Hawkesbury History: Singleton's Watermills Archaeological Site, Kurrajong

State Heritage Listing of the two Singleton Mill sites at Little Wheeny Creek, Kurrajong was confirmed on the 9 December 2022. Many people contributed to achieve this result not the least being Les Dollin, the late Professor Ian Jack and his wife Jan Barkley-Jack, the Hawkesbury City Council and the HCC Heritage Advisory Committee. Members of the Kurrajong-Comleroy Historical Society have championed the importance of the sites since the beginning of the Society in 2001.

The brothers, James, Benjamin, and Joseph Singleton were the key players in establishing the two mills. The first mill was built circa 1813 and was operational in 1816 when it was put up for sale. It remains unclear who had the necessary skills to build the first mill.

Too little is known about the elder brother James who had remained in England until he was 31 years old when he reunited with the family in 1809. He may have been a millwright in England. He was the only brother to spend his whole life in Australia running the tidal mill on the Hawkesbury River. Both Benjamin and Joseph built other mills in the Hunter but also took up other pursuits. Joseph tended to follow in Benjamin's shadow.

The ownership of the mills passed through a number of hands and included the partnership owning the Waterloo and Lachlan Mills in Port Jackson. One early owner was William Leverton and it is his name that appears on early maps showing the location as Leverton's Mill. By 1835 John Town snr secured ownership of both mills. It was not long after his death that the advent of the fungal disease known as rust in the wheat grown in the area took away local milling. By the late 1850s, the mills had closed and useful equipment was sold off. Some buildings remained but were slowly reduced by neglect, fire and further scavenging until little remained but the stone remnants of today.

Benjamin appears to have been the ideas and action man. He quickly moved from one enterprise to another, from farming to milling, then on to exploring and cattle grazing, still not content, he built a punt, a boat, an inn, and a flour mill then turned his hand to land development. The subdivision he created became the town of Singleton in the Hunter. Benjamin was appointed a constable before he returned to exploration of the Liverpool Plains, probably being the first squatter in that area. He became involved in cheese making with a son in law. His enterprises were quite successful.

In his time Benjamin was a philanthropist gifting land and buildings to the new town site. He was undone by a recession which resulted in him having to divest himself of his assets from which others profited. This prompted his widow to place an epitaph on the family gravestone which reads "And herein is that saying true - One soweth and another reapeth..."

Protection of the remnant Kurrajong Mill site remains a major concern.

Frank Holland is a member of Kurrajong-Comleroy Historical Society