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The Dight Family's mill and land along the Yarra changed hands a number of times in the mid to late 1800's. The mill was rebuilt as a similar replica of Dight's mill. This mill was sold in 1891 to the Melbourne Flour Milling Company. The Mill changed hands for the final time in 1909 before it was destroyed by fire. The Mill race and ruins of the mill can still be found today at Dights Falls.
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The traditional landowners of the area around Dights Falls were the Wurundjeri Balluk people.The nearby junction of the Merri Creek and Yarra River was an important meeting place for trade, marriage, dispute resolutions and other ceremonies. Dights Fall remains an important and spiritual place for the Wurundjeri Balluk people.
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Charles Grimes who was the Surveyor General of New South Wales, reported against the prospects of settling in Dights Falls.
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The first steam powered mill was constructed in Melbourne in 1841. Dight used the river to power his mill as the water flowed along an inlet channel to turn an undershot water wheel. To regulate the flow when river levels were low, Dight constructed a stone weir.
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The weir at Dights Falls dates way back to 1895 when a timber structure was built to provide fresh water to the Melbourne Flour Milling Company.
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The first ever reconstruction occurred in 1918 when part of the timber weir washed away in the flood. The Minister of Public Works declared that the weir would be rebuilt.
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A small part of the weir on the 24th of December 1940 prompted another rebuild and the distribution of 1.5 tonnes of rock from the weir downstream.
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A further breach of the weir occurred after heavy rainfall in 1967. Parts of the timber, decking, wailing and rock fill had washed away or were damaged during this large flood.
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The original timber piles, were capped by concrete which replaced the timber deck and resulting in the weir structure that we see today.
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In 1993, Melbourne Water recognised that the weir was a barrier to fish migration so they constructed a rock fishway to allow fish to move around the weir. The rock fishway was only partially effective and the Dights Falls Weir acted as a barrier to native fish migration in the Yarra River.
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The new weir and fishway are to be constructed and finalised during 2010 and 2011, as it is very likely that this project will take six months to construct.
