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KNOTT'S NO.3 MILL

Location OTWAYS STATE FOREST WYELANGTA, COLAC-OTWAY SHIRE File Number 502161 Level Registered

[1/1] 1 knott's no 3 mill otways

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
Knott's No.3 Mill was a large and technologically sophisticated sawmill, which operated in the Otway Ranges between 1922 and 1928. The region's first high lead winch system for log extraction was installed at the site in 1923. Log supply to the mill was maintained by a steam winch and petrol-powered crosscut saws in the log yard. The mill features concrete machinery foundations, a large sawdust heap, snig tracks and tramlines, concrete saw pit, log landing, and winching platform and cable.

How is it significant?
Knott's No.3 Mill is of historical, scientific and archaeological significance to the State of Victoria.

Why is it significant?
Knott's No.3 Mill is historically and scientifically significant for the relative intactness of its remains, which demonstrate well the entire sequence of sawmilling operations, from logging and winching, to sawmilling and tramway transport. Sawmilling sites are important to Victoria for their role in providing a vast range of timber products for use in domestic, commercial and industrial contexts. The site is also historically important for its associations with a major figure in the Victorian sawmilling industry, G. W. (Billy) Knott.

Knott's No.3 Mill is archaeologically significant for its potential to yield artefacts and evidence which will be able to provide important information about the technological history of sawmilling and timber transport.