Celebrating 125 Years Of The Proserpine Sugar Mill 1897 – 2022

The Scotsman likes his heather bell

The Englishman his rose

The shamrocks please the Irishman

But I choose none of those.

Surrounding my homestead I see

And spread far to the west

The arrows of the sugarcane

And these I like the best.

(D L Moffat)

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Many a tourist and farmer standing on a farmhouse veranda on a sunny afternoon would agree with D L Moffat, that the beauty of acres of pale mauve cane flowers waving in the breeze, is hard to surpass.

When early settlers began growing sugar cane in the district, one wonders if they realised the great wealth that sugar would bring to the Whitsunday Shire.

It was all work and no play in the infant settlement and not always smooth sailing. First attempts at establishing a fledgling industry in 1885 were strangled by government intervention. It was another twelve years before Proserpine finally gained its own mill when the government provided the necessary funds to build the Proserpine Central Mill.

The mill was christened on September 16, 1897, with farmers and graziers from all around travelling by buggy and horseback to attend the celebrations. After the ceremony, there was a picnic and cricket match followed by a shareholders’ banquet that night in the sugar room and the following evening, a grand ball (all of which were echoed 100 years later at the Centenary Celebrations of 1997).

In its first crushing season (September 16 – December 24) 10,991 tons of cane was crushed. There were thirty-nine growers in the district and 568 acres of land was under cane.

Unfortunately, the powers that be had overestimated Proserpine’s potential and recommended a mill with a capacity far in excess of local farm output. District farmers could not service the debt so asked the government to take over the running of the mill. As it transpired, the government appointees were less financially responsible than had been the inexperienced shareholders and for thirty-one years the debt mounted.  

They say that adversity builds strength and there was no greater example of this than the Proserpine farmers’ determination during the Great Depression. On May 14, 1931, in a resoundingly optimistic move, they voted overwhelmingly in favour of purchasing the then government-owned mill to form their own co-operative.  

It was a momentous day on July 1, 1931 when growers once again took charge of their mill. And so began a new page in the history of the mill.

The 1931 season yielded a record crop of 117,347 tons. Fifty years on, in the 1981 season, the first one million tonnes of cane was crushed. Then, only fifteen years later, in 1996, Proserpine Co-operative Sugar Mill crushed two million tonnes – an Australian record for a sugar mill with one set of crushing mills.

In 2011, following a series of global and local setbacks over the previous decade, the difficult decision was made to sell the mill to Wilmar Sugar (Singapore). And so, after eight decades as a Co-Operative, it was the end of an era.

This year, in its 125th crushing, the crop estimate currently stands at 1.826 million tonnes, at the time of printing.

Over 125 years, the growing, harvesting and milling of sugar cane has witnessed considerable change and development – increased mechanisation in both the harvesting and growing sectors; the shift to green cane harvesting; new and improved cane varieties; increased irrigation and other improvements in farm management practices.

Throughout this time, farmers, harvesting contractors and millers have demonstrated a willingness to embrace changes; a determination to work together and the resolve to confront challenges that arise. In the current uncertain world climate, these qualities will be more important than ever.

Story and photo courtesy of Proserpine Historical Museum.

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