The sugar industry dates as far back as the 1860s and 1870s with a strong labour base from South Sea Islanders. In 1884 this labour was prohibited, which made prices take a plunge. The sugar industry came back strong after the first world war with a total of 71 returned soldiers taking on the farms, the cane back then was sent to South Johnstone river, which began operations in 1916. After many years of surveys, soil testing and politics, the government approved the commissioning of Tully Sugar mill in 1922. The first crushing began on the 5th November 1925 bringing in 32,075 tonnes of cane and crushed 3,946 tonnes of raw sugar. Today the mill can crush up to 2.9 million tonnes a year with 360,186 tonnes of raw sugar. Tully Sugar employs between 200 to 300 workers depending if it is crushing or maintenance season. The mill has independently powered itself and 5,000 other homes since 1997, it uses remaining fibre from the cane called “bagasse” to generate electricity through steam. Shovel’s Dad and Sister were up for a visit, so we went over for a tour of the mill, the factory was an eye opener, with marvellous works of people and machinery making the world buzz through its mass produced exports of sugar.
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