History of Pemberton Sugar Mill site

Pemberton Sugar Mill was established by WN Keyes in 1885 during the boom of sugar production in the Bundaberg Region in the 1880s and 1890s.

Many small independent mills sprung up in the Woongarra district during this time, with all gradually consolidated into larger mill companies in the early 20th century.

The remnants of the Pemberton Sugar Mill site are included on Bundaberg Regional Council’s Register of Local Heritage Places. 

Historical context

The first sugar mill established in Bundaberg was Millbank by Richard Palmer, which produced its first commercial sugar in 1872.

The Millaquin Sugar Mill was established by Robert Cran in 1880, by which time four other mills were operating: Sharon, also established by Richard Palmer; Waterview by Samuel Johnston, who also operated the first commercially successful sawmill in Bundaberg, and Branyan and Cuba.

The farmers of the Woongarra Scrub convinced Robert Cran to establish a juice refinery in Bundaberg and it was seen by the local populace as a significant investment.

The refinery processed juice piped from the Woongarra district, punted along the Burnett River, or transported from the Fairymead juice mill by a tramway, the first in the district.

The impact of the refinery was substantial: by the second year of operation, the refinery produced a fifth of Queensland’s sugar, up from 3% for the entire Bundaberg region in 1882.

Pemberton Sugar Mill was located in the Woongarra District, with the cane sourced from Keyes’ plantation and from the adjoining ‘Glenmorris’ plantation.

Keyes later sold the mill to William Davidson and Frederic Buss, who became a major figure in the sugar and retail industries in the Bundaberg region.

The Pemberton Sugar Mill was producing raw sugar by the early 1900s, one of only a handful of mills in the Woongarra district to do so, the others being Ashfield, Mon Repos, Spring Hill and Windermere.

By producing raw sugar, these mills were affecting Millaquin Mill’s juice supply.

Pemberton, and other mills in the Woongarra district, benefited from the construction of the Woongarra Railway in 1911, a project initiated by the Woongarra Shire Council.

The railway began at Millaquin, then passed by Qunaba, Windermere and terminated at Pemberton, with a stop at ‘Sandhills’, the early name for Bargara.

The railway established that Pemberton was the most southerly of the sugar mills in the Woongarra in this period.

Smaller mills bought out

Despite the railway, the Pemberton Mill and the surrounding plantation was sold to Millaquin Mill in 1914.

In fact, the company was only interested in the plantation, as the railway made it an attractive purchase, and the Pemberton Mill was dismantled.

Increased labour costs, especially after South Sea Islanders were deported in the early 1900s, and competition from larger mills forced the closure of the other mills in the Woongarra, as well as throughout the Bundaberg district.

There was also a consolidation of larger mills in the region, as economies of scale meant fewer mills could operate profitably in the region.

Millaquin had already purchased Qunaba; by this stage, Bingera was one of the last mills operating in the Kolan district; and the number of mills in the Childers district was declining, with the Isis Central Mill the sole mill by 1932.

With the purchase of Pemberton Mill, Millaquin completely controlled the sugar industry in the Woongarra, marking the end of small, independent mills in the district.

Heritage remnants

The Pemberton Sugar Mill site is located on private property on the eastern side of Elliott Heads Road.

Surface remains are evident near the boundary fence, under and around a large mature tree surrounded by a rock garden.

Remnants include concrete slabs, footings and machinery bases as well as corrugated iron sheeting.

The site has a high archaeological potential to contain important evidence of its prior use as a juice mill.