Editing Bundaberg (section)

=== Sugar ===
Most of the early settlers exploited the timber and grew maize on their selections but as a result of the incentives of the Sugar and Coffee Regulations of 1864, sugar became a major component in Bundaberg's development from the 1870s. Experimental [[sugar cane]] cultivation in the district was first grown at John Charlton Thompson's [[Rubyanna, Queensland|Rubyanna]] property in 1870 and the first sugar mill was built by Richard Elliot Palmer at his [[Millbank, Queensland|Millbank]] plantation in 1872.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article148535256 |title=THE QUEENSLAND, STEAMER, AT BUNDABERG. |newspaper=[[Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser]] |location=Queensland, Australia |date=12 March 1872 |access-date=23 April 2020 |page=2 |via=Trove |archive-date=25 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210325050847/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/148535256 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="sc">{{cite book |title=Beautiful Sugar Country |first=James |last=Hall |author2=Dening, Jill |year=1988 |publisher=Child & Associates Publishing |location=West End, Queensland |isbn=0-949267-86-4 |pages=2 }}</ref> Bundaberg rapidly became an important sugar production region after the construction of the Millaquin Sugar Refinery at [[East Bundaberg]] by [[Robert Cran]] and his sons in 1882.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146515689 |title=MILLAQUIN REFINERY. |newspaper=[[Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser]] |location=Queensland, Australia |date=20 October 1882 |access-date=23 April 2020 |page=2 |via=Trove |archive-date=25 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210325050824/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/146515689 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Fairymead Sugar Plantation|Fairymead]] sugar processing plant owned by the Young Brothers (Arthur, Horace and Ernest Young) opened in 1884 which further augmented Bundaberg's sugar producing capacity.

The initial 35 years of the sugar industry in Bundaberg was reliant on [[South Sea Islander]] workers, who were often [[blackbirded]] and kept in a status close to slavery. The first significant shipload of [[Kanaka (Pacific Island worker)|Kanaka]] labour, as it was called, to arrive on the Burnett River came in January 1872 aboard the ''Petrel''.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article148535171 |title=SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE |newspaper=[[Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser]] |location=Queensland, Australia |date=16 January 1872 |access-date=23 April 2020 |page=2 |via=Trove |archive-date=25 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210325050825/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/148535171 |url-status=live }}</ref> Allegations of kidnapping and wounding immediately arose concerning the recruitment of the Islanders on this vessel.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1308907 |title=THE CHARGE OF KIDNAPPING ON BOARD THE PETREL. |newspaper=[[The Brisbane Courier]] |location=Queensland, Australia |date=27 January 1872 |access-date=24 April 2020 |page=5 |via=Trove |archive-date=25 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210325050828/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1308907 |url-status=live }}</ref> Influential Bundaberg plantation owners were able to purchase recruiting ships in order to obtain labour directly from areas such as the [[Solomon Islands]] and the [[Vanuatu|New Hebrides]]. The Young Brothers owned the ''Lochiel'' and the ''May'' vessels,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article175286782 |title=Schooner Lochiel. |newspaper=The Telegraph |location=Queensland, Australia |date=20 September 1900 |access-date=25 April 2020 |page=7 |via=Trove |archive-date=25 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210325050826/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/175286782 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article21628786 |title=A Successful Recruiting Trip. |newspaper=[[The Queenslander]] |location=Queensland, Australia |date=2 February 1895 |access-date=25 April 2020 |page=197 |via=Trove |archive-date=25 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210325050826/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/21628786 |url-status=live }}</ref> the Cran family and Frederic Buss were the major investors in the ''Helena'' while the ''Ariel'' was co-owned by a number of local planters.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146679148 |title=BUNDABERG. |newspaper=[[Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser]] |location=Queensland, Australia |date=5 December 1884 |access-date=25 April 2020 |page=2 |via=Trove |archive-date=25 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210325050827/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/146679148 |url-status=live }}</ref> While some of the recruitment was voluntary, violence and deception toward Islanders often took place. For example, the crew of the ''Helena'' fought a battle with the locals of [[Ambrym]] while taking Islanders from there.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article52272940 |title=TRIP OF THE "HELENA." |newspaper=[[Morning Bulletin]] |location=Queensland, Australia |date=12 November 1888 |access-date=25 April 2020 |page=5 |via=Trove |archive-date=25 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210325050827/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/52272940 |url-status=live }}</ref>

These labourers had to work for three years and were only paid at the end of this time period. Instead of cash, they usually received substandard goods and trinkets of minimal value as payment.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Docker |first1=Edward W. |title=The Blackbirders |url=https://archive.org/details/blackbirdersrecr0000dock |url-access=registration |date=1970 |publisher=Angus and Robertson|isbn=9780207120381 }}</ref> Excessive mortality of the Islanders while serving their term of labour in the Bundaberg region was frequent. Overwork, poor housing, inadequate food, contaminated water supplies and a lack of medical care all contributed to the high death rate. Penalties for the plantation owners whose neglect resulted in these fatalities were rare and did not exceed a £10 fine.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19794954 |title=Kanaka Mortality at Bundaberg. |newspaper=[[The Queenslander]] |location=Queensland, Australia |date=1 December 1883 |access-date=25 April 2020 |page=893 |via=Trove |archive-date=25 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210325050830/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/19794954 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article217678282 |title=EXCESSIVE KANAKA MORTALITY. |newspaper=[[Toowoomba Chronicle and Darling Downs General Advertiser]] |location=Queensland, Australia |date=29 July 1893 |access-date=25 April 2020 |page=3 |via=Trove }}</ref> Importing South Sea Islander labour was made illegal in 1904 and enforced repatriation of these workers out of Bundaberg and other locations in Queensland occurred from 1906 to 1908.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article25970839 |title=KANAKA DEPORTATION. |newspaper=[[The Queenslander]] |location=Queensland, Australia |date=20 October 1906 |access-date=25 April 2020 |page=28 |via=Trove |archive-date=25 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210325050828/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/25970839 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:StateLibQld 2 391697 Holy Rosary Catholic Church, Bundaberg, 1939.jpg|thumb|right|Holy Rosary Catholic Church, Bundaberg, 1939]]
The [[1911 Queensland sugar strike]] occurred after the phasing out of [[Kanaka (Pacific Island worker)|South Sea Islander labour]], with workers claiming that many plantation owners had substituted black indentured labourers (sometimes referred to as slaves) with white ones. Workers sought better accommodation, wages and conditions, including an eight-hour day and a minimum weekly wage of 30 shillings, including food. The mobilisation of unionists from Bundaberg to [[Mossman, Queensland|Mossman]] was a major achievement, with the 1911 strike lasting over seven weeks in Bundaberg where the town's economy was largely based on the sugar industry.<ref name="history-7">Janette Nolan,  Bundaberg, history and people, St Lucia: University of Queensland press, 1978, p. 147.</ref> The end result of the strike was a Commonwealth Royal Commission into the sugar industry in 1911–12, which had been initially requested by Harry Hall, a Bundaberg AWA organiser in 1908 with a petition signed by 1500 Bundaberg sugar workers.<ref name="history-8">[[Brisbane Courier]], 21 October 1908, p.5; Nolan, p. 146.</ref> The Royal Commission, with ALF Secretary [[Albert Hinchcliffe]] as secretary, concluded the AWA demands had been justified. The union victory was a watershed in organised labour in Queensland and Australia.<ref name="qhr3">{{cite QHR|33400|Fallon House|602814|access-date=1 August 2014}}</ref><ref name="history-9">Dr K H Kennedy, "The Rise of the Amalgamated Workers Association" in Lectures on North Queensland History, [[James Cook University]], Second Series 1975, pp. 198–199.</ref>
[[File:Vaudeville marquees on Quay Street at the edge of the Burnett River in Bundaberg 1935 (12649166584).jpg|thumb|[[Vaudeville]] marquees on Quay Street on the banks of the Burnett River, 1935]]