The first mill was built of timber and powered by a water wheel fed from a dam on the Liffey, all constructed by William Bryan in 1826. Samuel Pratt Winter was sent to Tasmania by his father, at Byran's request, as an overseer for the mill. He managed this mill from 1834, when Bryan went to London in the midst of a dispute with Governor Arthur. From 1837 he leased the mill from Bryan and continued to operate it. He was living at the mill cottage in 1846, and still leasing the mill, when he arranged for the old wooden mill to be removed and, with John Kinder Archer, began building the current stone structure. As built this new mill had a water wheel powering three pairs of French burrs. Thomas Wilkes Monds was born in Launceston in 1829 and spent his early life gaining experience in numerous milling operations. In early 1841, on Monds' first visit to the town, he recorded it as having only four houses, a wooden flour mill, a blacksmith's shop and a pub constructed of mud and straw. Thomas Monds purchased the mill, including of attached land, at Auction in 1867 for 2,100 pounds. He then took ownership of the "Carrick Mills" and in early 1868 Monds, his wife and six children moved into the small cottage behind the mill. This cottage had four rooms that Monds later expanded with a pantry, three more rooms and a dairy. When he purchased it, and for some time afterwards, the mill was not financially successful. Monds blamed this state of affairs on the "speculative" operation of a steam-powered mill, just a short distance uphill. The steam mill owners eventually became insolvent and Monds acquired the operation and building.