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Southern Cross are proud to have been installing windmills Childers can trust since 1903.
People of can feel confident that they have the backing of over 100 years of experience, from Australia’s oldest windmill manufacturer.
Queensland families know how important reliable water harvesting systems are in the Australian outback, and this is why people all across the nation continue to turn to a Southern Cross windmill.
Set on a ridge overlooking fields of rich volcanic soil, Childers was founded by pastoralists for sugarcane and cattle.
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 more than a century, and is a great renewable energy source, in addition to being an Australian icon. For well over a hundred years, rural Australians in towns like Childers have relied on windmills as a renewable energy source, and the humble windmill has become an Australian icon.
Windmills can be constructed anywhere there is access to water, whether it be a bore, a well, a river or dam, the windmill continues to be one of the most reliable and greenest water harvesting solutions.
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.
When George Washington Griffiths introduced the Southern Cross Windmill to rural Australians, it was a game changer, allowing pastoralists and graziers to explore further away from the coast for stock grazing and pastoral runs.
Most windmills are used to draw water from underground water tables deep below the surface, but they can also be repurposed to reroute water from a river or creek, or pump it into or from a dam.
The solar water pump has recently presented itself as the latest challenger to the windmill, as water harvesting technology looks to modernise.
While solar pumps look promising, they certainly aren’t as tried and tested in the long run as the conventional windmill, with many properties across Australia featuring windmills that have been pumping water for more than 50 years.
Windmill accidents account for less than 1% of all accidents on rural properties, so while solar pumps are often regarded as a safer option, they contain a dangerous current, and also pose risk of injury or death.
Southern Cross has been providing windmills that Australian families can depend on for over a century, and all of our windmills have a 30+ year design life.
With the backing of over a century of industry leading windmill design and Australian innovation, Southern Cross continue to increase on the over 250 000 windmills sold since 1903. All Southern Cross Mills are hot dip galvanised.
All Southern Cross Windmills come with 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 around the country and across the globe.
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.
Authentic parts are available for Southern Cross “IZ” windwheels and “FA” towers. Parts for the retired 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 windmill built by the Griffiths family was produced in 1876, based on blueprints by Daniel Halladay, which were improved upon for Australian conditions.
These first windmills allowed rural Australians to move into more arid areas of the country for grazing sheep and cattle, and inland towns and pastoral runs began to spring up across the nation.
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 7.3 m Southern Cross windwheel, now contentedly housed at the Gilgandra Museum and Historical Society was originally constructed by Southern Cross Windmills all the way back in 1924.
The stunning windmill is now used solely for display purposes, but it pumped water reliable for 73 years before it was donated to the Gilgandra Museum and Historical Society by the Payne family.
Closing in on its 100th birthday, at the most recent service, all it needed was some oil so as to keep it in working condition. This Mendooran windmill is a testament to the longevity and reliability of a Southern Cross Windmill.
The Childers area was traditionally inhabited by the Dundaburra group who are part of Kabi Kabi tribes of the Wide Bay Burnett in the northernmost area.
Not in Childers? For Windmills Monto click here.
