Toodyay Things to Do

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Above the mill was the Connor accommodation. In those times it was common for people to live close to or even within their place of work. In late 1925 the mill engineer set up home in the mill with his young wife and twins.

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Life above a mill was certainly noisy with the continuous hum of machines and smell of engine fumes. The only plus side would have been the warmth from the big steam engines during the winter months but I can only imagine the stifling heat during the summer. It seems that on really hot days, his wife would drape a bed sheet over the kitchen table and trickle water over it to create a large 'Coolgardie Safe'. Then she would put the little ones there to keep cool.

Local farmers would deliver their wheat to Connor's Mill. It was then hoisted up to the top floor and fed by the miller into the seed cleaner. There were four cleaning stages the separator went through: removing chaff etc by passing through an air blower, removing leaves, sticks and straw through the large grid screen. The grid selected the wheat grain from the chaff as well as the Lupins and other large foreign seeds. The final grid removed the smaller impurities. This was referred to as the 'sand tray'

The big sieve or Centrifugal Dresser was used to mill the product by agitating it along a silk screen. The flour then falls to the 'worm' conveyor where it is taken to the bagging machine. Flat cups at t on the left side of the dresser carries out the remnant crushed wheat which is the pollard and the bran. This was sold back to farmers for feed for chickens and pigs. The bran is now used in a variety of breakfast cereals.

The Brush Machine was a stage in the cleaning of the wheat. The 'Smut Dust' is as fine as flour and had to be removed before milling because it could not be separated from the flour once the milling had begun.

The Pickling machine cleaned the wheat of the 'trash' or impurities. Wheat was fed in at the top, the handled was rotated and an internal fan operated by the farmer blew away the lighter rubbish. Graduated grit trays were shaken which then separated large objects on the top tray which allowed the smaller objects to pass through to the 'sand tray'. The cleaned wheat was then separated out and removed to the conveyor which held cups which were attached to a chain or belt. It was then carried to be treated or 'pickled'. The term pickling came from the use of copper sulphate solution which was used to protect the grain against fungal disease and insects.

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The wheat was thrown into the Scourer against the rough cast concrete liner which was impregnated with emery. The wheat is then stripped of its husks. The 'Smut Dust' which is the waste product, is very explosive in the atmosphere and because of this process, many flour mills caught fire.

This machine was used for manufacturing sheets for beehives. The sheets are made of was and shaped into a honeycomb texture effect. They are put into the hive to encourage the bees to fill them with honey. This roller was used to make blank wax sheets for the roller.