Hart's Mill, Heritage-listed industrial complex in Port Adelaide, Australia
Hart's Mill is a stone grain-processing complex in Port Adelaide that rises five stories above the waterfront. The building housed milling machinery, storage areas, and workspaces arranged to move grain efficiently from ship to finished product.
John Hart settled near Port Adelaide after his final voyage to England in 1846 and, with H. Kent Hughes, built up large flour mills; the 1855 mill survives beside the c. 1889 mill, the only known site with two generations of South Australian flour mill buildings. John Hart & Co. merged with the Adelaide Milling Co. in 1882, and the complex was listed on the South Australian Heritage Register on 27 May 2004.
The mill carries the name of John Hart, a merchant who settled near Port Adelaide after his last voyage to England in 1846 and built up large flour mills with H. Kent Hughes under Hart & Company. 'Hart's Flour' fetched the highest prices in Australia. The site now hosts Adhocracy, an annual performance series presented by the Vitalstatistix theatre company, and a public sculpture marking the Mudlangga to Yertabulti Track, which presents Aboriginal stories of Port Adelaide and the Lefevre Peninsula.
The precinct is entered from the Port River bend in the north-western corner of Port Adelaide. Hart's Mill Lawns, the Hart's Mill Market Space and the Flour Shed can be hired for public events, and the outdoor areas were landscaped with public amenities and a playground. Adhocracy performances by Vitalstatistix use the mill as one of their venues.
The site holds two generations of flour mill buildings: the 1855 Hart's Mill and the c.1889 mill beside it, the only known South Australian example of both surviving together. The adjacent Packing Shed is a rare surviving ancillary milling building. The precinct's redevelopment won the UNESCO New Design in Heritage Concepts Award in 2018.
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