The Australian Milling Museum (AMM) is calling upon local residents and farming families from Mudgee, Gulgong, Kandos and Rylstone to come forward with any grain milling stories or equipment and artefacts.

The history of grain milling in Australia is being researched by Dr Jess Jennings to set up the AMM, but it is critical to establish a great collection of artefacts and people’s stories because they bring history to life for the public benefit.

“Old mills used to be the lifeblood of every country town in Australia, but they have been forgotten once they closed to bigger corporate companies, and we want to save their memory and their great legacy because they contributed so much to the progress of rural Australia,” he said.

“We know there were horse and then steam powered mills in Rylstone, Gulgong and Mudgee from the early-mid 1800s, so any information we can dig on these will be like finding gold for the new Museum.

 “The AMM is set to become the spiritual heart and physical home of the Australian grain milling industry, opening in late 2019 in Tremain’s Mill, Bathurst, and will be a first for Australia, and the world, and definitely a big first for the Central West.

“We recently discovered a milling database from the 1970s that was an incredible find because it has taken months of time and travel to pull all the information together, and it demonstrates just how important the milling of grain was to NSW’s early economic development from 1788 to World War II.

“But it’s not just the physical equipment we are after, it’s the stories and family tales that people have in regard to working flour mills. The AMM is an opportunity to create a spiritual and physical home of the Australian grain milling industry through its public displays, a reference library, and an archive and milling equipment repository.”

Contact the AMM with your milling stories and/or information on; 0423 224 750; email [email protected]; or the website www.tremainsmill.com (via ‘Contact Us’ tab).​