32-36 William Street (Cnr, Esplanade and Shield Streets) TASMANIAN FLOUR MILLS

32 - 36 WILLIAM STREET - TASMANIAN FLOUR MILLS

Although the address Tasmanian Flour Mills in 32 – 36 William Street, this view is of the corner of Shields Street (also known as lower George Street) and the Esplanade. Most parts of the building date back to around 1908, but the earliest parts are from an 1860 warehouse on the site that pre-dated the mill. There is also architecture dating from the 1940s. (Someone more knowledgeable than me can probably identify which bits were built when!).

Still probably best known as “Monds and Affleck” the association with these early names (Thomas Wilkes Monds who founded the Albion Mill on the North Esk in 1865, and Affleck who built the crown mill in Cameron Street in 1897, after earlier ventures in Longford) began when the company formed in 1918 and ended in 1995, when it was sold and renamed Tasmanian Flour Mills. A more complete account of the development and ownership of the mill can be found at http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/upfiles/qvmag/imglib/collections/CHS68%20Tasmanian%20Flour%20Mills%20Pty%20Ltd.pdf.

If you look up The Examiner of Saturday 10 September 1927 on TROVE you will find a photograph of the buildings at that time, as well as an article that is very much of its time (to quote: “the age of flapperdom”).

Thomas Affleck migrated to Tasmania in 1860 When he died in 1898, The Examiner noted that the funeral procession stretched on for almost a mile, and was the largest local funeral ever seen. He was buried in a coffin of Huon Pine.  

Thomas Wilkes Monds was born in Tasmania in 1829. A picture, and more information about him can be seen on the “Launceston Family Album” site (http://www.launcestonfamilyalbum.org.au/) which has photographs, and details of people who visited the Tasmanian Exhibition of 1891-2.

The mill he owned at Carrick remains one of the most noteable buildings in that town. The Monds family played an important role in the civic life of the north of the state, and additional information is readily available on-line.