The remains of the Fernyhaugh Flour Mill and its successor companies, dating from the 1870s recall the importance and financial risk of flour milling in nineteenth century Otago. The remains, which include a curved stone dam and the concrete foundations of a water wheel, have historic, aesthetic and archaeological significance.
Flour milling was a widespread industry in nineteenth century New Zealand, turning wheat into flour. Milling became centred on the climate most suited to it – North Otago, South Canterbury and eastern Southland. In Otepopo, a small settlement south of Oamaru, the first mill was built on the Otepopo River (now known as the Waianakarua River) in 1870 – Louis Schmoll’s Fernyhaugh Flour Mill. The history of this mill illustrates some of the risks in establishing such a business, in a dramatic way.
Louis Schmoll (d.1889) was a German miller. He came to New Zealand with his wife and child in 1865 as an assisted immigrant. By 1870 he had moved to Oamaru where he worked at Hassell’s flour mill. Schmoll planned to erect his own mill at Otepopo on land leased from George Fenwick, and in February 1870 advertised his intentions, calling his mill-to-be the Fernyhaugh Flour Mill. There followed a rash of trouble – a conspiracy trial (did Schmoll’s business partners conspire to burn down the mill for the insurance money), a perjury trial (did Schmoll lie about the conspiracy, bankruptcy (of Schmoll, his business partners, and a subsequent owner), local competition, and ultimately failure. The mill (later known as Otepopo Flour Mill and the Atlas Flour Mill) was closed by 1880.
The mill site on Waianakarua River consists of the mill dam and the foundations of the water wheel located 20 metres below the dam. The dam is semi-circular and built of limestone and some 1.5 metres thick. The foundations consist of a concrete block set into the river bed, and a concrete and schist platform built up against the east river bank. The wheel was originally mounted between these structures. The mill building was located on a flat terrace above the true left of the river. No above ground evidence remains of the mill building. A cutting into the bedrock with stone steps formed an access-way to the waterwheel foundations and platform.
When archaeologist Jill Hamel visited the site in 1998, she described the dam has having a row of heavy bolts along the centre, perhaps indicating an additional structure. A local resident told Hamel that when she first saw the dam there had been steel stanchions about three feet high, and she had assumed that there had been a weir gate on top of the dam.
In the years following its closure, the mill became a picturesque ruin. The site of the mill was a popular picnic spot and historic attraction. In the 1980s the mill dam was restored and interpreted as a 1990 project. In 2016, the mill site, popularly known as Grave’s Dam, remains a significant reminder of the importance and risk of running a nineteenth century flour mill.
Flour milling was a widespread industry in nineteenth century New Zealand, turning wheat into flour. Milling became centred on the climate most suited to it – North Otago, South Canterbury and eastern Southland. In Otepopo, a small settlement south of Oamaru, the first mill was built on the Otepopo River (now known as the Waianakarua River) in 1870 – Louis Schmoll’s Fernyhaugh Flour Mill. The history of this mill illustrates some of the risks in establishing such a business, in a dramatic way.
Louis Schmoll (d.1889) was a German miller. He came to New Zealand with his wife and child in 1865 as an assisted immigrant. By 1870 he had moved to Oamaru where he worked at Hassell’s flour mill. Schmoll planned to erect his own mill at Otepopo on land leased from George Fenwick, and in February 1870 advertised his intentions, calling his mill-to-be the Fernyhaugh Flour Mill. There followed a rash of trouble – a conspiracy trial (did Schmoll’s business partners conspire to burn down the mill for the insurance money), a perjury trial (did Schmoll lie about the conspiracy, bankruptcy (of Schmoll, his business partners, and a subsequent owner), local competition, and ultimately failure. The mill (later known as Otepopo Flour Mill and the Atlas Flour Mill) was closed by 1880.
The mill site on Waianakarua River consists of the mill dam and the foundations of the water wheel located 20 metres below the dam. The dam is semi-circular and built of limestone and some 1.5 metres thick. The foundations consist of a concrete block set into the river bed, and a concrete and schist platform built up against the east river bank. The wheel was originally mounted between these structures. The mill building was located on a flat terrace above the true left of the river. No above ground evidence remains of the mill building. A cutting into the bedrock with stone steps formed an access-way to the waterwheel foundations and platform.
When archaeologist Jill Hamel visited the site in 1998, she described the dam has having a row of heavy bolts along the centre, perhaps indicating an additional structure. A local resident told Hamel that when she first saw the dam there had been steel stanchions about three feet high, and she had assumed that there had been a weir gate on top of the dam.
In the years following its closure, the mill became a picturesque ruin. The site of the mill was a popular picnic spot and historic attraction. In the 1980s the mill dam was restored and interpreted as a 1990 project. In 2016, the mill site, popularly known as Grave’s Dam, remains a significant reminder of the importance and risk of running a nineteenth century flour mill.
