ANNUAL ADDRESS. XVII. 



corn crops supplying the wants of the ensuing year said, " and I 

 have further the satisfaction to say that a convict carpenter, 

 whose abilities have hitherto been concealed, has, for the hopes of 

 reward, completed a most capital mill; equal to grind as much 

 corn as can be consumed here. This is now at work, and has 

 already contributed greatly to our comforts." But the Governor 

 spoke before he was sure, and was destined to disappointment, for 

 the mill ground less day after day, until at the end of the month 

 scarcely a bushel an hour could be obtained from it. There appears 

 to have been a concensus of opinion however, that if the mill had 

 been on a larger scale the machinery would have given much better 

 results. Wilkinson then again interviewed Governor Grose, whom 

 he convinced that he knew what the defects were, and said he 

 would undertake to build another mill, at Sydney, on a much 

 larger scale and upon an improved plan. 



The Governor not only humoured Wilkinson, but arranged that 

 artificers and a gang of convicts should be brought down from 

 Parramatta to a place which he had called Petersham ; here a 

 large timber yard, two hundred feet square was formed in which 

 the timber for the mill was to be cut and seasoned for use. Sixty 

 acres of Government ground were also cleared, and twenty of 

 them sown with Indian corn for this mill; nine huts for the 

 labouring people were also built, and in December, Wilkinson 

 commenced his second experiment. The want of a flour mill was 

 at this time evidently severely felt, because not only the convicts 

 but the military also had to grind their own grain. Wilkinson's 

 non success with his first mill, and his being allowed to make a 

 second attempt, brought other millwrights into the field as rivals. 

 Among these was an emancipist, named John Baughan, who pro- 

 posed to build a machine on a different principle to that of 

 Wilkinson. He was considered to be one of the most ingenious 

 men in Sydney, and had the advantage of being promised assistance 

 by the military artificers. The Governor therefore decided that 

 two mills should be constructed and erected on the old marine 

 parade ground, which was on the south side of Bridge-street. 



2— June 20, 1900. 



