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While people seem
to be living longer these days, with some reaching the ripe old age of
100, it is a rare event in Australia for a milling business to be celebrating
the achievement of reaching the same milestone. More and more businesses
seem to be shorter lived or consumed in buyouts and mergers, none more
so than in our own baking and milling industries.
 Australia
has had quite a few successful and long lived bakeries and in June of
1999 Laucke Flour Mills celebrated its 100 years as an independent family
owned enterprise.
Every generation of
Laucke's (pronounced L-ouw-key) have served in the family business since
it was established by Friedrich Laucke in 1899. Mark Laucke is the current
managing director, and is the first to concede that the principles of good business
established by his great grandfather are the same guiding lights followed
by Laucke today. Friedrich Laucke insisted
on knowing the growers he bought from, the wheat quality he could rely
on and the quality his customers would require. He considered the best
methods of milling were not necessarily the cheapest and that a quality
product would never let you down.
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100 Years Ago
Friedrich Laucke came from Germany where his father had a watermill for turning
furniture and attachments for milling flour. He had served in the German
navy and was inspired by the adventure of, as he put it "seeing the furthest
ends of the earth" He sailed from Bremen Germany in 1895 and as fortune
would have it - was hard at work ten weeks later in the employ of Edwin
Davey and Sons, milling in South Australia at Salisbury and then later
at Angaston and Eudunda.
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Our Founder Friedrich Laucke |
He remained in their
employ until rheumatic fever left him somewhat incapacitated and perhaps
reflective of his prospects and future. He decided to leave employment
with Edwin Davey and Sons. and in a most amicable parting advised he would
"seek work how and when he could on his own account".
 In
1899 Friedrich Laucke and his partner Friedrich Raethal approached the
National Bank of Australasia regarding a mill in receivership at Greenock.
Technically the mill had the best equipment possible but had suffered
from the twin bite of over capitalisation and the increased sale of profitless
flour. The previous owner Finke had worked very hard to realise a scale
of production that could repay his investments but the more he sold the
more he lost. No other details exist for a more precise examination but
the phenomenon is not exactly unknown to us all, whatever the era.
Laucke had the support
of local farmers to buy the Greenock mill but the bank was sceptical given
the partnership had scant assets and the mill had already cost the bank
many thousands of pounds.
Apart from that ,
the Greenock mill had already been insolvent twice before and had blown
up in boiler explosions more than once. The best that could be done was
to let the mill work but without the banks help. Friedreich Laucke would
buy wheat on his own account and prove his ability to mill good flour
from what surely seemed a cursed site.
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The
Greenock mill defied critics and prospered but in 1905 disaster struck
in the form of another boiler explosion. The first person to arrive at
the scene was Friedrich Raethal. He remembers seeing the township of Greenock
and thinking how shiny some of the roofs looked in the sun and then awoke
amongst the rubble next to the boiler that for some inexplicable reason
was missing.
Voices were talking
to him but the ringing in his ears just wouldn't stop.
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1905 Boiler Disaster |
Apart from the wreckage
of the power plant there was extensive damage to the mill itself.
Friedreich
Raethal soon felt the pain of a leg that was smashed in the explosion
and there was no prospect for a complete recovery. Raethal declared he
was finished with Greenock and finished with milling.
It is a matter of
local record that Friedreich Laucke climbed up onto the smoking ruin, lit
a cigar, puffed away and declared to all and sundry that he would rebuild
the mill.
For him there was
nothing else he could do.
The School of Mines
in Adelaide traced the cause of the explosion to the bore water the mill
was using. Another explosion was just a matter of time if they continued
to use steam power.
Laucke was not too
daunted about the bad news as he had a letter in his pocket from his brother
in Germany describing a new motive power being adopted by the European
mills. The letter referred to a "smoke" engine but it was really a gas
producer attached to a combustion engine.
This time, with the
support of his bankers, Friedreich Laucke imported Australia's first Otto
cycle 56 horsepower suction-gas engine directly from the manufacturers
- Crossley Brothers of Manchester. It came complete with a gas producer
and was immediately commissioned into the rebuilt mill.
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The new power plant
proved to be an unqualified success and ran perfectly for another 48 years
until the Greenock Mill was closed. When decommissioned , the "Old Otto"
still had its original exhaust valve in it.
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The
Greenock Mill |
As
the years roll by
In the 1940's flour milling eventually ceased at the Greenock Mill
however the Laucke milling business had been expanding over the years
through many friendly acquisitions within the Barossa Valley and
surrounding regions:  Strathalbyn
Flour Mill in 1927, Angaston in 1933, Stockwell and Eudunda in 1951.
The Strathalbyn mill
was replaced in 1961 and is not far from the original mill. It was the
first mill built from the ground up in South Australia for over 50 years.
The Greenock Mill
had been decommissioned but was not left silent and empty. First it was
used to store flour, bran, pollard and other products. Then, when the
manufacture of poultry feeds became an important part of the business,
a mixing plant was established at Greenock.
 South
Australia's second Pellet Press was installed. Bulk deliveries of feed
started in 1967 as demand increased. The end result was Greenock Mill operating
at capacity production again, but this time as a Stock Feed Mill. Friedrich
Laucke's descendants continued to carry on with the tradition of innovation
to improve quality and efficiency. Their commitment to this ideal resulted
in the construction of the most modern and technologically advanced feed
mill in Australia.
The Daveyston feed
mill is named in honour of Edwin Davey (Friedrich Laucke's original employer)
and the fact that the ruins of Daveys' first mill are located nearby.
The Daveyston mill is now servicing the needs of South Australia and Australia;
and plays an important role in Laucke being a quality, independent , family
owned business in the feed milling as well as flour milling.
 Innovation in milling
products has also continued in flour milling as well with a very strong
emphasis on top performing manufacturing pre-mixes and special blends.
Laucke's specialty flours have a true Australian identity and are as unique
as our Australian marsupials. Euro Flour , a strong flour for fermented
oven hearth breads. Quokka Flour for softer style sweet and savoury pastries.
Kowari Flour, perfect for Hokkein noodles. Bettong Flour , ideal for tinned
breads, biscuits and sweet yeast goods and more.
Apart from new developments
in Certified Organic flours there has also been a breakthrough in a truly
new type of wholemeal flour that is made from Triticale grain.
 Over the years Laucke
has never lost its emphasis on premium quality to all commercial applications
such as bakeries, restaurants and hotels.
Laucke believes customers
enjoy using their flour and are confident that it comes from a tradition
of unsurpassed quality which is, in itself, a solid guarantee.
At
the turn of another century
1999 brought the news
of Bunge-Defiance being merged into the Goodman Fielder group. When the
market is so dominated by the giant miller-baker groups and mega-mergers
it seems strange to think of a family company milling away furiously with
one eye on the flour it produces and the other on the customer it serves,
and nothing else.
In an industry that
is largely dominated by corporate giants, Laucke Flour Mills is indeed
the last of the non-vertically integrated, independent, family owned flour
and feed millers of Australia.
Friedrich Laucke established
a level of quality and service that earned the respect of his peers and
the loyalty of his customers. The current generation of his successors
build on this tradition, and continue with the same dedication as Friedrich
to support their customers to the highest attainable standard.
One would expect that
Laucke will continue to do just that for another 100 years as well.
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