Summary

The Babinda Sugar Mill was located on the Bruce Highway 50km south-east of Cairns in north Queensland.

In the 1880-90s the Babinda Creek district had coffee and sugar plantations, but sugar predominated. Agitation began in the early 1900s for a central mill, and on the 15th December 1915 a government mill began operation.

Between 1911 and 1921 Babinda's population increased five-fold to nearly 1000 people. The sugar mill was taken over by cane farmers in 1924. Babinda's Anglo-Irish population was outnumbered by immigrants, chiefly Italian (farmers), Danish, Greeks, Maltese and Asian.

A collapse of sugar prices in the 1980s saw the sale of the mill to Bundaberg Sugar, diversification into tropical fruit growing and investment in tourism.

In 2000 sugar prices were severely depressed. Babinda's high rainfall produced a bumper sugar crop in 2003. In 2006 about 80% of Babinda's buildings were severely damaged by Cyclone Larry, and sugar production was reduced by about 40%.

On the 3rd February 2011, the Category 5 Cyclone Yasi passed over the Queensland coast, centred about 100 km south of Babinda. Damage was extensive. The mill was decommissioned on the 23rd February 2011. In 2013 it was demolished.

This archive consists of a variety of records generated by the operation of the mill spanning a period of more than six decades, representing valuable historical data present in the existing paper trail belonging to the mill. Of particular note are the Apprentice Indenture forms for which the Library has created name and date indexes, available here online in the Archival Listing document.

The Library wishes to acknowledge the work of Ms Lee Bain (Mill Memorabilia Project Officer) who provided descriptions of the donated material. See her full listing of the items available for download.