End of the windmill era: NSW switches to safer, more efficient solar water pumps

Sunset along the Waugan Road, Eugowra. The new solar pump may lack the charm of a rusty Comet or Southern Cross windmill but farmers say it’s a ‘revolution’. Photograph: Kim Storey/Kim Storey Photography

It’s a silhouette that has become part of the Australian landscape: angled metal blades and a wind vane whirring in the breeze to keep water tanks and stock troughs full.

But on the stock routes of New South Wales, the time of the windmill is coming to an end.