Cooling Tower Supports

A structural bay inside the Mungo Scott Flour Mill in Summer Hill, NSW, a long run of timber beams and corroded ironwork receding towards a bright opening at the far end. Photographed in 2014, the number 231 is stamped on a heavily rusted iron cross-member in the mid-ground. Rust pitting covers the ironwork throughout and water staining marks the timber above. The mill behind them began operating in June 1922, when Mungo Scott Ltd relocated from their previous premises on Sussex Street, Sydney. The firm had been established as Messrs Aitken and Scott in 1895, and the Summer Hill site was chosen deliberately for its access to the Rozelle-Darling Harbour Goods Line, a World War I-era freight railway that ran along the site's eastern boundary. Grain arrived by rail, was raised to the top floor of the five-storey load-bearing brick mill, and fed by gravity through rollers and sifters on successive floors below. The original 1921 mill and store were partially destroyed by fire on 13 January 1927, when sparks from passing trains ignited stored flour. Rebuilding followed. Concrete grain silos were added in the 1950s during the Goodman Fielder era, and new steel bulk storage silos were constructed in 1963. The site continued operating through successive owners until Allied Mills ceased milling in 2009. By 2014, when this photograph was made, the site had been sold to developer EG Funds Management and the concept plan for redevelopment had been approved. Stage 2 DA approval came through in October that same year. This frame records the building before the site was rebuilt as the Flour Mill of Summer Hill, a mixed-use precinct of 360 dwellings across 11 buildings, with the heritage mill building and six silos retained. What the photograph holds is the interior structure, made just before the transformation.