David Anderson

Young David Anderson along with his sister Lilias inherited Anderson's Mill at Smeaton in 1895. Their father David Anderson senior had built the mill with his brothers John, James, William, Thomas and Robert in 1862.

Young David Anderson refitted the mill with the latest roller equipment in 1896 and it ran fairly successfully until his death in 1929. Despite fierce competition from the more heavily capitalised Melbourne mills, David’s widow kept the mill going mainly on the strength of its oat products, pearl barley and split peas, with flour milling being only a small part of the operation after World War Two. There was a minor burst of activity producing ricena, a rice substitute (which was really only polished wheat), but it was a losing battle and David Anderson and Co went out of business in 1959.