SA-Victoria Mill, Gawler. (The Stack con…

Colonial engraving of a huge stack of bushel bags of wheat at Victoria Mill, Gawler owned by Walter Duffield.

Walter Duffield (1816-1882) was miller, pastoralist and politician, born Essex, England. He arrived in South Australia in the William Barras in December 1839 and became a tenant on Jacob Hagen’s estate at Echunga. In 1847 he moved to Gawler, where with some help from his sister in England he bought the Victoria steam flour-mill. As his business and exports expanded he acquired other mills at Snowtown, Wallaroo, Port Pirie, and a share in the Union at Gawler. He bought sections in the Gawler special survey in 1851 and began to build up the fine Para Para estate, winning prizes for his hams, wines and orchard produce, and making it a place of attractive entertainment for local functions, picnics and races. In the early 1850s he leased the Princess Royal run and then bought Koonoona station near Burra where by 1863 he was shearing over 40,000 merino sheep. With tireless energy he also acquired over a thousand square miles (2590 km²) of pastoral leases, including Outalpa in the north-east of South Australia and Weinteriga on the Darling River, and visited them regularly.