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Southern Cross are proud to have been helping towns like Oakey and installing windmills you can count on since 1903.
With the backing of Australia’s oldest windmill manufacturer, people of can sleep easy, knowing they’re supported by over 100 years of expertise.
families know how important reliable water harvesting systems are in the Australian outback, and this is why people all across the nation continue to depend on a Southern Cross windmill.
The locality of Oakey was named after the river oaks that line banks of the creek on which the town is located, the spelling was originally Oaky, before the “E” was added in 1940.
Southern Cross offers a range of sizes in both windwheels, and windmill towers, and can coordinate with you to find the best windmill for you. Our ‘IZ’ Double Geared Windmills range from a 6′ windwheel to a 14′ windwheel, and we offer tower heights from 20′ up to 60′. The best windmill tower for you will be determined by your geographical location, and the size of your chosen windwheel.
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 have relied on windmills as a renewable energy source, and the humble windmill has become an Australian icon.
Windmills can be built anywhere there is access to water, whether it be a bore, a well, a river or dam, the windmill remains one of the most effective and greenest 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.
When George Washington Griffiths introduced the Southern Cross Windmill to rural Australians, it was a game changer, allowing pastoralists and graziers to explore further inland for stock grazing and pastoral runs.
Despite being mostly used to pump water from deep bores or wells linked to underground water tables, windmills can also be used to pump from any body of water, such as dams or rivers.
As technology consistently advances, there have been a number of challengers to the humble Windmill pump, the most recent of which being solar pumps.
While solar pumps look promising, they certainly aren’t as tried and tested in the long term as the classic windmill, with many properties across Australia featuring windmills that have been pumping water for more than 50 years.
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.
A 3 year warranty is included in every purchase of a new Southern Cross Windmill.
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 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 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.
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 created in Toowoomba.
Southern Cross is an Australian owned brand, and we still operate out of Withcott to this day, servicing Australians all across the country, including graziers, irrigators and rural families.
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.
While now used purely for display purposes, the Windmill pumped tirelessly and vigilantly for 73 years before it was donated to the Gilgandra Museum and Historical Society by the Payne family in Mendooran.
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 durability and reliability of a Southern Cross Windmill.
The town of Oakey has made numerous appearances in the long running soap opera Neighbours, with several characters in the show heralding from the town, and the one season’s finale being set in the town.
In World Ware II, Oakey became crucial to Australia’s efforts, when aircraft maintenance and construction exceeded the capabilities of Brisbane-based facilities, resulting in some 2000 troops being located in the township.
Not in Oakey? For Windmills Westbrook click here.
