The last of Australia's windmill mechanics – in pictures

Seventy"one"year"old Owen Tydd is one of the last windmill repairmen in Australia. He has been called upon by thousands of farmers across New South Wales and beyond to repair and install windmills for the past 30 years. He calls himself a windmill mechanic and estimates he has climbed more than 10,000 windmills during his career. Windmills were originally used to mill grain or pump groundwater and have become an iconic part of the Australian rural landscape. But with the use of new technologies they are fast becoming obsolete. 'They are all becoming fairly old, with new windmills available but not a lot being put up,' Tydd said. 'The thought pattern at present is if you want to put something new in to pump water, you either put in an electric submersible pump or a solar pump. And because I am just about to retire, I am not going to argue about that. I'm going to convince people to put in solar pumps to save me from being asked to climb their windmills'