ANNUAL ADDRESS. XV. 



present, the author is rather proud that one of the conditions 

 embodied in his articles of apprenticeship — which he duly fulfilled 

 — was that he should be taught the arts and crafts of a millwright. 



With the the first fleet there arrived a few implements for 

 grinding corn, but the want of mills for that purpose is specially 

 alluded to in many of Governor Phillip's despatches to England. 

 In 1791, when Lieutenant-Governor King was returning to the 

 colony in the "Gorgon," he secured four pairs of mill-stones for 

 hand power, at the Cape of Good Hope, to take the place of the 

 original iron mills by that time rendered useless. Phillip had 

 forcibly represented to the Home authorities that windmills were 

 -an absolute necessity, as the existing mills required so much 

 labour, and in May, 1792, the British Government entered into a 

 contract with Mr. Thomas Allan, an employee in the King's mills 

 at Rotherhite, for a period of four years. Allen's salary was 

 £52 10s. per annum as "Master Miller" of New South Wales; 

 he came out in the "Royal Admiral," and commenced duty in the 

 colony on the 6th October, 1792. Soon after his arrival in Sydney, 

 Allen was sent to Parramatta to manage a mill about to be erected 

 there. On 16th January, 1793, a millwright named James Thorpe 

 arrived in Sydney from England, also under agreement with the 

 British Government; he was called the "Master Millwright," and 

 was placed under Allen the miller in a building used as a mill. 

 On 16th February, 1793, Governor Grose wrote to the Right Hon. 

 Henry Dundas, "I am sorry to say I do not expect much benefit 

 irom this man; he is by no means as expert as he pretends to be." 



Early in October, 1793, the four pounds of wheat which had 

 served as rations to the people was discontinued, and rice was 

 substituted, it being intended to save the wheat for the purpose 

 of having it properly milled and distributed as flour. 



The primitive attempts at colonial mill making had up to this 

 time all failed, owing, it was said, to the native timber employed 

 being unseasoned. The records speak of the cogs breaking on 

 this account as soon as the wheels began to work, but probably 

 the shrinking of the timber of which the mortise wheels themselves 



