Sugar

Abstract

[Extract] Commercial production of sugar commenced in Queensland during the mid-1860s. Over the next century, the growth in the area under sugar cane was mostly steadily upwards, although this growth was tightly regulated to avoid overproduction. During the late nineteenth century, sugar cane cultivation became concentrated primarily along the deltaic and levee soils of the main rivers and creeks in eleven discrete coastal areas between Mossman and Nerang, separated by areas of unreliable rainfall and/or unsuitable soils. Production remained concentrated in these areas throughout most of the twentieth century.