Editing Bundaberg (section)

=== Cattle and logging ===
[[File:StateLibQld 1 100192.jpg|thumb|Timber workers]]
[[File:StateLibQld 1 50564 South Sea Islanders on the deck of a ship arriving at Bundaberg, 1895.jpg|thumb|right|[[Kanaka (Pacific Island worker)|South Sea Islanders]] on the deck of a ship arriving in Bundaberg, 1895]]
[[File:StateLibQld 1 179835 South Sea Islander woman planting sugar cane in a field.jpg|thumb|right|South Sea Islander woman planting sugar cane in a field, c.1897]]
[[File:Promotional float for Paramount Theatre, Bundaberg, ca. 1930s.jpg|thumb|right|Promotional float for Paramount Theatre for [[White Zombie (film)|White Zombie]] with actors in [[blackface]], Bundaberg ca. 1930s.]]

Before colonisation, much of the land around the lower reaches of the Burnett River consisted of either the Woongarra Scrub, a subtropical rainforest that stood where most of the Bundaberg canefields now grow, or the Barolin Plains, a lightly timbered grassland that stretched along the coastal fringe. Neither of these areas were suitable for sheep farming but the British soon found that raising cattle was possible. In the early 1860s the first cattle stations in the area were established; [[Branyan, Queensland|Branyan]] on the south side of the Burnett River and [[Tantitha]] on the north side.<ref name="nolan" /><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article217132106 |title=EARLY BUNDABERG. |newspaper=[[The Bundaberg Mail]] |location=Queensland, Australia |date=4 April 1925 |access-date=23 April 2020 |page=8 |via=Trove |archive-date=25 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210325050823/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/217132106 |url-status=live }}</ref>
 
Timber companies, such as that owned by [[William Pettigrew (politician)|William Pettigrew]], started the logging of the Woongarra Scrub in 1867.<ref name="nolan" />
In 1868, [[Samuel Johnston (Waterview)|Samuel Johnston]] erected a sawmill in [[Waterview, Queensland|Waterview]], on the north bank of the [[Burnett River]].<ref name="brch"/><ref>{{cite web|title=History of Bundaberg|url=http://bundaberg.qld.gov.au/discover/our-history/bundaberg|publisher=Bundaberg Regional Council|access-date=26 December 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140215052443/http://bundaberg.qld.gov.au/discover/our-history/bundaberg|archive-date=15 February 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The Waterview sawmill became a prominent supplier of timber until its closure in 1903 after being damaged by flood.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kerr|first=John|title=Report on Site Visits|year=1998|page=298|url=http://www.daff.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/50787/qld_se_saw19.pdf|access-date=26 December 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140214043625/http://www.daff.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/50787/qld_se_saw19.pdf|archive-date=14 February 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>