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The Wurundjeri people, the traditional landowners used the river as a source of food and a source of materials
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Charles Grimes is known to be the first European to explore the Yarra River. He was unsure about settling around that area.
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Melbourne eventually settles and public land sales were held shortly after
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John Dight perchased Melbourne block 88 which included 26 acres of land along the Yarra River.
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John Dight was in the flour mill business and had a mill near Campbell Town in New South Wales. In April he notified his customers that he was departing to Port Phillip
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The first ever steam powered flour mill was built in Melbourne. Further on John Dight built his own Water powered mill using bricks sent from Tasmania.
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Dight used the river to power his mill. Water flowed along an inlet channel to turn a water wheel. In order to regulate flow or to ensure flow for times when river levels were low, Dight constructed a rough stone weir.
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The Dight family sold their flour mill business to Edwin Trennery in 1878, Trennery subdivided the land.
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The original mill on the river bank remained unoccupied until 1888, when millers Gillespie, Aitken and Scott, operating under the name of ‘Yarra Falls Roller Flour Mills’ constructed a new mill and associated buildings at the site.
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The mill race was rebuilt in much the same position using bluestone blocks from Dight’s old mill building. This small enterprise was then sold to the Melbourne Flour Milling Company.
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The mill changed hands for a final time in 1909 before it was destroyed by a fire. The ruins of the mill can still be found at Dights Falls today.
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The first documented reconstruction of the Weir was in 1918 when part of the timber weir washed away in flood waters.
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In 1993 Melbourne Water, recognising that the weir was a barrier to fish migration constructed a rock fishway to allow the fish to move around the weir. The rock Fishway way was only partially effective and the Dights Falls Weir continues to act as a major barrier to native fish migration in the Yarra River.
