Wheat is a staple food for English people, so when the colony of NSW was established there was an expectation farmers would grow wheat and produce a reliable supply. The challenges of those first years of the fledging colony facing near starvation are legendary.
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Wheat was first grown near Parramatta and then on the Hawkesbury River flats. Later an excellent wheat growing environment was discovered in Tasmania. When the Lower Hunter was settled, wheat growing was an obvious choice for settlers. The Hawkesbury and Hunter were both subject to severe flooding so Tasmania was still sought after as an area for wheat.
However, a significant industry was established in the tidal reaches of the Hunter River (roughly below Oakhampton) and by 1830 the area supplied wheat to Sydney. The rich alluvial soils grew excellent wheat - easily shipped to Sydney or milled locally.
Flour mills were built in many locations powered by wind, steam and water, the most enduring being the steam-driven ones. A wind-powered mill was built at Dunmore, near Woodville, just like those in Europe. Fortunately, Robert Russell's painting of it survives.
A large stone building near Valley Tyres, East Maitland (and built by the convict entrepreneur John Smith) is the only flour mill still standing. It was a steam mill, well located close to Wallis Creek, not far from the river. Most mills were demolished for their large blocks of sandstone; the one at Osterley (on the river near Mt Kanwary) was blown up during World War II as target practice to train the artillery. Unfortunately, a number water-driven mills in the Paterson and Allyn valleys were destroyed by floods.
Wheat was often grown by tenant farmers who paid the estate owner a rental fee or a proportion of the crop. The long strips which dominate holdings on Maitland's alluvial lands reflect the need for every tenant farmer to have river frontage. Often huts were built on the natural river levee, the area most likely to be flood free, but the levee was not completely flood free. Tenant farmers were severely impacted.
The ground was ploughed with a mouldboard plough turning the soil toward the centre. Over time a slight ridge was created and, in some places, an observant eye can still see these undulations. The wheat crop was grown through winter and harvested late spring, often stood in stacks until there was time to thresh it - that is, separate the husk from the grain. Initially threshing was by hand but eventually crude machinery was imported or built locally. Charles Reynolds of Tocal brought a stripping machine in 1843 and partly mechanising his harvesting process.
Despite this venture, Tocal eventually excelled in cattle and horse breeding rather than wheat growing. The series of wet years from 1857 to 1864 saw the disease, wheat rust, break out and wheat growing declined. By then the railways were moving into the west, facilitating the transporting of crops. Lucerne became a major crop, again relying on transport to Sydney by steamer, but that is story for another day.