RE: [Engineering Heritage Thornleigh Maltworks
Gary Vines
Something to look out for is the shape and scale of the malting building
Long low ceilinged long and narrow buildings are typical of manual turning on the malt floor – mechanical travelling rakes could be installed in these situations. If designed for mechanical turning, the floor height could be very low – less than 6 feet.
Smaller spaces may have contained circular malting vessels such as below
Some good illustrations of the relationship of the process to the enclosing buildings are in this site- http://www.ukmalt.com/old-new-malt-production-methods
Gary
Iain,
I presume this was a large specialist commercial maltings supplying various breweries that didn't want to make their own malt. Mechanised malting came in in Australia in the early 1900s, so a large 1913 maltings would certainly have been mechanised, with the germinating barley and roasted barley/malt being turned or stirred by machines rather than by traditional hand methods. Mechanised germination would probably have been either in rotary drums or in long pits with travelling archimedes screws - as an industrial archaeologist you would be able to tell which from the layout of the buildings, even if there is no survivng documentation.
See my 1986 report on the Tooheys Malthouse (rotary germination) or I think Don Godden's report on the Tooths or CUB malthouse and brewery (travelling screw type), both of those maltings being incorporated in large Sydney breweries. Try the Mitchell Library and/or NSW Heritage Office library for those reports. Also, see The Australian Brewers' Journal (any large new local maltings would get written up there), and my 1986 report lists several other general references on malting. I would suggest searching Trove for various newspaper reports of the Company and the individual Maltings -- particularly the usually comprehensive reports of such places opening.
Carl Doring
I am doing an archival recording of the Thornleigh Maltworks which was established in 1913 by the NSW Malting Co and later operated by Barrett Burston. I am having trouble working out process flows on the site largely due to the absence of any historical documentation and I was wondering whether anyone on this list might be able to explain this to me. If you can help or know someone who might be able to help please contact me at the address below,
Dr Iain Stuart
| Gary Vines |
| Senior Consultant Archaeologist |
| Mobile: 0428 526 898 |
| Direct: (03) 8686 4814 |
| Email: GVi...@biosis.com.au |
 |
| Leaders in Ecology and Heritage Consulting |
| 38 Bertie Street (PO Box 489) Port Melbourne VIC 3207 |
| ph: (03) 8686 4800 fax: (03) 9646 9242 |
| biosis.com.au |
The information transmitted including attachments is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain copyright material, or information that is confidential or is exempt from disclosure by law. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is strictly prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from your computer. The views expressed in this email are those of the sender except where the sender expressly and with authority states them to be the views of Biosis Pty Ltd. Biosis Pty Ltd does not represent that this email is free of errors, viruses or interference. When using email to communicate with Biosis Pty Ltd, access to that information by Biosis Pty Ltd personnel is strictly limited and controlled.