Category:Mill Island, Christchurch

Mill Island is a small island in the Avon River near Hereford Street in Christchurch, New Zealand. In 1855 Daniel Inwood bought Mill Island and in February 1858 the Canterbury Provincial Council passed an ordinance authorising him to construct a dam and mill race. In Nov. 1859 he opened his flour mill on the island. In Mar. 1862 the island and the City Mill, as it had come to be called, were sold to W.H. Lane for £5,000. It was built of wood but in 1863 Lane sheathed it in corrugated iron. In 1878 he leased the mill to C.W. Turner, the grain merchant. In June 1883 Messrs Clark and Bull took on the mill; they were followed by Aulsebrook & Co. who were in charge of it from November 1883 till at least 1885. On 11 February 1888 the original Inwood Mill Ordinance expired. Two months later the large wheel and the dam were removed. From May 1894 to September 1895 it was used as a men's shelter, known as the Avon Refuge, run by the Baptist pastor Willam Birch. On 17 June 1897 the island was conveyed by Lane to the Christchurch City Council. The building was dismantled and sold two months later.