Malthouse Two Basement

The basement of Malthouse Two occupies the sub-floor of a building constructed in 1906-07 as a deliberate mirror image of the original malthouse to its south. Brick columns run the full length of the space, a vaulted ceiling spanning low between them. Earth and debris have settled into the pit between the column bases. A lone chair sits in the middle distance. Graffiti covers the far wall. The photograph was made in 2014, more than three decades after the last malt left the site. Mittagong Maltings was built in stages across two decades. Malthouse One was completed in August 1899 by Stuart Brothers of Sydney, using bricks sourced locally from brickworks then operating in Mittagong. The Malting Company of New South Wales, whose directors included Arthur William Tooth and chairman George Judah Cohen, had selected the site for its proximity to rail, water supply, and the Sydney market. Tooth and Co purchased the company's assets in 1905 and moved quickly to expand. Malthouse Two followed in 1906-07; malt storage silos and a maltster's cottage were added in 1907. The 1942 fire, reported by the Sydney Morning Herald as "the biggest fire in the history of Mittagong," started in Malthouse One and spread to Malthouse Two. Brigades from Mittagong, Bowral, and Moss Vale responded, with additional crews dispatched from Sydney. Malthouse Two did not return to production until 1953, after a complete rebuild. It remained in operation until 1980, when Tooth and Co ceased production across the entire complex, citing financial difficulties and the availability of subcontracted malting services. The complex is the only remaining example of a traditional maltings manufacturing facility in Australia, a fact confirmed in the Heritage NSW significance assessment and the National Trust listing. The basement in this frame is part of that record: columns standing, ceiling intact, the space long emptied of any purpose beyond what time and occasional visitors have left behind.