Port Adelaide Inner Harbour - The State Heritage listed Hart's Mill building, largest of the complex. South Australia
State Heritage listed Hart’s Mill of 1855 – the oldest building in the complex.
Harts Mill is a complex of interconnected buildings and structure. The earliest is the prominent limestone building on the corner of Mundy Street, built by Captain Hart in 1855.
He was a significant figure in the young colony of South Australia. He was three times Premier of South Australia and an instigator of much of the development of Port Adelaide.
The former Adelaide Milling Company mill site at Port Adelaide is the longest continuously serving flour milling enterprise in South Australia, operating from 1855 to 1980. The two major buildings constitute an important landmark in the Port.
The building was the largest and most technologically advanced mill in South Australia and at the time was claimed to be the best in the southern hemisphere. It was designed to create an export market for the State's produce, and successfully shipped flour around the world.
The iconic tall red brick building was constructed in 1884, at which time the Adelaide Milling Company was owner of the mill. The building was completed to the design and supervision of Henry Simon and Co, milling engineers in England who also equipped the building. The interior was severely damaged by fire in 1905: following the insurance payout of £10,357 the mill was rebuilt and re-equipped, again by Henry Simon. It continued to operate until 1980.
Obituary
John Hart, mariner, merchant and parliamentarian, was born on 25 February 1809 in England. He went to sea at 12 and visited Hobart Town in September 1828 as a seaman in the ‘Magnet’. In November 1829 as second mate in the ‘Britannia’ he went to Western Australia and then became well acquainted with the southern coast from Perth to Sydney. In 1832 he was master of the ‘Elizabeth’, owned and built by John Griffiths at Launceston, and often visited Kangaroo Island to land and pick up sealers and collect seal and wallaby skins and salt.
Hart retired from the sea in 1846 and settled in Adelaide. He bought and leased land in various parts of the colony, ran cattle and acted as agent for absentees. He also invested in copper mines at the Burra, Paringa and Montacute in 1845, Princess Royal and Mount Remarkable in 1846 and Yorke's Peninsula in 1848. He was also a director of the Forest Iron Smelting and Steam Sawing Co at Cox's Creek and a copper-smelting venture at Port Adelaide but lost heavily on mineral land at North Kapunda.
In 1849 he had helped to form the short-lived Adelaide Marine Association Co and the company intending to build a railway from Adelaide to the port: later he bought shares in the National and the Union Banks.
Perhaps his best-known achievement was at Port Adelaide where in 1855 he built a flourmill with twice the grinding capacity of any other in the province, believing that South Australia was to be the granary of the continent.
Hart was elected in 1851 to the Legislative Council for the district of Victoria, resigned in 1853 to visit England and was re-elected in 1854. In the House of Assembly he represented Port Adelaide in 1857-59 and 1862-66, Light in 1868-70 and the Burra in 1870-73. He was treasurer under Baker in 1857, Hanson in 1857-58, (Sir) Henry Ayers in 1863 and in 1864, and (Sir) Arthur Blyth in 1864-65. He was chief secretary under Francis Dutton in July 1863 and led his own ministries in 1865-66, 1868 and 1870-71 when he introduced the title of premier.
While Hart was in office he planned George Goyder's survey expedition and carried the bill for the overland telegraph to Darwin although he criticized its route through Port Augusta.
He was appointed CMG in 1870 and died suddenly on 28 January 1873 while chairing a meeting in Adelaide. He was survived by his wife and a large family, to whom he left an estate valued at more than £50,000. A son, John, represented Port Adelaide in the House of Assembly in 1880-81.
Ref: Australian Dictionary of Biography Vol 4, (MUP), 1972 article by Sally O’Neill.
Port Adelaide Inner Harbour - The State Heritage listed Hart's Mill building, largest of the complex. South Australia
State Heritage listed Hart’s Mill of 1855 – the oldest building in the complex.
Harts Mill is a complex of interconnected buildings and structure. The earliest is the prominent limestone building on the corner of Mundy Street, built by Captain Hart in 1855.
He was a significant figure in the young colony of South Australia. He was three times Premier of South Australia and an instigator of much of the development of Port Adelaide.
The former Adelaide Milling Company mill site at Port Adelaide is the longest continuously serving flour milling enterprise in South Australia, operating from 1855 to 1980. The two major buildings constitute an important landmark in the Port.
The building was the largest and most technologically advanced mill in South Australia and at the time was claimed to be the best in the southern hemisphere. It was designed to create an export market for the State's produce, and successfully shipped flour around the world.
The iconic tall red brick building was constructed in 1884, at which time the Adelaide Milling Company was owner of the mill. The building was completed to the design and supervision of Henry Simon and Co, milling engineers in England who also equipped the building. The interior was severely damaged by fire in 1905: following the insurance payout of £10,357 the mill was rebuilt and re-equipped, again by Henry Simon. It continued to operate until 1980.
Obituary
John Hart, mariner, merchant and parliamentarian, was born on 25 February 1809 in England. He went to sea at 12 and visited Hobart Town in September 1828 as a seaman in the ‘Magnet’. In November 1829 as second mate in the ‘Britannia’ he went to Western Australia and then became well acquainted with the southern coast from Perth to Sydney. In 1832 he was master of the ‘Elizabeth’, owned and built by John Griffiths at Launceston, and often visited Kangaroo Island to land and pick up sealers and collect seal and wallaby skins and salt.
Hart retired from the sea in 1846 and settled in Adelaide. He bought and leased land in various parts of the colony, ran cattle and acted as agent for absentees. He also invested in copper mines at the Burra, Paringa and Montacute in 1845, Princess Royal and Mount Remarkable in 1846 and Yorke's Peninsula in 1848. He was also a director of the Forest Iron Smelting and Steam Sawing Co at Cox's Creek and a copper-smelting venture at Port Adelaide but lost heavily on mineral land at North Kapunda.
In 1849 he had helped to form the short-lived Adelaide Marine Association Co and the company intending to build a railway from Adelaide to the port: later he bought shares in the National and the Union Banks.
Perhaps his best-known achievement was at Port Adelaide where in 1855 he built a flourmill with twice the grinding capacity of any other in the province, believing that South Australia was to be the granary of the continent.
Hart was elected in 1851 to the Legislative Council for the district of Victoria, resigned in 1853 to visit England and was re-elected in 1854. In the House of Assembly he represented Port Adelaide in 1857-59 and 1862-66, Light in 1868-70 and the Burra in 1870-73. He was treasurer under Baker in 1857, Hanson in 1857-58, (Sir) Henry Ayers in 1863 and in 1864, and (Sir) Arthur Blyth in 1864-65. He was chief secretary under Francis Dutton in July 1863 and led his own ministries in 1865-66, 1868 and 1870-71 when he introduced the title of premier.
While Hart was in office he planned George Goyder's survey expedition and carried the bill for the overland telegraph to Darwin although he criticized its route through Port Augusta.
He was appointed CMG in 1870 and died suddenly on 28 January 1873 while chairing a meeting in Adelaide. He was survived by his wife and a large family, to whom he left an estate valued at more than £50,000. A son, John, represented Port Adelaide in the House of Assembly in 1880-81.
Ref: Australian Dictionary of Biography Vol 4, (MUP), 1972 article by Sally O’Neill.