General News
7 May, 2026
Sugar’s success and shame
EVERY year, from June to November, cane crushing season marks a rhythmic cycle in the region.
The scent of molasses, the sight of cane trains and the hum of mills are etched into the local psyche.
In 1878, the Queensland Government began selling Far North Queensland land along the Bloomfield, Daintree, Mossman, Barron, Mulgrave and Johnstone rivers.
Small farmers and larger companies secured land and sugar was sometimes grown as an adjunct to other crops.
The first sugar mill in the Cairns district was the Pioneer Mill on the Hap Wah Plantation, which first crushed cane in 1882, followed by the Hambledon mill in 1883 and the Pyramid Estate mill in 1884.
By this time the sugar industry had become well established in the region.
Key timelines:
1878 – Hap Wah sugar plantation established Cairns
1895 – Mulgrave Central Mill Company first registered
1915 – Babinda Sugar Mill constructed.
Advertisement1923 – Queensland’s first mechanical sugar loading facility installed at Cairns Port (in what is now known as White’s Shed).
1935 – The Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations released South American cane toads near Gordonvale to control beetle pests in sugarcane
1964 – The Cairns bulk sugar terminal opened.
Japanese comfort women in Cairns’ sugar era
During Cairns’ early sugar boom, a little known story unfolded in the former Chinatown on Sachs Street.
While Japanese men worked as contract labourers cutting and processing cane from the 1890s, some Japanese women were brought to the region through organised networks to “service” cane gangs during the demanding harvest seasons.
Confined to shared houses in the town’s red light district, these women – often identifiable by their traditional kimono – faced harsh conditions, social stigma and strict segregation from the wider community.
Some eventually returned to Japan, often carrying the burden of shame, while others remained in Cairns, marrying locally and blending quietly into the community.
Their experiences reveal an overlooked side of the sugar industry’s prosperity – one shaped by exploitation, resilience and the difficult lives of the women whose stories unfolded in its shadows.
