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The Surveyor General of New South Wales, Charles Grimes is
believed to be the first person from Europe to explore the Yarra River. He
led a survey party on a river expedition to the Yarra Falls area in 1803 reporting on the prospects of settling there. -
John Dight bought Melbourne block 88, which
included 26 acres of land by the Yarra River for £481 at the
Port Phillip land sales held in Sydney. -
Dight built his water powered mill with bricks brought over from Tasmania.
Dight used the river to power his mill. Water flowed along the bay to turn an undershot water wheel. In order to
control flow or to guarantee flow for times when river levels were
low, Dight constructed a rough stone
[Link text] (weir.https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/27/Dights_falls.jpg/300px-Dights_falls.jpg) -
The Dight's quit flour milling and the land were sold to Edwin Trennery in 1878. Trennery later divided the land. The first mill on the river bank stayed vacant until 1888, when flour millers Gillespie, Aitken, and Scott built a new mill and connected buildings at the site.The mill race was rebuilt in much the same place using bluestone blocks from Dight’s old mill building, and a new mill and connected buildings were constructed. This enterprise was sold to the Melbourne Flour Milling Company.
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The mill was sold for a final time before it was
destroyed by fire. The mill's ruins can still be
found at Dights Falls today. -
The reconstruction of Dight Falls when a part of the weir broke off and washed away in the flood
[Link text] (waters.http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/30212863.jpg) -
The breach of the weir prompted the owners to rebuild it again.
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Most of the weir washed away again. Anything that was washed away washed replaced the year after.
