subsequently located in the State Library of NSW and the relevant part of the map is shown below.