Nhill. Statue of the endangered Australian Mallee Fowl.
Nhill.
Squatters Dugald Macpherson and George Belcher were the first white men to arrive in this area in 1845. They met some Aboriginal people who called the place ‘nhill’ and so Macpherson called his squatting run Nhill. The first white farmers arrived to select their freehold farms in 1875 and a settlement emerged where several pastoralists’ tracks crossed. Following the town survey a hotel, a flourmill and a store were all operating by 1880. A Police Station, Wesleyan church and two more hotels and stores were added to the town in 1881 quickly followed by a school, more churches and a Mechanics Institute. The railway reached the town in 1886 following the Victorian “Octopus Act” and by 1891 the town had over 1,100 residents. (The Octopus Act was a bill authorising 59 new railway lines to connect all major towns in Victoria by rail. Thus there was a frenzy of railway building in Victoria from 1884 to about 1890.) The oldest of the heritage buildings in Nhill is the Post Office built with red brick gables in 1888. A freak storm came through Nhill in 1897 and wrecked most of the wooden buildings in the town and the Post Office was one of the major buildings to survive along with the Anglican Church and Wesleyan Methodist churches and a few of the other early brick and stone edifices. Nhill was the first town in Victoria to have an electric street lighting in 1892.
Some of the major historic buildings in Nhill are: the former Methodist Church built in 1925 to replace an earlier Wesleyan Methodist church of 1881 - it is now the Uniting Church; the old NAB or National Bank building built in classical style in 1888 by architect George Jobbins; the ironstone Anglican Church built in 1884 and still in use; the dazzling white wooden Presbyterian church built around 1898 after the freak storm ( although services started in 1864 in Nhill before the town was gazetted); the Lowan Shire Hall built in 1888 ( Nhill is now in Hindmarsh Shire not Lowan); the Nhill Masonic Lodge built around 1910 but the lodge was established in Nhill in 1885; the old Nhill Courthouse built around 1888; and the Nhill Railway station built in 1887 when the railway reached Nhill from Melbourne and just before it was connected with Adelaide. An early Lutheran church was built in 1923 although the congregation had met since 1902 and it had had a pastor from 1912. This old church was demolished in 1955 to make way for a new church which opened in 1957. A hall was added in 1997. The Catholic Church in Nhill was built in 1899 with an adjoining Catholic school. The church replaced an earlier church destroyed by the hurricane of 1897.
Noske Silo at Nhill is the largest single bin silo in Australia. It was designed by James Batson and built 1919-20. The founders Traugott Noske and his brother Ernest were wheat farmer at Dimboola. Traugott Noske started out by buying the flourmill in Horsham at a bargain price around 1895 when the owners went bankrupt. The Horsham flourmill was 22 years old at that time. The three storey flourmill still stands beside the Noske grain silo. He then sold his farm and concentrated on flour milling with financial involvement from his brother Ernest. The brothers next purchased the flourmill at Warracknabeal in 1903 but they sold it quickly to fund the purchases of the Nhill and the Natimuk flourmills in 1905. Their next purchase was the flourmill at Bordertown in South Australia in 1914. They sold this mill in 1920 just after they had acquired the flourmills in Charlton and Wycheproof in 1919. Their next big purchase which they held for many years was the three-storey flourmill in Murray Bridge SA. They bought this mill in 1925.
Noskes were in a boom period in the 1920s .At this time they had also invested in the Portland Cement Company. Noske built a new flourmill in Charlton in 1927. In the 1930s during the Great Depression the brothers faced bankruptcy but Noske Brothers Pty Ltd continued trading without involvement of the Noske brothers and the name is still used in milling by other owners these days in both Victoria and SA. Flour milling finally ceased at Murray Bridge and Horsham in 1973 when Noske Pty Ltd moved into stock feed milling instead of flour. From the 1950s the Noske Company only had mills in Horsham, Nhill, Charlton and Murray Bridge. The grand flourmill and silo in Nhill closed in 1958. As a company Noske kept their major mills into the 1980s. Traugott Noske’s father settled in SA near Lyndoch around 1852 and moved with his family to Hochkirch, now Tarrington, near Hamilton in Victoria in 1853. The Noske brothers then resided in Victoria until their deaths. Today the major employer in Nhill is Luv a Duck meat suppliers. Nhill has a Lutheran, Catholic and government primary school and a government high school which was established in 1955.
Nhill. Statue of the endangered Australian Mallee Fowl.
Nhill.
Squatters Dugald Macpherson and George Belcher were the first white men to arrive in this area in 1845. They met some Aboriginal people who called the place ‘nhill’ and so Macpherson called his squatting run Nhill. The first white farmers arrived to select their freehold farms in 1875 and a settlement emerged where several pastoralists’ tracks crossed. Following the town survey a hotel, a flourmill and a store were all operating by 1880. A Police Station, Wesleyan church and two more hotels and stores were added to the town in 1881 quickly followed by a school, more churches and a Mechanics Institute. The railway reached the town in 1886 following the Victorian “Octopus Act” and by 1891 the town had over 1,100 residents. (The Octopus Act was a bill authorising 59 new railway lines to connect all major towns in Victoria by rail. Thus there was a frenzy of railway building in Victoria from 1884 to about 1890.) The oldest of the heritage buildings in Nhill is the Post Office built with red brick gables in 1888. A freak storm came through Nhill in 1897 and wrecked most of the wooden buildings in the town and the Post Office was one of the major buildings to survive along with the Anglican Church and Wesleyan Methodist churches and a few of the other early brick and stone edifices. Nhill was the first town in Victoria to have an electric street lighting in 1892.
Some of the major historic buildings in Nhill are: the former Methodist Church built in 1925 to replace an earlier Wesleyan Methodist church of 1881 - it is now the Uniting Church; the old NAB or National Bank building built in classical style in 1888 by architect George Jobbins; the ironstone Anglican Church built in 1884 and still in use; the dazzling white wooden Presbyterian church built around 1898 after the freak storm ( although services started in 1864 in Nhill before the town was gazetted); the Lowan Shire Hall built in 1888 ( Nhill is now in Hindmarsh Shire not Lowan); the Nhill Masonic Lodge built around 1910 but the lodge was established in Nhill in 1885; the old Nhill Courthouse built around 1888; and the Nhill Railway station built in 1887 when the railway reached Nhill from Melbourne and just before it was connected with Adelaide. An early Lutheran church was built in 1923 although the congregation had met since 1902 and it had had a pastor from 1912. This old church was demolished in 1955 to make way for a new church which opened in 1957. A hall was added in 1997. The Catholic Church in Nhill was built in 1899 with an adjoining Catholic school. The church replaced an earlier church destroyed by the hurricane of 1897.
Noske Silo at Nhill is the largest single bin silo in Australia. It was designed by James Batson and built 1919-20. The founders Traugott Noske and his brother Ernest were wheat farmer at Dimboola. Traugott Noske started out by buying the flourmill in Horsham at a bargain price around 1895 when the owners went bankrupt. The Horsham flourmill was 22 years old at that time. The three storey flourmill still stands beside the Noske grain silo. He then sold his farm and concentrated on flour milling with financial involvement from his brother Ernest. The brothers next purchased the flourmill at Warracknabeal in 1903 but they sold it quickly to fund the purchases of the Nhill and the Natimuk flourmills in 1905. Their next purchase was the flourmill at Bordertown in South Australia in 1914. They sold this mill in 1920 just after they had acquired the flourmills in Charlton and Wycheproof in 1919. Their next big purchase which they held for many years was the three-storey flourmill in Murray Bridge SA. They bought this mill in 1925.
Noskes were in a boom period in the 1920s .At this time they had also invested in the Portland Cement Company. Noske built a new flourmill in Charlton in 1927. In the 1930s during the Great Depression the brothers faced bankruptcy but Noske Brothers Pty Ltd continued trading without involvement of the Noske brothers and the name is still used in milling by other owners these days in both Victoria and SA. Flour milling finally ceased at Murray Bridge and Horsham in 1973 when Noske Pty Ltd moved into stock feed milling instead of flour. From the 1950s the Noske Company only had mills in Horsham, Nhill, Charlton and Murray Bridge. The grand flourmill and silo in Nhill closed in 1958. As a company Noske kept their major mills into the 1980s. Traugott Noske’s father settled in SA near Lyndoch around 1852 and moved with his family to Hochkirch, now Tarrington, near Hamilton in Victoria in 1853. The Noske brothers then resided in Victoria until their deaths. Today the major employer in Nhill is Luv a Duck meat suppliers. Nhill has a Lutheran, Catholic and government primary school and a government high school which was established in 1955.