Southern Cross Windmills have been supplying windmills Mackay families can count on for over 100 years.
With the backing of Australia’s oldest windmill manufacturer, people of Mackay can sleep easy, knowing they’re supported by over 100 years of expertise.
People all across Queensland are well aware of the need for a sound supply of water, and thanks to this, many of these people continue to turn to a Southern Cross Windmill.
Mackay is a city in the Mackay Region on the eastern or Coral Sea coast of Queensland, Australia. It is located about 970 kilometres north of Brisbane, on the Pioneer River.
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:
Wind power is the oldest renewable energy source mankind has harnessed, and for thousands of years it has been used to power our boats and mill our grain.
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. Australian towns like Mackay have been using windmills to help them meet their water harvesting needs for over 100 years now, stretching over all parts of the continent.
Anywhere there is access to water, you can build a windmill, no matter if it’s a river, dam, bore or well, the windmill pump is one of the greenest and most reliable water harvesting solutions.
Water has always provided a challenge for Australians, living in a famously dry and arid country – so much so that 85% of Australia’s population is located within a mere 50km from the nearest coastline.
The advent 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.
The solar water pump has recently presented itself as the latest challenger to the windmill, as water harvesting technology looks to modernise.
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 50 years old and still functioning 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.
Southern Cross has been providing windmills that Australian families can rely 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 throughout the country and across the world.
All of our windmills are designed and engineered in-house, and are durable enough to succeed in the harshest of Australian climates, rain, hail or shine.
Genuine 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.
With the first windmill emblazoned with the Southern Cross name rolling off the Toowoomba Foundry line all the way back in 1903, Southern Cross has unrivalled experience in dealing with water harvesting needs.
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 more than a century ago, in 1876.
Many inland communities began to spring up and prosper thanks to these first windmills allowing rural Australians to move to drier and previously uninhabitable areas, grazing sheep and cattle, and even inland crops and plantations.
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.
ow comfortably located at the Gilgandra Museum and Historical Society, this 7.3 m Southern Cross windwheel was manufactured and transported to Mendooran in 1924.
Before being donated to the Gilgandra Museum and Historical Society by the Payne family, this antique gentle giant dependably pumped water in Mendooran for over 73 years.
Now closing in on 100 years old, at its most recent service, all that was needed was some oil in order to maintain it. While it may not get a letter from the queen, this windmill is a testament to the reliability and longevity of Southern Cross Windmills.
Mackay has produced numerous successful rugby players, including cross code world cup winner Wendell Sailor, who won world cups with Australia in both the League and Union teams.
Mackay has a whopping 31 beaches within driving distance, all of which are famous for their azure blue water the area is so renowned for.
The Mackay region is home to the Mackay Festival of Arts held annually throughout July. Now more than 20 years old, it is the largest regional arts festival in Queensland.