20 November 1965       Birdwood Mill Museum

The Birdwood Mill Museum, which houses many old motor vehicles and is the National Motor Museum, was opened on 20 November 1965. Fritz (Friedrich) Pflaum was 21 when he arrived in South Australia and settled in Blumberg as Birdwood was then called. Within a year he bought the general store and Post Office and it remained in the Pflaum family for 100 years until, much modified, it became the Tea Rooms in the Birdwood Mill complex. Fritz’s brother, Theo, came to join him in 1869 and in the early 1870s they leased the town’s flour mill, then owned by William Randell, which was not in use and used its power to run a wattle bark mill. The success they had with this venture enabled them to buy the mill and ten years later built the four storey structure which stands today. With the latest milling equipment installed the mill had a reputation for quality flour and it continued in business until the late 1940s. For years the brothers and their families were among the stalwarts of the town.

Jim Faull and Gordon Young, People, Places and Buildings, SACAE, 19186, pp.35-40.