Crago FLour Mills - history

[stepowski]

Dear All

There has been a marvellous conversion of the former Moree Crago Mill to
offices

Can anyone point me to a history of 'Crago Mills' and subsequently 'Goodman
Fielders' which in 1978 bought the site then 'moth-balled' it

Regards Sue J-S
Heritage Advisor Moree Plains Shire Council

Principal
Jackson-Stepowski Heritage Planning
11 Forrest Street, Haberfield NSW 2045
(Sydney) Australia
T: +61 (0)2 9798 4407
M: +61 (0)407 97 98 97
E: step...@tpg.com.au

[Iain]

The Crago family deserves a detailed history but unfortunately has not
been well served by historians or industrial heritage specialists. I
have information on the Crago family and their ownership of the flour
mills at Yass but they were a branch of the Cragos and related but in
terms of business separate from the Crago's family that owned the
mills at Bathurst, Newtown and elsewhere in the Central West. Both
Crago families has a close association with Henry Simon's and the
introduction of roller milling. It is my understanding that the Crago
mill in Bathurst may have been the first to convert to roller milling,
but as there is no definitive history of flour milling in NSW I may be
wrong.

Iain

[john...@ozemail.com.au]

Hello,

It's true it the big Crago deserves a detailed history.

And what  about the next-west one along the railway, not quite as large probably, at Beresford Road near corner of Elva Street, Strathfield.

That one is now a couple of very big blocks of highrise units (but not the highest around - not as high as the towers at nearby Strathfield square).

Usually there is some sort of history to be found buried away somewhere in the DA or associated papers.   But if such was ever done for that flour mill then I don't think anyone has ever extracted it better, into the open domain of the internet.

But what exactly are the requirements to document history before it is all done away with ... and how much does it vary from council to council?

Strathfield council doesn't even have a heritage committee at present.

Every so often it gets re-suggested to them that they ought to have one --- but the current set of councillors don't think it is necessary.   And Hornsby was pointed to, which was considering abolishing their heritage committee because it was supposedly costing too much (in the end though, Hornsby fortunately changed their minds -- after some protested, or suggested they could get in volunteers to make the sandwiches, etc., and cut costs rather than cut the committee).


Cheers,


John




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On Mon Nov 7 16:33 , Iain sent:

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[william budd]

In answer to various questions the Cragos are certainly worthy of their place in Australian history.  The flour empire/s started in Yass circa 1850s with brothers Petherick and Francis.  Initially working as laborers they acquired the Yass Mill - in short order Francis moved to Bathurst and bought the Hibernian mill.  

Two seperate companies grew P T Crago  (Yass) and F Crago & Sons (Bathurst).    The Yass business eventually faded out.   

Francis Crago had a touch of the visionary about him.. established himself in Bathurst (served as mayor) but found the call of the big city and big business taking him to Sydney early 1880s.  Rapid success saw him build the Newtown Mill and establish other major mills along the eastern seaboard.

Francis had the wit/fortune/capital to see the emergence of the new milling technologies (steel roller milling) being introduced from the 1870s.  He was an early adopter.

Milling had changed in less than a generation from small locality based family concerns as grist mills into mega mills in metro/coastal locations.  Francis Crago foresaw the emerging trend and by the 1880s found himself a prominent colonial era entrepreneur.  With his main mill in Newtown (www.flourmillstudios.com.au) and residing in then semi rural Strathfield/Belfield the family was part of a colonial elite.  The Cragos were socially connected with the Hoskins family (ex-Lithgow).  

The rapid milling industry change was influenced by many factors;

* industrial revolution - new machines

* railway infrastructure rolling out across NSW in particular 

* plant genetics -new wheat strains shifted grain growing to larger acreages further north and west

The Crago story is extraordinary and takes two impoverished Cornish farm hands across the world where within a space of some 30 years they build a grain milling empire that lasts only some 70 years before the business collapses.   The story that is in between - from 1850 at Yass and up to the middle 1900s - spans a time of social change and upheavel,  new technology, the dominance of the western world.

Baz Luhrman would have had a far better story than The Great Gatsby to film had he know the scope and scale of the colonial era business elites from late Victorian to early Edwardian days.  

**

We are associated with the Bathurst Crago  Mill and have been carrying out research into milling history generally and the Cragos in particular.

Happy to correspond with any interested parties via jaksbak   -at -  live.com

Cheers

Iain's thoughts on Bathurst being the first roller mill is off the mark.  Roller mills began to widely roll out from the 1870s and Bathurst Mill opened for business 1906.  The Bathurst Mill was purpose built to accommodate roller technology.

The change from old stone wheel milling into the steam/electric era roller mills was an evolution that involved many hybrid stages.  Many old style mills tried to adapt/adopt the new machines - some had short term success.  The new machines soon dictated the design and construction of modern mills and their productivity wiped away the old mills.