XVIII. NORMAN SELPE. 



In December Wilkinson and Baughan had both got up the 

 frames and roofs of their respective mill houses, and while waiting 

 for them to be tiled, they proceeded with the construction of their 

 machines. By February 1794 Baughan's mill house was roofed 

 in, and on the 10th of March, 1794, (the same day as the vessel 

 "William'' arrived with two pairs of mill stones and a dressing 

 machine) the first trial of his handiwork was made. At first the 

 mill went very heavily, but after a few days it ground 53 lbs. of 

 wheat in seventeen minutes, with the labour of nine men who 

 worked it by means of capstan bars walking in a circle. Wilkinson's 

 second mill was started a month later near the close of April 1794, 

 it was much larger than his first one at Parramatta, being worked 

 by six men instead of two, and the diameter of the wheel in which 

 the men walked was 22 ft. instead of 15 ft. Owing, however, to 

 the number and variety of the wheels in Wilkinson's machinery, 

 something was always going wrong. Governor Grose gave it a 

 fair trial, and then on the advice of those who worked both 

 mills it was condemned. Baughan's mill was found to be the 

 superior, and Wilkinson much crestfallen was returned to 

 Parramatta. 



Governor Hunter, who assumed the reins of office on September 

 11th, 1795, brought with him on his return to the colony in 

 H.M.S. "Reliance," the most material parts of a windmill, and a 

 model to assist in its completion and erection. In May, 1796, 

 Thorpe, the millwright was employed in collecting and preparing 

 the timber for completing this mill at Parramatta, but he quarrelled 

 with the Governor over the work before he had finished his 

 engagement in July of that year. He appears to have been a 

 failure in more ways than one, and he was dispensed with. The 

 Governor, however, was much pleased to find a millwright on 

 board the "Marquis Cornwallis," and in May 1796, he laid the 

 first stone of a windmill. The last stone of this first windmill 

 tower was laid in December of the same year, and sufficient of the 

 machinery was erected to test it in February 1797. With half 

 of its sails, and one pair of stones, it ground wheat at the rate of 



