26 Sep 2025

Windmills on the Skyline

Long before Sydney’s skyline was dominated by soaring skyscrapers, it was dotted with something far simpler—windmills.

Before Skyscapers

Where the Sydney skyline is now defined by modern architecture, two centuries ago the tallest structures to be found around Sydney Cove were actually windmills.

After the first was built on Flagstaff Hill (now Observatory Hill) in 1796, windmills dotted the entire Sydney landscape, all the way from The Rocks to Parramatta. A map of Sydney, published in 1822, marks a total of 8 windmills in the area.

The arrival of windmills

The first was built on Flagstaff Hill (now Observatory Hill) in 1796, and before long, their sails turned across the landscape from The Rocks to Parramatta. In fact, an 1822 map marks eight windmills around Sydney Cove alone. These timber structures were more than landmarks—they were lifelines. Early settlers, struggling to grind enough grain by hand, often ate unground wheat and maize just to survive. The arrival of windmills revolutionised the colony, producing flour on a scale that helped secure Sydney’s future. Their importance was so great, a windmill even featured in the colony’s first emblem published in the Sydney Gazette.

Windmills' impact on culture

Windmills also became entwined with culture. In 1796, ex-convict baker Robert Sidaway opened Sydney’s first theatre, where entry could be paid with flour. A few decades later, Barnett Levey crowned his George Street theatre with its own windmill, echoing Paris’s Moulin Rouge. Flour had quite literally bought the city’s first ticket to the arts. The legacy of Sydney’s windmills lives on in local names. Windmill Street once climbed toward three towering mills above Darling Harbour. And John Leighton—an ex-convict known as “Jack the Miller”—left his mark on “Jack the Miller’s Point,” later shortened to Millers Point.

Image: Lower George Street from the Wharf, Sydney, 1829, drawn and engraved by J. Carmichael, line engraving print, State Library of New South Wales

When steam stole the skyline

By the mid-19th century, steam power pushed windmills aside. Their sails were replaced by smoking chimneys, and Sydney’s skyline shifted once again. Though the windmills are gone, traces remain—like the stones of one discovered beneath the Sydney Conservatorium of Music during excavations in the 1990s.

Image: State Library of New South Wales

Free School Holiday Fun

Build your own Windmill

These school holidays, kids can step into the past and discover the magic of Sydney’s old windmills! In this hands-on workshop, children will learn how windmills once powered the colony and explore the 'Windmills on the Skyline' exhibition, before getting creative by making and decorating their very own mini windmill to take home.

No need to book, just drop in between the following days and times!

Mon 29 September – Fri 3 October, 11am - 1pm
Tue 7 October - Fri 10 October, 11am - 1pm

Note: The workshop is not held on public holidays or weekends.

Find out more