Window

A column of light falls through a grimy multi-paned window set into the load-bearing brick wall of the Mungo Scott Flour Mill, Summer Hill. Dust hangs in the beam, catching the daylight in the way it likely did when the building was operational. The timber post-and-beam interior frame, visible in the surrounding structure, is consistent with the original 1921 construction: a five-storey mill building with hipped metal-sheet roof, built to receive grain at the top and return flour at the bottom through progressively finer rollers and sifters, floor by floor. Construction began in 1921 on land purchased from the railway authority for £3,000. The mill began operating in June 1922, when Mungo Scott Ltd vacated their previous premises on Sussex Street, Sydney. The site's location in Summer Hill was no accident: the Rozelle-Darling Harbour Goods Line ran adjacent to the eastern boundary, and a dedicated railway siding connected it directly to the mill. That connection was the whole point. A fire on 13 January 1927 destroyed a flour store and part of the mill, caused by sparks from passing trains igniting stored flour. Around 10,000 bags of flour and offal were lost. The mill was rebuilt and continued operating, eventually under Goodman Fielder and later Allied Mills. Concrete grain silo towers were added in the 1950s. Milling operations finally ceased in 2009. The photograph was made in 2014, five years after the last shift. Outside the frame, the former goods line had already been converted to the Inner West Light Rail corridor. Inside, the window and the dust remained.