Brothers William and James Parr built a windmill on this site in 1872. It became a landmark in Timaru but was demolished in 1887 after proving unreliable due to inconsistent winds. In addition to the windmill, the Parr brothers operated a water-powered mill at Pleasant Point. The brothers faced significant challenges in the region, including the Great Flood of 1868, which devastated the area. In Pleasant Point, Robert Salter’s home was swept away, tragically resulting in the drowning of his wife and two children. The flood also caused extensive damage in Timaru, with water levels rising 61 cm in the CBD's main street. The ship Despatch wrecked on Timaru beach, and its captain died in the disaster.
Timaru, 1875, Dunedin, by Burton Brothers, Alfred Burton. Te Papa (C.014373)
Timaru, circa 1883, Dunedin, by Burton Brothers. Te Papa (C.014380)
Timeline of Parr Brothers' Windmill, Timaru
Pre-Settlement & Early 1800s
- Pre-1800s: The area now known as South Canterbury, New Zealand, was largely wilderness, with Māori inhabitants before European settlers arrived.
1850s - Arrival of the Parr Brothers
- 1859: The Parr brothers, William, James, and Mary, along with a sister, arrived in New Zealand from England. They initially settled in Christchurch. William Parr wrote to his father, encouraging him to join them and mentioned that Timaru was a better location for settlement.
- November 22, 1869: James Parr describes their first long walk from Christchurch to South Canterbury with a dray, enduring the hardships of long distances, rivers, and rough terrain.
1860s - Settling and Hardships
- 1868: The Parr brothers faced a major flood when the Opihi River overflowed, damaging their property. The brothers moved furniture and livestock to higher ground, but despite their efforts, a sow drowned. The flood was the worst to hit the region since the arrival of European settlers.
- 1868: The brothers also explored local streams for potential milling locations, finding Salt Creek near Timaru to be a potential site, although its water was stagnant.
1870s - Walton Mill Construction & Flour Milling
- 1 January 1870: Announcement that Messrs. Parr of the Point plan to erect a windmill in Timaru. Advertisements for bricklayers to construct the mill tower.
- 19 January 1870: Machinery for the windmill shipped from England, via Auckland and Dunedin, including millstones, shafts, and plates.
- 26 January 1870: Timaru Borough Council receives a request from Parr Brothers to build the windmill on sections 310 and 312 in Theodocia Street. Some debate among councillors about possible traffic hazards.
- 1 February 1870: News of the windmill’s construction spread nationwide.
- 21 February 1870: Ship Celestial Queen arrived in Dunedin, carrying windmill machinery for the Parr Brothers.
- 2 March 1870: Timaru Borough Council raised concerns about the windmill tower's strength, especially the thickness of the brick walls.
- 30 March 1870: Parr Brothers offered discounts at their existing watermill to attract Timaru customers.
- 1872: The Parr Brothers' windmill was completed and became a landmark in Timaru.
- 1872-1873: Despite the challenges, the brothers set up a water-powered mill on the Opihi River, near Pleasant Point. The water wheel still stands today, although it is now far from its original riverbed.
1880s - Mill Expansion & Technological Challenges
- 1885: Walton Mill and the Opihi River water mill continued operations under the leadership of the Parr brothers. They faced challenges with water supply and evolving milling technology, which prompted significant updates to the machinery.
- 1887: The windmill was demolished after proving unreliable due to inconsistent winds. The transition to steam-powered mills began.
- 1889: Walton Mill faced a malicious fire incident that damaged the facility, leading to a £10 reward for information on the arsonist. Despite this, the brothers persevered with their milling endeavors.
- 1890: Walton Mill advertised for a new miller to operate the facility as water supply issues persisted.
1890s - Technological Advancements & New Milling Equipment
- 1894: Walton Mill was upgraded with roller milling equipment imported from America, improving milling efficiency. The mill was now capable of producing 30 bags of flour per day, becoming more competitive in the regional milling market.
Early 1900s - Continued Development & Family Legacy
- 9 April 1895: The former windmill site was divided and offered for sale or lease in three sections by T. W. Leslie in the Timaru Herald.
- 14 January 1909: A roundup of early milling history in Timaru mentioned the windmill and its demolition, noting that early settlers relied on imported flour before local mills were established.
- 11 June 1914: A photo of the windmill appeared in the Timaru Herald, commemorating it as a significant landmark of its time.
- 1914: Joseph P. Scowen, a descendant of the original Walton Mill proprietors, married Lucy Eleanor Bradford. This marriage further solidified the family connection to the mill and the local region.
Modern Day - Legacy of the Parr Brothers
- Modern Day: The original water-powered mill on the Opihi River still stands at Mill Farm. It has become a historical monument, symbolizing the lasting legacy of the Parr brothers in the milling and agricultural history of the region.
- The Parr brothers' story, filled with determination, adversity, and innovation, continues to influence the region today.
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Timaru, 1875, Dunedin, by Burton Brothers studio, Alfred Burton. Te Papa (C.014373) A 60ft high brick tower construction began in 1872 but it only operated for a short time, as it was demolished in 1888. In 1865 William and James Parr build a flour mill powered by a over-shot water wheel. The mill was the second to be built in South Canterbury and was operated by the Parrs and subsequent owners until 1905. The wheel is the oldest mill reminant on its original site and was retored in 1988.
Disastrous Floods The great storm of 1868 was a violent storm that swept across much of New Zealand between 1–6 February 1868, wrecking 12 ships – including the Star of Tasmania and Water Nymph at Oamaru – and causing extensive flooding. About 40 lives were known lost and at the time an estimated £500,000 to £1 million worth of damage was caused. The storm is currently thought to have been an extratropical cyclone, which peaked in New Zealand over the period between the 3rd and 4th. In total 2,585 tons of shipping was lost, which was nearly half the tonnage lost during the full year. The flooding in the south of the South Island was the worst until 1945.
The mill was erected a short time ago near the banks of the Opihi River, and not far from the Point accommodation house which is distant from it about two miles. The mill was owned by two brothers, James and William Parr, who have lately resided in a weatherboard house, close to the mill. In the same house with them there lived a man, who, we believe, was their overseer. At a short distance from the Parrs’ house there stood another house in which resided a man named Salter, his wife, and family of four children. Between ten and eleven o’clock on Monday night Salter observed water on the floor of his house and that it was rapidly rising. He ran over to the Parrs, and found them in bed. He told them that water was then from a boot to eighteen inches deep in their house, and warned them of the danger of remaining inside. They replied they had known higher floods than that was, and told Salter there was no real risk, and advised him to go back to bed. Not long after Salter had regained his house, the water suddenly rose and with a frightful rush swept clean away both houses. The poor man saw his wife and children in the roaring torrent but was powerless to save them. Salter clung to a portion of the debris of his house, and was carried some distance along with the flood, and was picked off yesterday morning by a horseman who managed to reach him after the water had greatly subsided. Our informant who visited the scene of the fatal catastrophe yesterday morning stated that not a vestige of either houses remains, and beyond the bare patch of ground where the houses stood, there is no other sign that human habitations ever existed there. From the fact of Parr’s house being so utterly demolished, and the marks in the mill showing that at least five feet of water stood there when the flood was at its highest, we fear that little hopes can be entertained of the unfortunate men having escaped with their lives. All hope though must not be quite abandoned as it is quite possible the men may have clung to a portion of the wrecked house, and got washed down among the farmstead below, and so have escaped.
Further information of the damage done by the late disastrous floods on these plains discloses a terrible state of things, and the loss of property in sheep and crops will be, we fear, when an accurate estimate can be arrived at, very heavy indeed. We have since our report on Wednesday visited the scene of desolation at Parr’s mill, from whence, at a distance of about a quarter of a mile, are the remains of the houses of the Parrs and Salter. The houses stood close together, and within a very few yards of the mill, when on that stormy Monday night the flood swept over then, first carrying away the Parr’s house, and almost immediately afterwards that of Salter’s. The two Parr brothers had just time to seize upon a portion of the side of the house, when they were carried away in the surging torrent. One of them thus describes the scene: - “We were carried swiftly along, and in the darkness of the night, and in the roar of the surging waters all around us, we could not tell where we were, and at one time we thought we had drifted to sea. We could see nothing on every side but water, and we had given ourselves up for lost. When the few weather boards on which we clung struck the ground, we jumped down and waited there, surrounded by water, till help came the following morning.” They suppose it to have been about one am on Tuesday morning when they started on their perilous voyage, and the spot from where they were rescued – a distance of fully four miles – was reached, according to the men, in an incredibly short space of time, such was the rapidity of the torrent. It appears that during the passage down, their raft struck against a farm cottage belonging to a family of the name of Moore, and severely damaged it. Of the Parrs’ neighbours, the Salter family, a sad tale has to be told. Salter, finding the water in his cottage rising higher and higher, placed his wife and four children on the top of the table in hopes the water would not reach them. Suddenly the house burst asunder, and in the noise and confusion of the falling roof, and masses of timber floating about and knocking against him, the poor man could do nothing to save his family. Wife and children were swept away, and Salter himself clung to a small portion of the woodwork, and was drifted on to a dry patch of ground from whence he was taken off the next morning. Mrs Salter’s body was picked up on the plain on Wednesday morning about three miles from the Mill, and the body of one of the children was recovered the same day. Another body was recovered on Thursday afternoon somewhere on Gaffney’s farm near to the main road. The other two bodies have not yet been found. About one and a half miles below the mill there are five or six farm buildings, the inhabitants of which were all washed out, and had to seek refuge at the Levels station. At this locality the loss has not been very excessive, as only one farm stood near to where the main body of water came. On this farm though, belonging to Mr Hoare, a good breadth of corn has been very seriously damaged, and all the fences near to the river have been washed away. Huge gaps have been made in the fences higher up on the plain, but the crops there have escaped serious injury. Following the course of the flood torrent from these farms to the next farm buildings where Parr’s farm is situated, we found melancholy evidences of the ravages which the water had made. Every here and there were dotted dead sheep, portions of clothing, bedding, timber, torn up bushes, parts of houses, and all kinds of rubbish. At Parr’s farm the signs of destruction were even more visible – fences torn away for considerable distances, trees uprooted, and mixed with all the rubbish were sides and roofs of houses, dead animals, pieces of timber, etc. Lower down than Parr’s farm, nearer the river, the flood water was greatest and did very considerable damage, some of the farmers whose homesteads lay in the immediate course of the stream having lost their all – their houses being destroyed, and their crops, on which they depended for a subsistence, being so damaged as to be not worth reaping. One farmer had a large quantity of wheat and oats in stock. Almost every stock has been washed away and scattered over the plain. On that farm alone (the Hoares’) the loss is estimated at £500. Lower down the plain and near to the high road, a like destruction has visited the farmers, no house having escaped being flooded and crops if not actually swept away, so damaged as to be worthless. The scene here on Monday night, or rather at daybreak on Tuesday morning was truly awful. One farmer (Barrett) finding the water rapidly rising in his house, placed his wife and family on the top of a large loaded waggon standing near his house, about one am, and there patiently waited till dawn. When daylight came, Barrett saw nothing round him but one vast sheet of surging water, so deep that his waggon, he says, must have floated if it had not been kept down by its load of a ton of coal. The water round the waggon was over 4ft deep, and floating or rather whirling past, were numbers of sheep, pigs, timber and all kinds of rubbish. A great many of the sheep were dead, but some were still struggling for life as they were carried past the waggon. Fortunately Barrett saved his bedding and blankets, and his wife and children were kept pretty warm in their uncomfortable position, but they could not provide or cook any food. They remained on the top of the waggon till half past two pm on Wednesday when the water suddenly flowed off. Half an hour before the water left them it stood two feet about the waggon, but by half past two o’clock the land was comparatively dry, the water having gone off in a sudden rush. Probably the shingle bank bordering the sea was then broken through which would account for the sudden withdrawal of the water. In this neighbourhood three houses have fallen, one belonging to James Brosnin, and two to John Brosnin. Barrett has lost heavily in his crop, about £200 worth, and the Brosnin’s are also considerable sufferers. One farmer had a fine lot of standing wheat of about two acres swept bodily away, together with the land it grew upon. On Tuesday morning as soon as Mr Rooke, a farmer residing near the Washdyke heard of these families being flooded out, he took his trap to render assistance. He found in the middle of the plains water from three to four feet in depth, which he had to pass through before reaching the houses. All who sought Mr Rooke’s house were, of course, most hospitably treated, but we must say that 37 souls in all, the number present, is a somewhat severe tax on any man’s hospitality. On Wednesday afternoon they were enabled to return to their respective homes. The main road, from Gaffneys farm to Patterson’s hotel, presented a sad appearance on Thursday afternoon, some of the post and wire fences had been washed bodily from their places, and had been carried by the water across the road – entwined with the fences were all sorts of rubbish, posts, rails, and timber which had been brought down from the farms higher up, and we also observed a pair of harrows which had been brought down in a mass of rubbish from a farm a mile and a half from the road. On and bordering the road were dead sheep, sheaves of corn, and boxes and chests which had been washed out of farm homes. The gully by Young’s farm was, even on Thursday afternoon, heavily flooded, as the water was passing over the bridge there, to a depth of about eighteen inches. The road, from the gully to Patterson’s is not much damaged although the water was standing on parts of it to the depth of two or three feet on Tuesday. The Patterson family were completely washed out of the hotel on Monday night, and had to take refuge at Young’s farm house, which was comparatively free of water. Lower down the plains towards the sea, we hear that the Messrs Rhodes’ have suffered very severely in sheep in the seadown paddock, and also have lost a large stockyards, and a great quantity of fencing. Fully 80 chains of fencing, are, we hear, requisite to be done before the paddocks can again be available. The beach at the mouth of the Opihi, and for a considerable distance both north and south presents a melancholy sight. Dead sheep, hay, sheaves of oats, and wheat, heaps of fencing material, and a vast amount of firewood all lie in inextricable confusion and among the rubbish we observed the body of a large bull and a steer, the latter having a large piece of timber athwart his neck. The bull belongs to the Levels station, and is, we believe, a valuable animal. Learn more