Hinchinbrook Information Centre - The History of Macknade Mill

Macknade Mill and a plantation to supply it were established by Messrs A & F Neame in partnership with OF & ES Waller. The mill, which is the older established raw sugar mill in Queensland, crushed for the first time in 1874. The plantation supplying the mill embraced lands on both sides of the river, with the mill situated on the north side.

After a few years the partnership dissolved, the Messrs Waller taking the land on the south side of the river and the Messrs Neame retaining the land on the north side and the mill. The Neame Brothers called their sugar property "Macknade" after their old home at Faversham, Kent, England.

In 1882 the Neame Brothers disposed of their interests to a Victorian Company organised under the title of the Macknade Sugar Company. This company encountered serious financial dificulties, due to a fall in the price of sugar and legislation passed in 1885 to terminate the use of Kanaka labour after 1900. At the end of 1885 the property reverted back to the Neame Brothers.

The Macknade Sugar Company had spent a considerable sum of money on modernising and increasing the capacity of the mill. This expansion was continued by the Neame Brothers on regaining possession. By 1889 the mill was, for that period, a modern well-equipped factory with double crushing, triple effets, vacuum pans and press filters. At that time the mill's capacity was about 150 tons of cane per day. It was a highly efficient mill for the period, producing a ton of raw sugar from 10 tons of cane.

Kanakas from the islands of Ambrym, Tanna, Buka Buka and Fortuna were brought to work in the canefields of the Hinchinbrook region. Many of the Kanakas, particularly the South Sea Islanders, were cannibals.

Macknade was one of the first Queensland sugar properties to experiment with subdividing a portion of its land into small farms. Some of these farms were leased to Chinese canegrowers. Frank Neame told the 1888-89 Royal Commission that he had tried to lease cane farms to white men but had been unsuccessful.

The Neame Brothers appear to have been unable to continue to operate the mill profitably and in 1897 the Macknade property was purchased by the Colonial Sugar Refining Company Limited (CSR). Since purchase by CSR, Macknade has continued to expand. The Company encouraged and assisted farmers to take up their own land and apply good farming practices. In common with CSR's other mills, capacity has been greatly increased and plant modernised over the years. In 1897 its first season as a CSR Mill, raw sugar production was 5,900 tons.

An extensive re-modelling of Macknade Mill was carried out in 1963-64 and its crushing capacity considerably increased. Further extensive work to increase the mill's capacity was commenced in 1976 and completed in 1978.