Malthouse Two

Malthouse Two is the northern of the two original malthouses at Mittagong Maltings, a 6.5-hectare complex on Colo Street, Mittagong, built on land acquired from the Oaklands Estate adjacent to the Main Southern Railway and Nattai Creek. It was constructed between 1906 and 1907 as a deliberate mirror image of Malthouse One, which had been completed and operating since August 1899. The builder of Malthouse One was Stuart Brothers of Sydney, one of the largest contracting firms in the colony. The same Federation Industrial style carries through both structures: polychrome brickwork, gabled and decorated rooflines, and window forms that a 1989 conservation report described as giving the buildings "an almost domestic feel" despite their industrial scale. The history of Malthouse Two is inseparable from the fire of 5 and 6 August 1942, which the Sydney Morning Herald reported as "the biggest fire in the history of Mittagong." The blaze started in Malthouse One and spread to Malthouse Two; fire brigades from Mittagong, Bowral, and Moss Vale responded, with additional resources dispatched from Sydney. Malthouse Two did not return to active production until 1953, after a complete rebuild. Malthouse Three, across Nattai Creek, continued production throughout. The facility was operated by Tooth and Co Ltd from 1905, having been purchased from the original Malting Company of New South Wales. It was the primary malt supplier for Tooth and Co's Kent Brewery in Sydney for 75 years. The Maltings used the traditional floor malting process throughout its entire 81-year operational life, a method that depended on the head maltster's expertise with air, water, and temperature rather than mechanised control. Production ceased in 1980. What the 2014 photograph records is the interior of that hall after more than three decades of disuse: rusted machinery, peeling paint, daylight arriving through broken windows. Mittagong Maltings is assessed by Heritage NSW as the only remaining example of a traditional maltings manufacturing facility in Australia.