The Lily, Dutch-design windmill and flour mill in Amelup, Western Australia
The Lily is a Dutch-style windmill in the Great Southern region with a brick tower rising 25 meters and four steel sails measuring roughly 24.6 meters across. It operates as a working facility that produces flour using wind power and traditional milling methods.
Pleun Hitzert, born in the Netherlands, built The Lily almost single-handedly between 1991 and 1997, after training with Dutch millwrights. The brick tower used handmade bricks from the Broomehill co-op store, destroyed by fire in 1991; timbers came from the old Albany deep water jetty and telephone poles. Millstones were fitted in 2003, after a new restaurant opened in the reconstructed Gnowangerup railway station building, and the mill then produced its first flour from grain grown on the property.
The mill introduces Australian visitors to Netherlands agricultural heritage through its 16th-century design and traditional flour production methods.
The location benefits from strong consistent winds throughout the year in the Great Southern region, which reliably power flour production. Wind conditions may affect when the mill is operating, so checking beforehand helps plan a visit.
The tail of The Lily was made from the stock of a sail from the Dutch windmill Landzigt, destroyed by fire in 1990. The handmade bricks of the tower came from the Broomehill co-op store, which burned down in 1991; they were transported to the site and cleaned by hand.
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