CUTTING CANE, MAROOCHY RIVER, SOUTH QUEENSLAND
CARTING CANE TO MILL, INGHAM DISTRICT, NORTH QUEENSLAND
About one-half of Queensland lies in the tropics and the remaining area stretches southward to the twenty-ninth parallel. The temperature is affected in a marked degree by the breezes that blow steadily from the sea and moderate what otherwise would be excessive heat. It is warmer along the coast than in the uplands of the interior, and in the northern part the heat is very trying to people who have come from temperate climes. At Rockhampton the winter temperature averages 65 degrees Fahrenheit, and in summer the mean is nearly 85 degrees. The annual rainfall on the seacoast is large, particularly in the north, where it ranges between 60 and 70 inches. At Brisbane it is about 47 inches, while a large part of the interior receives from 20 to 30 inches, but it falls below 20 inches in the west and south. There are no active volcanoes in Australia and no violent earthquakes have occurred in recent years.
The sugar plantations of Queensland are found in a strip of territory running along the eastern coast between the sixteenth parallel and the southern border. This stretch of land has been divided into three districts, the southern, the central and the northern, the last being the most important, as it furnishes over 60 per cent of the total sugar production of the state.
The cane lands are of two kinds—scrub land and forest land. The scrub lands may be divided into two classes, true scrub and bastard scrub, the former being characterized by a dense, almost impenetrable vine growth and timber of soft wood. In the bastard scrub there are both hard and soft woods, the former predominating, and very little vine growth is met with. The soil of true scrub lands is of two kinds, alluvial and volcanic. The alluvial soil is composed of clay, fine sand, gravel and vegetable and mineral matter brought from the high levels by water action. The soil of forest lands is diversified and, for sugar-cane culture, “blady grassed” bloodwood country with a porous subsoil is selected. Here the yield of cane per acre is not so heavy as on scrub lands, but the sugar content of the juice is greater.
The growth of sugar cane and the manufacture of sugar in Australia date back to 1823, but no substantial progress was made for a number of years. The first cane to be raised in Queensland was grown in the botanic gardens in Brisbane in 1847 and sugar was first manufactured in that state in 1862. The following year Captain Louis Hope had twenty acres in cane on a plantation near Brisbane and to him is due the credit of establishing the sugar industry in Queensland. In 1867 there were nearly 2000 acres in cane and six mills in operation, while the next year saw 5000 acres planted, with twenty-eight mills at work. The industry grew and throve until 1875, when the cane crop was almost completely destroyed by a disease known as “rust,” which was really due to imperfect cultivation, lack of proper drainage and the soft variety of the cane. As over 60 per cent of the estates were being operated with borrowed capital, the planters found themselves in serious financial trouble and many mortgages were foreclosed. Up to this time Bourbon cane was the variety generally grown, and when the disease wrought such havoc with the crop, it was noticed that the Rappoe cane did not suffer from rust. The hardiness of this variety encouraged the growers to substitute it and other sturdy species of cane for the Bourbon. The change proved entirely successful and the planters enjoyed good times once more.
The sugar industry of Queensland was carried on at the outset under the plantation system, that is to say, the planter, besides growing the cane, owned the mill and manufactured the sugar. This method worked very well until 1884, when a period of extreme depression came in the wake of the great boom that began in 1879. In 1885 the industry appeared to be in danger of extinction, and, as a remedial measure, the legislative assembly voted £50,000 for the establishing of central factories. Two mills were operated on the new plan as an experiment with such marked success that an act was passed in 1893 to foster the development of the central-factory system. The act enabled a number of planters to form a co-operative company for the purpose of building and equipping a central mill. The necessary funds were obtained from the government, the cane lands being pledged as security for the loan, and the mills erected by this means became the property of the companies upon the payment of the loan. The large estates were gradually cut up into tracts of from fifty to one hundred acres each and were leased or sold on reasonable terms; in this way the land was settled by a large number of farmers.
ISIS CENTRAL MILL, CHILDERS, SOUTH QUEENSLAND