The Carome Estate is today better known as the popular venue of the Two Beans Cafe and Restaurant in Mernda. The European history of the property goes to 1840. A short history of the Carome property was prepared by local historians Lindsay Mann and Ross Mugavin in 2017.
In 1840, Arthur Serjeantson obtained a Crown grant for Portion 19, Parish of Morang. The property, which totalled 842 acres (341 hectares), was initially called “Serjeantson Hall”. Lewis and Peggy Jones in – The Flour Mills of Victoria 1840-1990, assert that this mill was:
“completed in 1841 in the Parish of Morang, by Arthur Sergeantson [sic], this water powered mill would have been among the first three flour mills to operate in or near Melbourne …and Victoria’s first operating water powered flour mill; …only two mills were built earlier; both situated in Melbourne; and both being steam driven.”
The mill was small, with one pair of stones capable of producing only four or five bushels of flour per hour. Its lower story was built in bluestone, and the upper floor was of wood , or —more correctly —was formed by a vertical triangular timber wall between the sloping ends of a gable roof.
Serjeantson probably operated the mill briefly, because by 1843 it was leased to a miller named Anderson, who was reputedly associated with the Westernport millers Anderson & Massie. Some claim it was in fact Anderson, and not Serjeantson, who built it. L. & P. Jones believe it was either Hugh or Thomas Anderson, brothers of Samuel Anderson (one of the two founders of the Westernport firm), who ran Carome Mill. It is believed that Hugh and Thomas Anderson had been living close by at a property along the Darebin Creek around this time. The Jones’ theory is supported in the book The Andersons of Western Port in which it states that Hugh most likely operated “Carome”:
The coincidence of Hugh and Thomas moving to Darebin Creek at the time of ‘Mr Anderson taking up the lease’ [of the “Carome” Mill] is too great for it to be assumed that anyone but Hugh Anderson managed the mill for those seven years. Once it had been examined and approved by Robert Massie [an engineer] there was no reason why it could not have been managed by Hugh. He had seen the Bass River mill working, and had helped to operate it on a number of occasions.
“Carome”, as L & P Jones point out, had a limited capacity and with a number of larger mills to compete with around Melbourne, it would have reaped marginal profits for its operators. Anderson worked the mill for seven years; after which it was leased to Robert Charles. Arthur Serjeantson died on 19 June, 1853, and the property was claimed by Arthur’s older brother, Peter Serjeantson, of Liverpool, England. In August 1855, Charles experienced financial hardship and went into insolvency.
During 1856 the “Carome” property was managed by a Mr Lawrie, who allowed the mill to fall into disrepair. “Carome” Mill is also shown on a plan, produced in 1855 to show the route of the Yan Yean pipe track. Further upstream from the mill, set a little way back from the river stood a building, square in plan and of a similar size to the mill. This is probably the building that is vaguely visible to the rear of the mill in a c. 1859 photograph of the complex (see photo ‘2’); to the west of this stood a T-shaped building. A fenced yard extended to the north and west of this building. A fenced-in paddock also lay to the west of the T-shaped building towards Plenty Road. This enclosure is identified by the word ‘wheat’. Apart from traces of the mill, no signs of the buildings, shown on the plan, are visible on the land today. It is likely that before the existing bluestone house was built, another dwelling existed to accommodate the miller and his family. The Charles family are known to have lived at the site, as Mrs Charles died at “Carome” in 1853. It is likely that she occupies one of the nearby graves.
In April 1857, the property was put up for sale. An advertisement in the Argus for the upcoming auction described the property as:
…containing 411 acres (more or less) [168.51 hectares] and known as the Carome Mill Property (This shows that Arthur Sergeantson named Carome, not Willis), together with all machinery, buildings, and other improvements erected on the same …is most romantically situated on the bank of the river, and worked by the water from the same. The machinery combines all that is necessary for carrying on a lucrative business.
“Carome” was purchased by William Hardesty and Abraham Willis. An Old Law Land Memorial dates the transfer to Hardesty and Willis as 13 June 1857. Willis realised the need to improve and enlarge the mill in order to make it profitable. He engaged Robert Fulton, who is thought to have been associated with the iron founders, flour millers and ship smiths Fulton & Smith of Flinders Street, Melbourne. Fulton enlarged the mill adding an additional floor (s), building a timber structure upon the original bluestone base. He installed a new overshot water-wheel, an extra pair of mill stones and a wooden flume from the Plenty River, which increased the fall to about 5 metres — which is regarded as an ‘excellent fall’. In a legal document drawn up in 1859 the property name has changed slightly from that which appeared in the Argus advertisement, with it now being known; perhaps ambitiously; as “Carome Mills. The same name was repeated in a document dated 1863 and again in 1874 — after the mill had been destroyed by the fire — we shall deal with shortly. A list of plant drawn-up in January 1863 shows that it had been fitted with a water wheel; and two pairs of French burr stones; it also contained dressing and smut machines; and two pair of weighing machines; together with all utensils and implements necessary for the working of a flour mill.
The Yan Yean Reservoir, built in the 1850s, reduced significantly the flow of the Plenty River. Anticipating the smaller flows Moses Thomas dammed the river above Willis’ mill, resulting in a court case that Willis lost. Up until the end of 1865, whenever the water in the river was insufficient to work their mills, the proprietors could obtain an additional quantity from the Yan Yean by making an application to Charles Taylor, the Resident Engineer at the reservoir. But the Public Works Statute (1865) allowed the Board of Land & Works to divert the whole of the water of the Plenty River. By this time Willis’ was the only mill still operating, but his ability to make a living was diminished due to long periods of reduced flow. A board of inquiry was appointed to investigate the claims by Willis that the diversion of water had prevented him from working his mill and he was awarded £600 compensation. The following year (1868) it was destroyed by a fire, and Willis claimed £700 from his insurers, they sent their representative, Moses Thomas; Willis’ neighbour and a fellow miller; to assess the damage. Thomas recommended that they offer to settle for £412, but the claimant refused to accept, and applied for a coroner’s inquest; this led to a finding that the mill had been ‘wilfully destroyed’. Willis claimed damages, which his insurers refused to pay, because of the suspicious circumstances of the fire.
In the early days there were three flour mills on the Plenty. Closest to Melbourne was Janefield Mill first owned by George Coulstock, and later by John Brock; then Carome; then Thomas’ Mill. Janefield closed in 1862, and Thomas’ in 1863, when a flood swept his dam away . Then in 1868 the weatherboard “Carome” Mill—the first water driven flour mill in Victoria—burned down, leaving only stone foundations, and bringing the brief history of flour milling on the Plenty River to an abrupt close.
With special thanks from the authors to John Waghorn and Gwen Hawke, for their generous assistance.
Further Reading: The Plenty, by J.W. Payne & The Flour Mill of Victoria, by L. & P. Jones (Mill Park Library)
Sources
Incorrectly spelt by J.W. Payne and others as ‘Sergeantson’ and by some as ‘Sargeson’, but recorded on original documents as Serjeantson. Payne, J.W., The Plenty: A Centenary History of the Whittlesea Shire. © Shire of Whittlesea, 1975, p. 136.
Billis, R.V. and Kenyon, A.S, Pastoral Pioneers of Port Phillip (2nd Edition), Stockland Press, Melbourne 1974, p. 138.
Jones, L. & P., The Flour Mills of Victoria 1840-1990, the Flour Millers’ Counil of Victoria, p 94.
Payne, J.W. The Plenty, p. 136.
L. & P. Jones, Flour Mills of Victoria, 1840-1990, loc. cit. (Flour Mills, same page as last noted).
Michael McLaughlin, whilst being examined by the Select Committee on the diversion of the Plenty River, claimed that the mill was built by Anderson. ‘Proceedings of the Select Committee of the Legislative Assembly of Victoria, on the Diversion of the Plenty River, 1870; ‘Victorian Parliamentary Papers,’ Legislative Assembly, vol. 1, p. 793.
Jones, L& P; Flour Mills of Victoria, p. 94; as quoted by them from The Andersons of the Western Port 1840-1990 by Thomas Horton and Kenneth Morris; p. 4.
(a)Jones, L. & P., Flour Mills of Victoria, p.p. 94-95. (b)Old Law Memorial, Portion 19, Parish of Morang, document titled ‘Schedule of Documents Referred to,’ held at Public Record Office of Victoria.
Legislative Assembly of Victoria, Victorian Parliamentary Papers 1867, vol. 5, p. 980.
Payne, J.W. The Plenty loc. cit.
Jones, L. & P., Flour Mills of Victoria, ibid, p. 95.
Extract of the death notice of Mrs Charles printed in the Argus, 5 July 1853.
Extract of auction advertisement printed in the Argus, 13 April 1857.
Other records indicate that they purchased the property in April 1857. Legislative Assembly of Victoria, Victorian Parliamentary Papers, 1867, vol. 5, p. 973.
Jones, L. & P. Flour Mills of Victoria, loc. cit.
Jones, L. & P. Flour Mills of Victoria, p. 95.
PROV VPRS 460/P/0; Unit 037982, Indenture in Mortgage Document, between Hardesty and Willis, the mortgagees, and Mary Jackson and Henry Budge, the mortgagors, dated 19 January 1963.
Payne, J.W. The Plenty, ibid, p137
Jones, L. & P., Flour Mills of Victoria, ibid. p. 96.
Payne, J.W. The Plenty, ibid, p. 137.
Payne, J.W. The Plenty, ibid, p. 139.
Carome Conservation Management Plan. Produced by Robert Sands Pty Ltd. Architect & Conservation
Consultant.
Image: Carome Homestead, 2010 YPRL collection
First published 19 October, 2017
