1st December,,
Greater Shepparton Council and Parks Victoria put on a free Movie at Days Mill for the locals.
Days Mill is the best preserved 19th century flour mill in Victoria. It is named after the original owners William and Anne Day.
The mill and farm was established by William Day who arrived from England in 1852. The family were employed carting goods to the goldfields and his wife Ann ran a store.
The land for the mill and residence and farm was purchased in 1863. By 1865 the flour mill was under construction. In 1869 a punt operated by Anne was used on the Goulburn river near the end of Day road, for movement of flour and items grown on the farm.
Parts of the house dated from 1865, the same time the mill was built. The addition of the two story house was built in 1905. William died in 1872 leaving Anne with 7 children . The estate was worth more than 5,000 pound. A lot of money in those days.
In 1891 the mill ceased commercial operations due to rapid change of technology for milling. Between 1891 and 1913 the farm was run by Joseph and Robert Day and they established a dairy herd and sent butter and cheese across the Goulburn river by flying fox. Joseph died on 26th April 1919
1940 to 1960 the farm changed from mixed farming to grazing. Robert died in 1968. The state government purchased the farm in 1985 to ensure that this historic and important part of Victoria's history would remain preserved for future generations. It is truly a lovely farm and you can feel the presence of the previous owners around the farm. It would be lovely to see Parks Victoria have open days there as a working farm with the people in full costume of that time, for the local and tourist to see.
The movie that we saw was The Man from Snowy River. It was shown in the field right next to the homestead. We had a picnic tea there under the stars. It was interesting watching them put up the screen which was a blow up one. The wind kept trying help them. Eventually the screen was up and the movie started. Not long into the movie the rain decided to arrive. Thankfully it was not much. But with a little kiwi ingenuity and a tarp from Pete's car , the four of us were quite cosy under it from the rain and wind. Half way through the movie the generator decided to run out of petrol. This caused a good laugh. Time for a coffee from the coffee van. Half a hour later the movie was back on track. It ended up being a wonderful evening had by all. We were informed that the Mill is going to be opened completely in January for people to see how things did run. This we are going to. Below are some photos of the Mill. As you can see there is a rope around the building in the first photo, this was because of the on going repair work. Hence we were not allowed in the buildings.
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| Day's Flour Mill |
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| Old Machinery Shed at Day's Mill |
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| Original House at Day's Mill |
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| The orginal Tank Stand and Poultry Shed |
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| Four Happy Campers |
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| Large Blowup Movie Screen |
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| Late Evening Sky at Day's Mill |
