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Southern Cross are proud to have been installing windmills Boulia can depend on since 1903.
With over 100 years of expertise designing and manufacturing windmills, Boulia residents can be worry-free knowing they have the support of Australia’s oldest windmill manufacturer.
People all across Queensland are well aware of the need for a sound water supply, and due to this, a number of these people continue to turn to a Southern Cross Windmill.
Located on the Burke River, Boulia is a crossroads for a number of routes, including Australia’s Longest Shortcut, which runs from neighbouring town Winton, to Laverton in Western Australia.
Our windmills are available in a range of sizes. The Southern Cross Windmill can be fitted with a windwheel between 6′ and 14′, and mounted on a tower between 20′ and 60′.
Our experts can help determine what wheel and tower sizes would best suit your windmill, based upon the landscape you wish to have it built on, and the amount of wind your property receives.
The Southern Cross “FA” Series Windmill Towers are available in the following heights:
The minimum recommended tower height for each windwheel size, is as follows:
For centuries, we have used wind to power our boats, mill our grain and pump our water. Wind power is the first renewable energy to be harnessed by mankind.
Windmills have been a part of rural living in Australia for well over a century, and is a great renewable energy source, along with being an Australian icon. Windmills have been a part of rural living in Australia for well over a century, and is a great renewable energy source, along with being an Australian icon.
Still one of the best and most eco-friendly water harvesting solutions, a windmill can be built and effective anywhere there is access to water, whether that be underground in a well or bore, or drawing from a river or dam.
Australia is a notoriously arid and tough country, and water has always been difficult to come by for rural Australians – so much so that 85% of Australia’s population lives within 50km of the coast.
The arrival of the modern windmill, thanks to George Washington Griffiths, was a game changer for pastoralists and graziers, allowing them to move further inland for stock grazing, where land was more affordable and accessible.
Most windmills are used to draw water from underground water tables deep below the surface, but they can also be repurposed to redirect water from a river or creek, or pump it into or from a dam.
As modern technology consistently advances, there have been a number of challengers to the modest Windmill pump, the most recent of which being solar pumps.
Windmills are proven to have a long term success that remains to be seen with the more modern solar pumps, with plenty of properties across Australia boasting wind pumps that are more than fifty years old and still operating perfectly.
Despite solar systems being advertised as a safer option, they may contain a potentially dangerous current, while the “dangerous” windmill accounts for less than 1% of all accidents on rural properties.
For more than a century, Southern Cross has been supplying windmills that Australian families can count on. Each of our Windmills come with a 30+ year design life.
Since 1903, over 250 000 iconic Southern Cross Windmills have been built. All windmills produced by Southern Cross are hot dip galvanised, and supported by over 100 years of winning windmill design.
All Southern Cross Windmills include a 3-year warranty.
Southern Cross Windmills pride ourselves on the quality and integrity of our product. We specialise in the manufacture, installation and service of industry leading windmills throughout the country and across the world.
We design and engineer all of our windmills in house, and they are designed to be hardy enough to survive in even the harshest of Australian climates.
Genuine Southern Cross parts for all current range windmills are available, in addition to other parts for A, J, R & Z Pattern Windmills”, “J” Series Windmill Pumps, Troughs, Check Valves, Pump Heads and Pump Jacks may still be available upon request.
Southern Cross Windmills has unparalleled experience in dealing with towns like water storage needs, with the very first Southern Cross branded windmill being produced at the Toowoomba Foundry all the way back in 1903.
The first windmills built by the Griffiths family in the Toowoomba Foundry were improved versions of blueprints designed by an American Engineer, Daniel Halladay, and these were produced well over a century ago, in 1876.
The introduction of windmills to the Australian outback enabled rural families and pastoralists to occupy more arid areas of the country, causing towns and pastoral runs to begin popping up across these areas.
One might never know if Lord Lamington ever sat near a Southern Cross Windmill, while enjoying a lamington at night under the light of the Southern Cross, but we do know that these things are iconically Australian. And unlike the lamington, we know the Southern Cross Windmill was born in Toowoomba.
Southern Cross still operates out of Queensland to this day, and is an Australian owned and operated company, servicing Australians all across the country, helping graziers, irrigators, families and more access reliable water harvesting infrastructure.
This Southern Cross windwheel – a substantial 7.3 m – now resides at the Gilgandra Museum and Historical Society, and was initially supplied by Southern Cross Windmills in 1924.
Before being donated to the Gilgandra Museum and Historical Society by the Payne family, this antique gentle giant reliably pumped water in Mendooran for over 73 years.
This timeless windmill is now closing in on 100 years old, and provides a testament to the resilience and dependability of a Southern Cross windmill. At its last service, all that was needed was an oil top up to keep it running smoothly.
Boulia is home to one of Australia’s most fascinating outback myths, the Min Min Light, the legend of a light that follows travellers, and rumoured that if caught, the traveller is never to be found.
For a small town, Boulia isn’t short of things to do. If you’re seeking a picnic, head to the old Police Barracks near a watering hole, or head into town, and have a look at the marine fossils, or hear from residents about the Min Min Light.
Not in Boulia? For Windmills Bedourie click here.
