On Thursday 30th June, Jess Jennings will be facilitating a panel discussion with Paul and John to launch their fantastic new books. The panel will be happy to answer any questions from the milling crowd. After the event, stick around for dinner and a drink.
These books document an important era of Australian history that has particular relevance to the Bathurst region.
– Contact BooksPlus to pre-order –
Power of Flour: A Photographic History of Milling in Australia by Paul Ashton Jess Jennings & John McCorquodale
Soon after settlement Europeans began spreading through Aboriginal lands. They followed rich veins of soil to establish farms. Grain—particularly wheat and maize—was a staple in their diets. Its production attracted mills. As railway networks expanded from the mid nineteenth century more and more grain was grown. And more mills were built. They also became bigger and used different technology.
In rural Australia, a medium to large size productive mill was a powerful symbol of affluence, respectability and political influence. Some mills were as large as town churches which were dominant landmarks. Many mills towered over their steeples. They became magnets for economic activity and growth.
The Power of Flour traces the important and intriguing rise of milling in Australia using 150 photographs and artworks. Milling fed the colonies and later the nation. But it was dangerous and difficult work. Mills also regularly caught on fire or exploded.

Branded: Flourbag Art Between the Wars by Paul Ashton & Jess Jennings
From the late 1920s into the 1930s Asian countries became major markets for Australian wheat and flour. Before World War I less than five per cent of sales were with Asia. By the mid 1930s more than half of Australia’s flour exports went to Asian countries.
Flour merchants in Asia often asked Australian milling companies to design flour bag labels that would be attractive to their customers. They used mythical creatures, such as dragons; magic and luck, represented by dice and all-seeing eyes; exotic buildings; modernity, including huge cranes and fast ships; fruit, for health and beauty; plants; flowers; birds; animals such as lions and calligraphy. This book contains over 100 intriguing flour bag labels that were produced for the Asian market between the two world wars.