View allAll Photos Tagged bluestone
Bluestone Dam, WV
The Bluestone Dam holds back Bluestone Lake while emptying into the New River.
BSL-1-1
Looks like a good spot to start a TFS meetup. (makes a note)
Rolleiflex 2.8F - Carl Zeiss Planar 80mm 1:2.8 - Lomography Berlin 400 @ ASA-400
Cinestill D96 (Stock) 6:30 @ 20C
Scanner: Epson V700
Editor: Adobe Photoshop CC
11/365
It is funny how sometimes my eye sees, what the camera doesn't see... and then there are times, where I think I see something, and it turns out the camera saw different.
This sandstone (a feldspathic greywacke) was widely used for sidewalks and the like in New York City, back in the day.
Taken in one of Melbourne's many Alleys after some rain. I think the foreground may be a little bit distracting. Need to use a higher DOF next time, but was already shooting at high ISO, had poor lighting and did not want to drown the subject in flash.
Kent Town Wesley Uniting Church
Built 1864 as Wesleyan Methodist Church.
Tapley’s Hill bluestone construction.
Transepts added 1867, vestries & classrooms 1869, lecture Hall 1874.
Opening service July 1865. First Pastor Rev S Ironside.
Church pioneers include Michael Kingsborough, Mayor 1870–71.
Originally Collegiate Church of Prince Alfred College.
*Ref: plaque by Kensington & Norwood Historical Society Inc. August 1994.
Kent Town was named after pioneer settler, Dr Benjamin Kent MD, who established East Park Farm in 1840 on Section 255 on land leased from Colonel Torrens. However, due to a dispute over ownership it was not subdivided until 1854 following Charles Robin’s purchase of the section. A mere two kilometres east of the city, Kent Town was the largest and most expensive sale of land in the colony and the close proximity made it a desirable residential area for prosperous merchants, enterprising businessmen and for many influential Wesleyan Methodists.
The reformist Wesleyan Methodists were part of South Australia’s great experiment in social democracy which fostered religious freedom and cultivated a ‘Paradise of Dissent’ that challenged the supremacy and authority of Anglicanism. A leading member of the community, Sir John Colton purchased three blocks at the corner of Kent Town and Grenfell Street on which to build a grand church to mark the 1864 jubilee of the Wesleyan Missionary Society and to be a symbol of Wesleyan achievement in the new province.
Prominent Wesleyans such as Francis Faulding of the pharmaceutical business, George P Harris, founder of Harris Scarf & Co, merchants Thomas & William Rhodes and W T Flint, insurance agent Thomas Padman, land agent George Cotton, importer Michael Kingsborough and local vigneron William Clarke donated money to the building of the church. An important benefactor was the wealthy mining investor and founding director of the Bank of Adelaide, Thomas Greaves Waterhouse, whose charismatic conversion to Wesleyan Methodism came after he married Eliza Faulding in 1852.
London trained architects, Edmund Wright (1824–1888) and Edward Woods (1837–1913) were commissioned to design the new church described as ‘English Gothic’ in style. Their design reflected the preoccupation with medieval forms and the devotion to ‘uplifting the spirit’ and the primacy of preaching in Methodism with its magnificent central pulpit. The church was constructed with a steeply pitched roof, pinnacles, arched window tracery, wall buttresses and an imposing grand interior that gave it an aura of religious splendour.
On Sunday 6 August 1865, the nave of the new church was opened by the evangelist American preacher, Reverend William ‘California’ Taylor, with over 4000 people attending the celebratory service. In 1868, transepts and a schoolroom were added to the building. The Kent Town Jubilee Church could seat 1100 people for a service making it one of the largest in the State.
As rivalry between the Wesleyans and the Anglicans grew the idea of a Wesleyan College was considered to counter the influence of the Collegiate School of St Peter’s at Hackney. T G Waterhouse purchased the last section of undeveloped land in Kent Town for the purpose of building a school devoted to the education of young men. In November 1867, one of the greatest controversies to beset the province of South Australia occurred when His Royal Highness Prince Alfred was invited to lay the foundation stone of the new Dissenters’ School and to give permission for it to be named Prince Alfred College.
For over a century, the Jubilee Church had a special place in the hearts of generations of Methodist who were moved to action by great preachers and beliefs which challenged the mores of South Australian society.
Ref: Jubilee Church story board
Walking along the upper lawns of the Italian Gardens you will come across a shady little "secret" garden. It is flanked by two tall bluestone columns topped with finials which act as gateposts for a set of elegant Victorian wrought-iron gates. Elegantly carved with sweeping curls, they would not look out of place in a garden in England.
The Forest Glade Gardens are well established European inspired landscaped gardens of six hectares that are to be found on the Mount Macedon Road in the hill station town of Mount Macedon.
The Forest Glade Gardens are just shy of one hundred years old. The gardens were originally two adjoining properties that comprised orchards and lush grazing paddocks. In 1941 local family the Newtons purchased and extended the property and set about creating one of Mount Macedon's most stunning gardens.
In 1971 the Forest Glade Gardens were acquired by Melbourne property developer Mr. Cyril Stokes who together with his partner Trevor Neil Bell, developed the gardens even further. Cyril was a great collector of European antiques, and his love of European antiquity is reflected in the gardens, particularly in the many classical marble and bronze statues dotted about the grounds.
Unfortunately the Forest Glade Gardens were partly destroyed by the tragic Ash Wednesday bushfires of 1983. However, after many years of hard labour put in by Cyril and Trevor, The Forest Glade Gardens were reborn from the ashes. The gardens are built on a sloping block and consist of a range of terraces all of which offer wonderful vistas. A garden designed to give pleasure all year round, the Forest Glad Gardens contain several heritage listed trees and are made up of smaller themed gardens including; the Italian Garden, the Japanese Garden, the Daffodil Meadow, the Peony Walk, Hydrangea Hill, the Topiary Gardens, the Bluebell Meadow, the Fern Gully and the Laburnum Arch.
In 2011 the property was gifted to a registered charity - The Stokes Collection Limited - with the intention of keeping the Forest Glade Gardens maintained and open to the public.
I spent a delightful Saturday with the Famous Flickr Five+ Group in Mount Macedon, where I have never been before. Now I have, I would very much like to go back to such a picturesque place again.
The Mount Macedon township is located east of the Mount Macedon summit, which is approximately 60 km north-west of Melbourne.
The name of Mount Macedon is apparently derived from Philip II, who ruled Macedon between 359 and 336BC. The mountain was named by Thomas Mitchell, the New South Wales Surveyor General.
Settled in the 1850s by gold miners and timber cutters, the railway arrived at the Mount Macedon township in 1861, providing a vital connection to Melbourne, and sealing the town's future as a 'hill station' resort for wealthy Melburnians escaping the summer heat in the 1870s. With the land deforested, large blocks were sold and beautiful and extensive gardens were planted around the newly built homes. The rich soil and good rainfall also made the area suitable for large orchards and plant nurseries who could send fruit and flowers back to Melbourne. Newspaper owner, David Syme, built a house, "Rosenheim" in 1869. It was acquired in 1886 for Victorian Governors to use as a country retreat, making Mount Macedon an attractive destination for the well heeled of Melbourne society. A primary school was built in Mount Macedon in 1874, and as the decades progressed, hotels, guest houses, shops, a Presbyterian Church and Church of England were built. In 1983, Mount Macedon was devastated by the Ash Wednesday Bush Fires. A large portion of the town was raised, and a number of lives were lost. However, like a phoenix from the ashes, Mount Macedon has risen and rebuilt. Today it is still a popular holiday destination, particularly during spring time when the well established gardens flourish with flowers and in autumn when the exotic trees explode in a riot of reds and yellows.
Bluestone Bay, Freycinet National Park, Tasmania, AUSTRALIA
Rounded boulders polished by the action of the waves that pound this bay.
Specifications : Canon 5D, 16-35mm 2.8L, Gitzo tripod, polarizing filter, ISO 100, f18, shutter 0.8 seconds.
Built amid workers' cottages and terrace houses of shopkeepers, St. Mark the Evangelist Church of England sits atop an undulating rise in the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy. Nestled behind a thick bank of agapanthus beyond its original cast-iron palisade fence, it would not look out of place in an English country village with its neat buttresses, bluestone masonry and simple, unadorned belfry.
St. Mark the Evangelist was the first church to be built outside of the original Melbourne grid as Fitzroy developed into the city's first suburb. A working-class suburb, the majority of its residents were Church of England and from 1849 a Mission Church and school served as a centre for religious, educational and recreational facilities. The school was one of a number of denominational schools established by the Church of England and was partly funded by the Denominational School Board.
St. Mark the Evangelist Church of England was designed by architect James Blackburn and built in Early English Gothic style. Richard Grice, Victorian pastoralist and philanthropist, generously contributed almost all the cost of its construction. Work commenced in 1853 to accommodate the growing Church of England congregation of Fitzroy. On July 1st, 1853, the first stone of St. Mark the Evangelist was laid by the first Bishop of Melbourne, The Right Rev. Charles Perry.
Unfortunately, Blackburn did not live to see its completion, dying the following year in 1854 of typhoid. This left St. Mark the Evangelist without an architect to oversee the project, and a series of other notable Melbourne architects helped finish the church including Lloyd Tayler, Leonard Terry and Charles Webb. Even then when St. Mark the Evangelist opened its doors on Sunday, January 21st, 1855, the church was never fully completed with an east tower and spire never realised. The exterior of the church is very plain, constructed of largely unadorned bluestone, with simple buttresses marking structural bays and tall lancet windows. The church's belfry is similarly unadorned, yet features beautiful masonry work. It has a square tower and broach spire.
Inside St. Mark the Evangelist Church of England it is peaceful and serves as a quiet sanctuary from the noisy world outside. I visited it on a hot day, and its enveloping coolness was a welcome relief. Walking across the old, highly polished hardwood floors you cannot help but note the gentle scent of the incense used during mass. The church has an ornately carved timber Gothic narthex screen which you walk through to enter the nave. Once there you can see the unusual two storey arcaded gallery designed by Leonard Terry that runs the entire length of the east side of building. Often spoken of as “The Architect’s Folly” Terry's gallery was a divisive point in the Fritzroy congregation. Some thought it added much beauty to the interior with its massive square pillars and seven arches supporting the principals of the roof. Yet it was generally agreed that the gallery was of little effective use, and came with a costly price tag of £3,000.00! To this day, it has never been fully utlised by the church. St. Mark the Evangelist has been fortunate to have a series of organs installed over its history; in 1854 a modest organ of unknown origin: in 1855 an 1853 Foster and Andrews, Hull, organ which was taken from the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne's Collins Street: in 1877 an organ built by Melbourne organ maker William Anderson: and finally in 1999 as part of major renovation works a 1938 Harrison and Harrison, Durham, organ taken from St. Luke's Church of England in Cowley, Oxfordshire. The church has gone through many renovations over the ensuing years, yet the original marble font and pews have survived these changes and remain in situ to this day. Blackwood reredos in the chancel, dating from 1939, feature a mosaic of the last supper by stained glass and church outfitters Brooks, Robinson and Company. A similar one can be found at St. Matthew's Church of England in High Street in Prahran. The fine lancet stained glass windows on the west side of St. Mark the Evangelist feature the work of the stained glass firms Brooks, Robinson and Company. and William Montgomery. Many of the windows were installed in the late Nineteenth Century.
The St. Mark the Evangelist Parish Hall and verger's cottage were added in 1889 to designs by architects Hyndman and Bates. The hall is arranged as a nave with clerestorey windows and side aisles with buttresses. In 1891 the same architects designed the Choir Vestry and Infants Sunday School on Hodgson Street, to replace the earlier school of 1849 which had been located in the forecourt of the church.
The present St. Mark the Evangelist's vicarage, a two-storey brick structure with cast-iron lacework verandahs, was erected in 1910.
I am very grateful to the staff of Anglicare who run the busy adjoining St. Mark's Community Centre for allowing me to have free range of the inside of St. Mark the Evangelist for a few hours to photograph it so extensively.
James Blackburn (1803 - 1854) was an English civil engineer, surveyor and architect. Born in Upton, West Ham, Essex, James was the third of four sons and one daughter born to his parents. His father was a scalemaker, a trade all his brothers took. At the age of 23, James was employed by the Commissioners of Sewers for Holborn and Finsbury and later became an inspector of sewers. However, his life took a dramatic turn in 1833, when suffering economic hardship, he forged a cheque. He was caught and his penalty was transportation to Van Diemen’s Land (modern day Tasmania). As a convicted prisoner, yet also listed as a civil engineer, James was assigned to the Roads Department under the management of Roderic O’Connor, a wealthy Irishman who was the Inspector of Roads and Bridges at the time. On 3 May 1841 James was pardoned, whereupon he entered private practice with James Thomson, another a former convict. In April 1849, James sailed from Tasmania aboard the "Shamrock" with his wife and ten children to start a new life in Melbourne. Once there he formed a company to sell filtered and purified water to the public, and carried out some minor architectural commissions including St. Mark the Evangelist in Fitzroy. On 24 October he was appointed city surveyor, and between 1850 and 1851 he produced his greatest non-architectural work, the basic design and fundamental conception of the Melbourne water supply from the Yan Yean reservoir via the Plenty River. He was injured in a fall from a horse in January 1852 and died on 3 March 1854 at Brunswick Street, Collingwood, of typhoid. He was buried as a member of St. Mark The Evangelist Church of England. James is best known in Tasmania for his ecclesiastical architectural work including; St Mark's Church of England, Pontville, Tasmania (1839-1841), Holy Trinity Church, Hobart, Tasmania (1841-1848): St. George's Church of England, Battery Point, Tasmania, (1841-1847).
Leonard Terry (1825 - 1884) was an architect born at Scarborough, Yorkshire, England. Son of Leonard Terry, a timber merchant, and his wife Margaret, he arrived in Melbourne in 1853 and after six months was employed by architect C. Laing. By the end of 1856 he had his own practice in Collins Street West (Terry and Oakden). After Mr. Laing's death next year Leonard succeeded him as the principal designer of banks in Victoria and of buildings for the Anglican Church, of which he was appointed diocesan architect in 1860. In addition to the many banks and churches that he designed, Leonard is also known for his design of The Melbourne Club on Collins Street (1858 - 1859) "Braemar" in East Melbourne (1865), "Greenwich House" Toorak (1869) and the Campbell residence on the corner of Collins and Spring Streets (1877). Leonard was first married, at 30, on 26 June 1855 to Theodosia Mary Welch (d.1861), by whom he had six children including Marmaduke, who trained as a surveyor and entered his father's firm in 1880. Terry's second marriage, at 41, on 29 December 1866 was to Esther Hardwick Aspinall, who bore him three children and survived him when on 23 June 1884, at the age of 59, he died of a thoracic tumor in his last home, Campbellfield Lodge, Alexandra Parade, in Collingwood.
Lloyd Tayler (1830 - 1900) was an architect born on 26 October 1830 in London, youngest son of tailor William Tayler, and his wife Priscilla. Educated at Mill Hill Grammar School, Hendon, and King's College, London, he is said to have been a student at the Sorbonne. In June 1851 he left England to join his brother on the land near Albury, New South Wales. He ended up on the Mount Alexander goldfields before setting up an architectural practice with Lewis Vieusseux, a civil engineer in 1854. By 1856 he had his own architectural practice where he designed premises for the Colonial Bank of Australasia. In the 1860s and 1870s he was lauded for his designs for the National Bank of Australasia, including those in the Melbourne suburbs of Richmond and North Fitzroy, and further afield in country Victoria at Warrnambool and Coleraine. His major design for the bank was the Melbourne head office in 1867. With Edmund Wright in 1874 William won the competition for the design of the South Australian Houses of Parliament, which began construction in 1881. The pair also designed the Bank of Australia in Adelaide in 1875. He also designed the Australian Club in Melbourne's William Street and the Melbourne Exchange in Collins Street in 1878. Lloyd's examples of domestic architecture include the mansion "Kamesburgh", Brighton, commissioned by W. K. Thomson in 1872. Other houses include: "Thyra", Brighton (1883): "Leighswood", Toorak, for C. E. Bright: "Roxcraddock", Caulfield: "Cherry Chase", Brighton: and "Blair Athol", Brighton. In addition to his work on St. Mark the Evangelist in Fitzroy, Lloyd also designed St. Mary's Church of England, Hotham (1860); St Philip's, Collingwood, and the Presbyterian Church, Punt Road, South Yarra (1865); and Trinity Church, Bacchus Marsh (1869). The high point of Lloyd's career was the design for the Melbourne head office of the Commercial Bank of Australia. His last important design was the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Headquarters Station, Eastern Hill in 1892. Lloyd was also a judge in 1900 of the competition plans for the new Flinders Street railway station. Lloyd was married to Sarah Toller, daughter of a Congregational minister. They established a comfortable residence, Pen-y-Bryn, in Brighton, and it was from here that he died of cancer of the liver on the 17th of August 1900 survived by his wife, four daughters and a son.
Charles Webb (1821 - 1898) was an architect. Born on 26 November 1821 at Sudbury, Suffolk, England, he was the youngest of nine children of builder William Webb and his wife Elizabeth. He attended Sudbury Academy and was later apprenticed to a London architect. His brother James had migrated to Van Diemen's Land in 1830, married in 1833, gone to Melbourne in 1839 where he set up as a builder in and in 1848 he bought Brighton Park, Brighton. Charles decided to join James and lived with James at Brighton. They went into partnership as architects and surveyors. The commission that established them was in 1850 for St Paul's Church, Swanston Street. It was here that Charles married Emma Bridges, daughter of the chief cashier at the Bank of England. Charles and James built many warehouses, shops and private homes and even a synagogue in the city. After his borther's return to England, Charles designed St. Andrew's Church, Brighton, and receiving an important commission for Melbourne Church of England Grammar School in 1855. In 1857 he added a tower and a slender spire to Scots Church, which James had built in 1841. He designed Wesley College in 1864, the Alfred Hospital and the Royal Arcade in 1869, the South Melbourne Town Hall and the Melbourne Orphan Asylum in 1878 and the Grand Hotel (now the Windsor) in 1884. In 1865 he had designed his own home, "Farleigh", in Park Street, Brighton, where he died on 23 January 1898 of heat exhaustion. Predeceased by Emma in 1893 and survived by five sons and three daughters, he was buried in Brighton cemetery.
The five-storey bluestone flour mill at Smeaton was built in 1861 at the height of the gold rush.One of the earliest mills, it processed flour and oats and was key to manufacturing one of the key staples on the goldfields - porridge.
Autumn's in the air as the waters of the Bluestone River flow briskly beneath the abandoned Bluestone Branch of the N&W on the morning of October 6, 2018, in Coopers, WV.
Fluffy Teddy-bear Jacket - aliexpress
Tee - ?
Long Denim Shorts - KMart
Fishnet Tights - Myer
Patent Lace-up Boots - Target
Kyneton.
The Carlsruhe sheep run taken up in 1838 by Ebden covered a huge area from modern Woodend to Kyneton. In 1839 it was split into two pastoral runs and the run near Kyneton was taken over my Charles Wedge and then shortly after by Henry Jeffreys who built his slab homestead on the current town site astride the Campaspe River. In 1848 Henry Jeffreys went into partnership with Lieutenant Governor Charles La Trobe as this was still part of NSW then (the Governor was based in Sydney but the Lieutenant Governor was based on Port Phillip Bay.) Perhaps not coincidentally a small courthouse was established in 1848 on the Campaspe River at this spot after La Trobe had visited his and his partner’s property. La Trobe decided to make the courthouse site a town site which he called Kyneton after the birthplace of Henry Jeffreys’ wife who was born in Kineton Warwickshire. The town was gazetted as Kyneton in 1850 just before the first gold was found at Bendigo and around Mt Alexander in late 1851. Kyneton grew quickly as it was a resting place on the journey from Melbourne to Bendigo and impressive basaltic bluestone buildings were erected as there was a plentiful supply of good bluestone between Kyneton and Taradale. By the late 1850s there was an impressive array of bluestone public buildings in Kyneton including: the Kyneton Courthouse erected in 1856; the Anglian church (built 1852 and rebuilt 1856 with the west tower added 1928); the Congregational Church (built 1853 and rebuilt 1860 but now a theatre); the Mechanics Institute built 1854 (and rebuilt 1897); the Catholic Church built in 1857, the Presbyterian Church also built in 1857 and numerous banks, shops, the school (built in 1855, extended 1861 and in 1906 and still in use as the state school) and the hospital. Also built in the 1850s in bluestone was the De Graves three storey flourmill (1857) a few kilometres out of the town and another steam flourmill for Willis Brothers was built partially in bluestone in Piper Street in 1862. Some notable houses and residences were also built in the 1850s including the Attic House in 1858, the rear part of Carn Brae built in 1854 and Inverugie opposite the old town school which was built in 1858. The two storey grand Kyneton Hospital built between 1854 and 1856 with an amazing little morgue behind it of the same vintage as it was built in 1859 when the east wing was added to the hospital. The west wing was added in 1874. The hospital’s lacework wrought iron veranda was added in 1910 thus destroying the Georgian appearance of the hospital. General use of the hospital ceased in 1942. Alas it is now vacant and vandalised but there are plans to restore it and convert it into apartments. The oldest house in Kyneton is believed to be the Anglican rectory built in 1853. One of the many fine two storey banks - the former Bank of NSW built in 1856 is now the town museum which has the homestead of Theaden station (1840) relocated in its grounds.
Keyneton also has a fine Botanic Garden along the edge of the Campaspe River. It was established in the 1880s although the site was reserved for this purpose back in 1867. Across the river from the Botanic Gardens is the bluestone railway station and goods shed which were built in 1862. Some of the later buildings of Kyneton, not in bluestone, are also of great interest. They include the rebuilt Royal George Hotel which was built in its current style in 1915 to replace an earlier structure from 1860 which was called the Diggers Arms Hotel; the wonderful Art Nouveau style Bank of New South Wales built in 1904 in Mollison Street; the impressive Post Office and tower built in 1871; the Congregational Sunday School built in Arts and Crafts style in 1898; the former Kyneton Market on the corner of Piper and Ebden Streets built in 1878 which is again being sued for that purpose; and the slightly bizarre Ellim Eek house with tower and griffins along the roof which was built in 1890 and remodelled in 1906 with the griffins etc. It is now used as solicitor’s offices. Many of the shops of Kyneton date from the 1850s but one in classical style is worth special mention as it was constructed in 1852 exemplifying the optimism and confidence of the early settlers of Kyneton because of the nearby goldfields. This fine classical store is at 68 Piper Street almost opposite the town museum.
Middleton.
In one sense white settlement here began in 1849 when the first 80 acre section of land was purchased by Thomas Higgins for land speculation. Higgins had taken up a large estate along Currency Creek further inland in 1840 upon which he built his Higginsbrook homestead. But when a canal was proposed to link Goolwa and Freeman’s Knob (Port Elliot) and then a railway he took the opportunity to indulge in some land speculation along its coastal route. He purchased one 80 acre section. Work began on the railway in 1851 (long before the feasibility of river transport up the Murray was resolved) and it was completed in 1853 with a crossing point which needed double tracks so that the horse drawn trains could pass. This spot was named Middletown. In 1869 when the horse railway was extended to Strathalbyn its track bypassed Goolwa and joined the Port Elliot tracks at Middleton. With a siding constructed in 1854 a small town began to emerge here and Higgins’ land speculation paid off when he subdivided some land for town blocks in 1856. He named it Middleton (not Middletown). A small store had opened in 1854 and the largest building in Middleton the Bowman flourmill was completed in 1855 before the town was created. Bowman’s flourmill was added to in the 1860s. The town of Middleton took shape from 1857 with an early Congregational Church (1859) and the Bible Christian Methodist church opening in 1863, a brickworks being established in 1857 and the Middleton Inn opened in 1859 and the original town school room started up in 1861 at 6 William Street. Much later the Education Department was established in 1875 and a fine bluestone Gothic style state school was erected in the town in 1880. It closed in 1968 and became part of the pioneer hall – the original institute erected in 1901.
The large three storey flourmill still exists in Middleton next to the important railway siding. It its heyday wheat milled here was shipped as flour up the Murray River from Goolwa to the Darling and to the goldfields of Bendigo from Echuca. The extension of the railway line to Strathalbyn in 1869 expanded the wheat growing areas that could service the flourmill. When the train line was converted from horse power to steam engines and linked to Port Adelaide through Mt Barker Junction in 1884 Middleton declined and the flourmill with it. At that time the Strathalbyn line was redirected to Middleton through Goolwa. The original flourmill owners was William Bowman. William had cropping acreages at Finniss along the Finniss River and he farmed in the Milang area from 1844 to 1854 before he set up the flourmill in 1855. William Bowman appears to have created Bowmans & Co around 1869 with Alexander Bowman to operate the mill into the 1870s. William Bowman and his mill went into insolvency in January 1886 when competition from Port Adelaide saw its gradual demise. William was dead by March 1886. New millers took over and the mill finally closed in 1915 when the labour supply dwindled as men enlisted for World War One. The last miller was Henry Ellis. When the rail line came from Strathalbyn the station was directly opposite the flourmill. Public meetings were held as early as 1858 in the Bowman flourmill urging a railway line from Strathalbyn to Middleton.
The notable buildings of Middleton are Fortuna a superb Georgian house with symmetry and simplicity that looks as if it was erected in the 1860s. After the inauguration of the Strathalbyn to Middleton railway in 1869 a new general store with five sides in a Romanesque style with rounded windows was attached to Fortuna House. It later became a post office, a temperance hotel, a shop and in more recent decades a cafe and gallery. Fortuna is now privately owned as a residence. Mindacowie House was built as a Temperance Hotel. John Abbott of Glenford farm at Middleton built Mindacowie for his sisters Jessie and Ruth in 1899. They ran it as a Temperance Hotel for several decades. In latter years it has been a bed and breakfast establishment but is now a residence. The old Bible Christian Methodist Church has closed (1971) as a church but was operated as a restaurant a few years ago but is now a residence too. It opened in 1863.