Straight Outta Withcott
A storied history of Australian manufacturing
Not only are Southern Cross Windmills Australian made (and Australian owned), Southern Cross has a long history of Australian manufacturing that dates all the way back to 1871.
In 1870, George Washington Griffiths, left Manchester with his wife, children and brother in law, setting sail for Australian shores, where he purchased a small ironmongery in Toowoomba, and started the company that would one day become Southern Cross.
By 1873, he had been joined by his brother John Alfred Griffiths – a recent engineering graduate from Manchester University. The two started trading under the name Griffiths Bros & Co. and moved to a larger site, and built a foundry that would become the iconic Toowoomba Foundry.
In 1876, the first windmills were produced by the Griffiths Brothers based on designs by American Inventor Daniel Halladay.
Windmills all the way down
After these first Southern Cross Windmills were produced, the Griffiths brothers set about designing their own windmills, and the Southern Cross economy mill came to be.
Since then we’ve seen over 100 years of continued Australian manufacturing of top quality steel windmills, that service Australians in all reaches of our wide open country.
Our current range of IZ Double Geared Windmills continue over a century of Australian manufacturing, and high quality water harvesting solutions.
In 2019, Southern Cross Windmills returned to Australian hands, to ensure that not only is Australia’s most iconic windmill Australian made, but also Australian owned and operated.
