Campaspe Mill, the imposing four-storey bluestone landmark on the outskirts of Kyneton, has had only three owners since opening as a flour mill nearly 170 years ago. It’s been through several incarnations since, from mill to a variety of agricultural and storage usages and then, after Helen and Bill Coleby bought the building in 1996, it became (after extensive renovations) a family home where they raised four children.

Now Campaspe Mill has moved into a new era, accessible to the public for the first time and housing a gin and vodka distillery complete with a distillery door and a juniper orchard, a local produce-focussed bistro, an art gallery, a museum and a bottled spring water business. There’s more to come too, including a degustation restaurant, scheduled to open next year, and a farmers’ market that will highlight the incredible range of produce from the region.

It seems incredible then, that only a few years ago, the Colebys had put the building on the market.

“We were living here and working in our consultancy business, which was risk and emergency management for major events like Moomba and Dark Mofo,” says Bill. “And then Covid came along, our work disappeared and I had some health problems so selling it seemed like the right thing to do. We came close a couple of times until Helen had the idea to turn it into a gin distillery and so we took it off the market.”

There’s a whiff of destiny about the whole project. For starters, Bill remembers a calendar his family had when he was a child that featured a photo of the mill and he’d always dreamed of living there. Then there’s the original industrial layout of the building that was perfectly suited to a distillery and Helen being a keen gin collector. Add a passion for restoring old buildings and for highlighting the food and art strengths of the region and it can seem like it was meant to be.

“Look, I don’t want to get too philosophical or spooky about it but it was almost like we weren’t supposed to sell it,” says Bill. “It was like it wasn’t going to let us and it seems like it’s pretty happy with what we’ve done with it.”

At present, the Campaspe Mill Distillery produces three different gins, including their signature Ruby Gin, which, alongside their own juniper, has ruby grapefruit sourced from nearby Harcourt as its main botanical. They also distil a smooth, clean vodka that has aficionados raving.

“People always ask us for our secret and I don’t really have a definitive answer for that,” says Bill. “But Helen is a qualified food scientist with a remarkable palate and we have a philosophy of quality over quantity. We also only use double-filtered rainwater that we store in stainless steel tanks. It’s mountain rainwater too, very clean and pure so we don’t have to contend with the fluoride and chlorine that’s in town water. I think that’s a big part of it being such a remarkable product.”

The gin era is a good fit for Campaspe Mill, not just because the product is so good and the focus on local art and food is so sharp, but that this magnificent building with its locally-quarried bluestone and monumental oak beams can be appreciated up close by the many people who have admired the landmark from afar.

“It’s a phenomenal building,” says Bill. “It just blows people away.”

Campaspe Mill

2 Wards Ln, Kyneton

campaspemill.com

STORY BY MICHAEL HARDEN

PHOTOS BY KAIYA RAE