The Maltings at Mittagong had been on my ‘decaying, decrepit places I must visit before they are razed to the ground’ list for some time. At the urging of my travelling companion, who seemed to think there were 30 hours of daylight each day, we added it to the travelling plan of our south coast trip. Leaving Kiama and travelling to Sydney, we took a detour to Mittagong.

History

The Mittagong Maltings Works was established initially by the Maltings Company of NSW (Ltd) and operated from August 1899. Tooth and Company Limited purchased the Mittagong Works in 1905 and produced the malt used in Tooth & Co breweries in Sydney. The early 1940s was an active period, with malt’s output being approximately 200,000 bushels annually. This output was severely restricted following a large fire in August 1942, which completely gutted No.2 Malthouse and damaged No.1. The No.1 Malthouse was returned to service early in 1943. The No.2 Malthouse was completely rebuilt during the early 1950s and recommenced active operation in 1953. The process continued until another fire gutted the No.3 Malthouse in 1969. Tooths & Co continued to operate at the site until 1980 when the works were closed and the site sold to a group of local business people    [Archives Collection, Australian National University]

Location

Located in Mittagong and bordered on one side by Ferguson Cres and Southey Street, it sits among housing slowly encroaching its borders. We parked in Southey St and entered through a wide-open chain-link gate. We explored the main building, first entering under a missing door to the right of the Tooheys horse insignia. The building is beautiful despite years of neglect and vandalism. Graffiti in the main building is minimal, however. This floor contained gorgeous old arched entryways between rooms, tall roof supports and an actual exposed ceiling 😉

We could not get to the second floor. Even though it appeared solid concrete, I had left my wings at home and brought common sense instead, so we didn’t climb up there. There was a staircase, but all the steps were gone. So leaving the main building, we headed down a little path to see where it led.

The Second building

This led us to the second Maltings building, lovely brickwork with arched windows again, interesting rubble… this was looking good.

Again ‘they’ had left the door open for us, so we went straight in. It was in pretty good shape for a building that’s been abandoned for 30 years. Kudo’s to the 1899 builders; they built things to last! We found a wooden staircase that looked safe enough, and we headed upstairs to the graffiti we could see through the cracks on the floor above.

Puddles! I love puddles and the reflections they make in these old buildings. But, unfortunately, this room must be close to a swimming pool in wet weather from mould and moss on the walls.

Heading back down, we went to the machinery shed. It still has remnants of old equipment, chains, rubble, giant cogs and tiny windows that look into a semi-subterranean level partly filled with water.

Through the arched windows above, you can see down into the lower level with its arched ceiling

Access to the Maltings

On the day we visited, the buildings were easy to get into, parking is right out front though it’s possible to drive your car right through the gate and up to the building. Security is nonexistent. None of the nearby residents was concerned with us wandering around with cameras. Both buildings are good, but the second was better, purely because there was more we could explore, unlike building one, in this one we could get to the upper floors.

Buddy System

I would definitely suggest taking a friend with you, though. It’s not somewhere I would go alone. Too many holes in the floor to fall through, debris to fall over and break a leg, etc.. It’s a great location, easy to spend a few hours there, but it is a large block with all the dangers that go with derelict buildings. The staircase in the second building is pretty sturdy; the one in the machine shop wobbled a bit when I tried it, and it doesn’t go all the way to the top floor. The staircase in the main building is gone. Someone has removed all the wooden steps.