Historical Windmills of New Zealand

Traditional flour milling windmills were never very numerous in New Zealand, but even as early as 1851, an introduction to the country, and the Wellington region in particular, mentions their presence - though since I'm only aware of 2 windmills near Wellington, both built by this time (Wellington and Lower Hutt), perhaps this is hinting that there were more to be seen, perhaps in the Wairarapa, that have otherwise escaped being recorded: Eliza Cook's Journal, Volume 5, Eliza Cook, J. O. Clark, 1851

SATURDAY MAY 17 1851
NEW ZEALAND
The islands of New Zealand seem destined at no remote period to become the "Great Britain" of the southern ocean. They are situated not far distant from our Australian colonies; the islands abound in timber of the most valuable kinds suitable for ship-building; the coasts swarm with fish and are the haunt of the spermaceti whale, large numbers of American vessels yearly resorting thither for fishing purposes; and the numerous noble bays and deep inlets all round the coast afford them a safe anchorage during the stormier seasons of the year.
...
Although Wellington is a straggling town, extending over a large surface of hillocks and hollows, knolls and ravines, steeps and flats, all round the harbour, it already exhibits a forwardness of organization remarkable in so young a settlement, but quite in keeping with the British character everywhere, which no sooner plants its foot upon a soil, than it begins to organize forthwith. Within the bosom of these towering hills, which enclose this lovely bay, you already see churches, corn mills, courts of law, survey offices, banks, an exchange, a custom house, bonded stores, and merchants' offices. There are barracks also, and a few red-coats are seen on parade or lounging about in undress. Ships lie at anchor off the wharves, securely protected by the high grounds surrounding tho bay on all sides. In one place you see by the stumps still protruding from the ground, that a clearing has been effected and the land turned into pasture for the use of the numerous cattle belonging to inhabitants. Occasionally a few natives are seen passing, perhaps engaged in some work for a colonist, by whom the settlers are often hired at good wages. Along the beach you observe nests of houses, with an occasional parsonage or hotel, or an officer's house; and as you proceed into the country, the comfortable farm houses of the farmer proprietors meet your view, sometimes on the skirt of a wood, or by a running stream, or in a snug valley, or on the open flats; large numbers of well fed cattle roaming the hills, or forests, or fern covered plains; Windmills also occasionally diversify the scene and remind you forcibly of the old country. There are now excellent roads leading to the rich and extensive tracts of country lying to the north east and north west of Port Nicholson, and farmers are gradually finding their way into them. The most important district is called the Wairarapa; it extends in a level plain far into the interior of the country, within two lofty ranges of hills which form the heads of Palliser bay. A good road is now formed to it up the valley of the Hutt. The chief recommendations are its great variety of character - abundance of prairie grass and fern lands for pastoral purposes; plenty of timber for building and fuel, with hills in the distance to fall back upon; abundance of good land, yielding good crops, for purposes of agriculture, and a river affording good means of transit. There are many good stock farms already in the neighbourhood, and pigs run wild in large numbers.

Whilst the primary focus of this page is traditional windmills used for grinding wheat, I've also included historical windmills that were used for other purposes, and indeed some of the devices may not have been true windmills, merely wind engines. The distinction is fluid, but in general if the device appears to have been a unique structure (craftsman made, or even home made) then it belongs on this page, if it was a factory made device, especially those used to pump water, then it is to be found on the wind engines page.

Historical mills

More New Zealand mills coverage on this site

• Windmills of New Zealand
• Wind engines of New Zealand
• Mock mills of New Zealand
• Watermills of New Zealand
• Millstones in New Zealand
• Wellington Steam Mill

Links

• Wikipedia
• European type windmills in New Zealand - drawing on the research by Ian Jonson
• Catalogue entry for Ian Jonson's research notes on windmills and watermills in New Zealand
• Windmill Hoppers album of Australian and New Zealand (European-style) windmills
• Grain Processing
• Pinterest - New Zealand windmills

Historic photo collections of New Zealand

• Meta search, via DigitalNZ
• MOTAT
• Hocken Collection
• National Library
• Alexander Turnbull Library
• Auckland Museum
• Papers Past - illustrations
• Auckland libraries