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Southern Cross Windmills have been supplying windmills Rockhampton families can depend on for over 100 years.
With the support of Australia’s oldest windmill manufacturer, people of Rockhampton can sleep easy, knowing they’re supported by over 100 years of expertise.
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 look to a Southern Cross windmill.
Rockhampton is the fourth largest city in Queensland, and one of the oldest cities in the state, founded in the mid 1800’s on the banks of the Fitzroy river.
Southern Cross Windmills are available in a range of both windwheel and windmill tower sizes, and our experts can help you find the windmill that best suits your requirements.
Our ‘FA’ Series towers come between 20′ and 60′, and the ‘IZ’ windwheels are available in sizes starting at 6′ all the way up to a 14′ wheel. The dimensions of your windmill will be determined by your surrounding landscape.
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 original renewable energy source. It has been used to power our boats, mill our grain and pump our water for hundreds, if not thousands of years.
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.
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.
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 brought 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.
Most windmills are used to pump water from underground aquifers 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.
Windmill pumps on some properties across the country have been reliably functioning for over 50 years, and while solar looks promising, its longevity has not yet been confirmed.
While many solar systems may be marketed as a safer option, windmill accidents account for not even 1% of all accidents on rural properties, while many electric pumps contain a dangerous or lethal current.
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.
Our windmills are hot dip galvanised, and backed by more than 100 years of successful windmill design, and Australian innovation. Since 1903, we’ve built over 250 000 of our iconic windpumps.
A 3 year warranty is included in every purchase of a new Southern Cross Windmill.
Southern Cross specialise in the design, manufacture, installation and service of windmills across Australia. We pride ourselves in the design and integrity of every Windmill we produce.
All of our windmills are designed and engineered in-house, and are durable enough to survive 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.
From the very first Southern Cross windmill rolling off the Toowoomba Foundry line in 1903, nobody has experience like we do of dealing with Rockhampton and Australia’s unique water harvesting needs.
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.
Many inland towns 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 farmsteads.
Similar to another Toowoomba icon – the lamington – Southern Cross windmills have become an Australian classic. However unlike the lamington, the Southern Cross Windmill originating in Toowoomba is not up for debate.
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 takes up residence 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.
Closing in on its 100th birthday, at the most recent service, all it required was some oil in order to keep it in working condition. This Mendooran windmill is a testament to the durability and reliability of a Southern Cross Windmill.
In the 1960’s, at the peak of the gold rush, Rockhampton was nicknamed the “City of the Three S’s”, of which were “Sin, Sweat, and Sorrow”.
Rockhampton has had the privilege of several royal visits over the years, being visited by the Duke of Gloucester in 1946, Queen Elizabeth II Prince Philip in 1954 and Princess Alexandra in 1959 and 1978.
