Sugar Wagon Trail, Ross Street, Yeppoon, QLD | Photographs: | None | | List: | Register of the National Estate | | Class: | Historic | | Legal Status: | Indicative Place | | Place ID: | 100841 | | Place File No: | 4/03/186/0017 | | Statement of Significance: Not Available | | Official Values: Not Available | | Description: | History:
The track was built 1884 by South Sea Islander people, following the first crushing of sugar at the Farnborough sugar plantation mill. Some of the people who worked at the mill and who were engaged in building the track included Peter Santo, Sam Vea Vea, Bill Mackie, Charlie Kura, Charlie Brown, Jimmy Youse, Tom Warkill, Willie Warcon and Charlie Willhow. Descendents of these men live in the area. The track was designed by Messrs Lucas, who were the mill engineers, Carrol, overseer and road supervisor at the plantation and Rutherford Armstrong, field overseer and later manager of the plantation. It was built to provide access from Farnborough Mill to Thompsons Point, which was the loading place for sugar boats. The date of 1884 ties in with the major expansion of the sugar industry in Queensland which occurred in the early 80s and led to attempts to grow cane in marginal country such as that at Yeppoon. Loading facilities were subsequently moved to Ross Creek at Yeppoon. The reasons for this were various. It was much closer to to Farnborough, so it was less distance to transport sugar (although smaller boats could access Ross Creek). Robert Ross, however, was a shareholder in the Farnborough Mill and owned the wharves on Ross Creek and this also may have been a factor in the change. There was an earlier track which used to follow the beach around to Ross Creek but as tides and soft sand made this impassable to heavily laden wagons, there was a need to cut the track across very steep hills. Horse drawn wagons made the journey. The wagons were approximately 12ft long (3.5m) and 5ft (1.5m) wide with four wheels. The total distance from Thompson`s Point to Farnborough is approximately 46km (as the crow flies). The building of the Bluff Road (follows extant Farnborough Road) and the introduction of steam powered engines rendered this track obsolete. In 1898 the train line reached Tanby and sugar was then railed to Rockhampton, so Ross Creek fell into disuse at that time. The Farnborough plantation and mill closed in 1900 aftrer running for only 16 years. At its peak, Farnborough had 2,500 acres under sugar cultivation. Its rise and fall closely follows the rapid expansion of the sugar industry in the early 80s and equally rapid demise in the mid 90s. The track was an essential element in the functioning of the plantation and mill. Without it there was no means of transporting the sugar to any point from which it could be exported.
Description:
The extant track runs for approximately 1,415m around a hill in the centre of Yeppoon. Originally the track had been much longer but much has been destroyed by residential and road development around Yeppoon over the last 20 years (the hill is now surrounded by residential development but given the grades there will not be development on the hill itself). The extant track starts on the easter side of the hill, then runs then runs in a south-south-westerly direction around the contour and across a low saddle. From this point it then proceeds around the western side of the hill in a south-westerly to south-easterly direction along the contour of the hill. The track has been formed by cutting into the hill on the uphill side of the contour and creating a flat platform by pitching stone on the downhill side. The track varies in width from 3m-4m. In various places it is now heavily overgrown with small trees and shrubs and has been obscured by slumping of debris from upslope. However, the excellent examples of stone pitching have survived on the the downhill side of the track for virtually its entire length and in places there is a clear, flat and well formed track. This includes some excellent culvert work across small creeks which flow down off the hill on the eastern side. | | History: Not Available | | Condition and Integrity: Not Available | | Location: | | About 1.4km long, Ross Street to Meikleville Street, Yeppoon, commencing at AMG point 7441123N, 268872E then generally northerly along the following AMG points consecutively - 7441676N, 268807E; 7441793N, 268378E; ending at AMG point 7442071N, 268459E. | | Bibliography: |
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Report Produced: Mon Jan 29 20:42:38 2007 |
