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Mackay, QLD: Sugar City and Art Deco

Mackay, Central Queensland, is about 970 kilometres (603 mi) north of Brisbane on the Pioneer River.

Often called the sugar capital of Australia, Mackay has a rich history and culture to explore.


Aboriginal People

In Mackay and its surrounding areas, six Aboriginal groups have been identified, with the Yuwibara people being the most dominant group.

Other groups are the Wiri, Biria, Jangga, Barna and Barada, with each group estimated to have consisted of 500 members. Evidence of Aboriginal occupation is evident in the shell middens, rock fish trap and stone axe-heads in the region.

The Australian Race: Its Origin, Languages, Customs, Place of ..., Volume 3 By Edward Micklethwaite Curr
QUEENSLAND NATIVES MAKING FIRE BY RUBBING STICKS. Week (Brisbane, Qld. : 1876 - 1934), Friday 20 April 1906 (to make fire, two sticks are rubbed together with enough force and friction)
"As regards clothing, these tribes used opossum-rugs at night, but went naked during the day, with the exception of the women, who wore a belt round the waist, which supported fringe, which hung down in front nearly as low as the thigh. Fringes of this sort are common throughout Australia, and are made of vegetable fibre, or of the fur of the opossum twisted into strings, or of the skins of animals greased and cut into strips. Not a few of these of people reached, it is thought, the age of seventy years, and there are still some alive whose hair is quite white. Both sexes wear ornaments made from the shell of the Karreela, or nautilus. In times of rejoicing they paint themselves red, and when in mourning, white." (1.)

Shell fish were collected from nearby mangroves and roasted over open fires. Evidence of fire places have been found approximately one metre below the present soil surface.

At Mount a Jukes mens' ceremonial site exists, and Yuibera elders claim that a eungie (spirit) walks about the campground.

1770s

Captain James Cook, aboard the Endeavour in June, 1770, passes close by the coastline off Mackay as he sailed along the Queensland coast.
Endeavour replica in Cooktown harbour. John Hill

1800s

Captain Matthew Flinders explored the region in 1802, recording evidence of Aboriginal occupation in the area. 

1830s

Between 1838 and 1968, areas in Queensland were set up as reserves, missions and settlements for Aboriginal people.

1850s

Queensland separated from New South Wales in 1859 and became the colony of Queensland.

1860s

In 1860, 20-year-old John Mackay led an expedition to seek pastoral land, leaving from Uralla to what is now known as the Pioneer River.
John Mackay (26 March 1839 – 11 March 1914) was a Scottish-born explorer, sailor and harbourmaster best known for having the town of Mackay, Queensland named after him. Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), Thursday 12 March 1914,
Daily Mercury publication, Jubilee of Mackay 1862-1912 (Billy Coakley, also known as Spencer’s Billy (Billy Spencer) was born in Jamaica)

Mackay named it Mackay River after his father, George Mackay of Uralla in New South Wales. However, when George Bowen, the Governor of Queensland, visited on the HMS Pioneer in October 1862, the name was changed to Pioneer River.

John Mackay, in January 1962, drove cattle to Green mount Knoll, the first settlement in the Mackay district. But Mackay leaves in August of that year after a partnership disagreement.
The town was founded in 1862, and declared a port of entry in 1863.

In May 1863, Thomas Henry Fitzgerald's first survey of the township also proposed it be called Alexandra after Princess Alexandra of Denmark, who married Prince Edward (later King Edward VII). 

The first sale of town allotments was in 1864.

The "Sugar and Coffee Regulations Act" passed in 1864 kickstarts the sugar industry. The following year, John Spiller experimented with growing cane in this district. He also produced the first sugar using a home-made wooden horse mill.

Sugar cane was first planted at Mackay in 1865.

W.O. Hodgkinson starts first newspaper, the Mackay Mercury, in 1866.

Thomas Henry Fitzgerald, the surveyor of the town, begins a plantation on the south banks of Pioneer River and calls it "Alexandra".

About 70 South Sea Islanders arrived in Mackay on the ship the Prima Donna in 1867. (many were recruited or blackbirded from islands in Melanesia) 

Frontier violence occurred across the Mackay district during the 1860s and 1870s. Native Police barracks were established at Marlborough in 1866 and Bloomsbury, just north of Mackay, in 1868.

* Native police were armed, and mounted Aboriginal men led by European officers were used by the Queensland government in frontier districts.
Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), Saturday 27 July 1867
Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), Saturday 2 October 1869
A lock-up of two cells, surrounded by stockade, was built in the 1860s.

Sugar cane was first planted at Mackay in 1865.
Business district of Mackay, 1868. Wooden structures make up the settlement of Mackay, QLD. The Court House is on the left and a butcher shop, general store and stables are toward the right. Several outhouses can be seen and washing is hanging on the bottom left corner. There is a wagon amid the timber in the back yard. 1868, SLQLD

1870s

In 1870, G F Bridgman, the manager of Homebush station near Mackay, noted the many Aboriginal people camping at Homebush station. Bridgeman campaigned to for an Aboriginal reserve in the area.

The Queensland government then set aside an area of 14,080 acres as an Aboriginal reserve near the Cape Palmerstone and Homebush pastoral runs in 1871. (read more)

In 1875, rust disease sweeps through local cane fields.
Mackay Turf Club members, ca. 1870. Caption under photograph reads: Original members Mackay Turf Club. (Standing) - E. Rawson, C. Rawson, Dr. McBurney, R. Martin. (Sitting) - A. Shields, D. Connor, J. C. Binney. SLQLD
Mackay Aboriginal people, QLD, 1872
Alexandra Sugar Mills, Mackay [picture] / Reckitt and Mills, QLD, 1875, SLQLD
Premises of D. Shepherd, Ironmonger, Mackay, QLD, 1875, SLQLD
Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Monday 6 August 1877

1880s

Large group of Aboriginal Australian men with spears in front of a large timber building on a cane farm, Mackay district, Queensland, 1880, SLQLD
Mackay's first tramway established by John Spiller on his Pioneer Estate in 1880-1.
John Spiller's first steam engine Mary Ann built by Robertson & Co at the Victoria Foundry, Mackay, in 1880 crossing Fursden Creek. Or less likely: The Emma Ruth, John Spiller's first steam engine transporting rakes of sugar cane to Pioneer Mill, over Fursden Creek. Mackay region. (SLQld) 
First issue of Mackay Free Press & Pioneer Advocate Newspaper in 1880.

Gold rushes nearby, brought migrants from with Australia and overseas to the region.

The Mackay Railway line in the Pioneer River valley opened in a series of sections between 1885 and 1911.
Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 - 1947), Thursday 29 December 1887
In 1888 a jail was built on the North side, in the area around Goldston, Basset and Vine Streets.
Locomotive at River Estate, Mackay, QLD, ca. 1880, SLQLD
Mackay. QLD, about 1883 looking north east from the Australian Joint Stock Bank, SLQLD
Election day in Mackay, QLD, outside the Australian Joint Stock Bank, 1883, SLQLD

1890s

In the late 1890s, the creation of Queensland's protectionist regime resulted in Aboriginal people being removed from their country and placed on government reserves. 
Japanese team cutting a tramway through the Farleigh Plantation, Mackay, QLD (Description supplied with photograph). Significant numbers of Japanese workers arrived in 1894 to work in mills and to extend tramways, nd, Vintage QLD
MESSRS. MARSH AND WEBSTER, GENERAL MERCHANTS, MACKAY, QLD. Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Saturday 23 November 1895
MESSES. W. H. PAXTON AND CO., WHOLESALE MEUCHANTS AND SHIPPERS, MACKAY, QLD. Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Saturday 23 November 1895
Mackay Mercury Offices, QLD, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Saturday 23 November 1895
Mackay Standar, Mackay, QLD, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Saturday 23 November 1895
Cane train at Mackay, QLD, North Queensland Register (Townsville, Qld. : 1892 - 1905), Monday 11 September 1899
THE PORPOISE LEAVING THE WHAEE, MACKAY. QLD. North Queensland Register (Townsville, Qld. : 1892 - 1905), Monday 6 November 1899
Freeman's Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1932), Saturday 7 October 1899

1900s

NATIVE CAMP IN THE BED OF THE PIONEER RIVER, 20 MILES ABOVE MACKAY. QLD. Week (Brisbane, Qld. : 1876 - 1934), Friday 7 March 1902,
In 1903, Mackay became a Town.
Mackay, QLD, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Wednesday 15 June 1904
 Mackay Hospital, QLD, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Wednesday 15 June 1904
Railway Station, Mackay, QLD, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Wednesday 15 June 1904
 AUSN Co' Wharf, Mackay, QLD, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Wednesday 15 June 1904
 Customs House, Mackay, QLD, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Wednesday 15 June 1904
In 1906, Mackay Mercury Newspaper and Mackay Chronicle amalgamate to become the Daily Mercury.
Mackay, QLD,  Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Wednesday 15 June 1904

ABORIGINAL CAMP, PLANE CREEK, MACKAY. QLD. Week (Brisbane, Qld. : 1876 - 1934), Friday 23 March 1906
Australian South Sea Islanders cooking clams on a Mackay beach, QLD, 1906, SLQLD
Grand Hotel, cnr Victoria and Brisbane Streets, Mackay, QLD - circa 1909 (built in 1907) Aussie~mobs
"Kanakas mustering before leaving for the Island" . Postcard circa 1908. The "White Australia" policy enacted after federation required all indentured South Sea Islander Labourers be returned to their home islands. A good proportion however stayed and worked their own farms. After 40 years the Kanaka trade ceased and gradually european workers replaced the South Sea Islanders. Mackay, QLD
River St, Mackay, no date, Vintage QLD
Mackay Post Office, QLD, 1910, Vintage QLD
Shop in Victoria Street, Mackay, QLD, circa 1911 (SLQLD)
Village Settlement, Bed of Pioneer River, Mackay, QLD - circa 1910, Vintage QLD
 Cable Tramway, Plewstowe, Mackay, QLD - circa 1910, Vintage  QLD
Aboriginal people in the Mackay district, QLD, Week (Brisbane, Qld. : 1876 - 1934), Friday 1 December 1911
State Savings Bank, Mackay, QLD, Week (Brisbane, Qld. : 1876 - 1934), Friday 6 September 1912
Mackay's first theatre, the Theatre Royal, was built in 1912. And Mackay Town Hall in Sydney Street officially opened.
Ambulance Brigade on corner of Sydney and Alfred Streets, Mackay QLD- circa 1913, Vintage QLD
Aboriginal people at Mackay, QLD, Week (Brisbane, Qld. : 1876 - 1934), Friday 26 December 1913,

WWI

LATE PTE. G. Q. QUINTRELL (Mackay.) Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld. : 1913 - 1939), Friday 28 December 1917
Pte. R - B. Flaherty, Mackay. Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld. : 1913 - 1939), Friday 14 September 1917
GRANT John Military Medal. Lieutenant 15th Btn Australian Infantry AIF Enlisted Mackay Qld. 21 February 1916. Died Thursday 23 May 1918 Amiens France. 
F. Morris, one of the soldiers photographed in The Queenslander Pictorial, supplement to The Queenslander, 1917. Frank Morris (1881-1957) was born in Walkerston, near Mackay to Jane Morris of the Yuwibara people. Morris was employed as a stockman at Oxford Downs Station, via Nebo when he enlisted in August 1917.
Sydney Street, Mackay, QLD, Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld. : 1913 - 1939), Thursday 14 February 1918
A destructive cyclone struck Mackay on 20–21 January 1918 and 22 people die.

First Masonic Hall in Mackay, QLD, destroyed by cyclone 1918, SLQLD
Mackay, QLD, cyclone damage, 1918
cyclone struck Mackay on 20–21 January 1918. SLQLD
The original Victoria Hotel was destroyed by fire on Friday 3 September 1897. It was rebuilt and badly damaged in the 1918 Cyclone. Mackay, QLD, SLQLD
First Masonic Hall in Mackay, QLD, destroyed by cyclone 1918, SLQLD
Intersection of Sydney and River Streets. Mackay. QLD (QLD floods), Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld. : 1913 - 1939), Thursday 21 February 1918
THE AUSTRALIAN HOTEL Mackay, QLD, Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld. : 1913 - 1939), Thursday 28 February 1918 (formerly Hodgson's, Digger Bills, Conway's)
Defiance Hotel, Mackay, QLD, Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld. : 1913 - 1939), Thursday 11 April 1918
"Homebush Mill, Mackay, QLD, - 1919", Vintage QLD

1920s

Metropolitan Hotel, Mackay, QLD, Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1875 - 1929), Saturday 2 May 1925
A new Methodist Church opened in Gregory Street in 1924, after the original church was destroyed in the 1918 Cyclone.

In 1925, the foundation Stone of the Church of England Holy Trinity Church in Gordon Street is laid.
Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Friday 11 April 1924,
THE DISTILLERY (Mackay, QLD) WAS OPENED BY SENATOR T. W. CRAWFORD (FEDERAL HONORARY MINISTER) ON THURSDAY LAST. Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Tuesday 22 February 1927
Daily Mercury (Mackay, Qld. : 1906 - 1954), Monday 31 January 1927

1930s

208 Sydney Street Mackay, QLD, showing the Former Mackay Town Hall c 1936. Queensland State Archives
Sydney Street, Mackay, QLD, 1936, Queensland State Archives
In 1938, Mackay Court House in Victoria Street opened.
Mackay harbour opened, QLD, Sunday Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1926 - 1954), Sunday 27 August 1939,
MAC KAY HARVESTS ITS SUGAR CROP, QLD, Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), Wednesday 30 August 1939

1940s and WWII

The Civic Theatre was built in 1940.
Premier William Forgan Smith opened the Taylor family's Civic Theatre in Gordon Street on Monday, September 16, 1940. The Civic, which had seating for 1100 patrons, was described by the Premier as 'a masterpiece of modern architecture and worthy of a city as progressive as Mackay'. Mackay, QLD, Mackay Regional Council Libraries
Fields Motors, Mackay. QLD c.1940, Queensland State Archives
Victoria Street, Mackay,QLD,  looking west from Wood Street. Buildings from left to right include: Australian Hotel, Lamberts, Mackay Newsagency/Pharmacy, Holmes Buildings.1840s, SLQLD
Mackay Comrades in ArmsFront row. — T. E. Paull, A. Hobday, G. Tutton. E. J. Bowkett.
Second row. — R. Tandy, W. M'Vay, S. C. Howitt, E. J. H. Sutton, L. W. Cooper, Lieut. G. T.
McK. S. Nisbet, J. R. Smith, L. H. S. Roberts, C. M. Field, W. S. Baker, A. E. Grime's,
A. J. Graham. <Third row.— C. B; Webster, J. L. Pittman, W. Horstma,n, E. Sands, W. A. Gooley, V. J. Hayman, R. A. Rump, W. J. Ings, "A. Dickson, A. E. Pearson, G. Hastings.
Back row.— T. Croft, D. A. M'Guanc, A. E. Hain, J. W. Anderson, J. Pusch, D. R. Riddcll, P. C.
Tait, R. 'A. Brayo. . H. McK.' Davie, F. T . Field, A. H. Gagejg, £. J. Townsend. K. D, 'M'Lennan.
This group of men in the A.I.F., taken recently in a N.S. Wales camp, is entirely composed of
Mackay boys. It is stated that no less than 1500 volunteers have joined the colors from thisdistrict Daily Mercury (Mackay, Qld. : 1906 - 1954), Tuesday 9 September 1941,
OUR GALLERY OF MACKAYVOLUNTEERS. J. S. Christie (Mackay), J. Holt (Mackay), C. M. Manning (Mackay), J. W. M'Kenzie (Mackay). Daily Mercury (Mackay, Qld. : 1906 - 1954), Tuesday 1 July 1941

Private zoo and museum collections is that of Mr. Barney McGuire,  of Mackay, Queensland.Pix. Vol. 8 No. 12 (20 September 1941

Harbour view in Mackay, Qld - circa 1940s, Aussie Mobs
Mackay, Qld. C. 1943. Interior of a milk bar where sundaes, ice cream sodas and cold fruit drinks were served to American servicemen seated at the counter and at tables. AWM
Crash of US Army Air Force B17-C troop Transport Aircraft at Bakers Creek in June 1943.
Daily Mercury (Mackay, Qld. : 1906 - 1954), Monday 1 October 1945
Iieutenant Chaseley M'Lean, ot Mackay,Q., gives physiotherapy treatment to Pte J. Nettleton at Aitape (New Guinea). Physiotherapists say that in .their work 'they have to be cruel to be kind.Daily Mercury (Mackay, Qld. : 1906 - 1954), Tuesday 20 March 1945
MACKAY SENIOR TEAM: Winners of the match by 21 points to 8. Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1907 - 1954), Thursday 6 June 1946
Daily Mercury (Mackay, Qld. : 1906 - 1954), Wednesday 11 August 1948,

1950s

The Olympic Theatre, Gordon Street, Mackay was demolished in 1952.
Regal Cinema, Malcolmson Street and Evans Avenue, North Mackay, QLD. Opened on 6th September 1953 and was destroyed by fire in 1979
The John Mackay Memorial Clock in Victoria Street was built in 1957.

1959, Cyclone "Connie" causes flooding in the Pioneer River.

1960s

In 1960, Mackay State High School opened in Milton Street.
Court House, Mackay, QLD, c 1962. The site has been associated with the police and judiciary in Mackay since the 1860s. Queensland State Archives
St Patrick's Church was constructed in 1961-63, the fourth to be constructed on the site.
Mackay Harbour Board building, QLD, c 1964, Queensland State Archives
Borthwicks Meatworks at Bakers Creek opened in 1965.
Wood Street, Mackay, QLD, late 1960s, Vintage QLD
Sydney Street, Mackay, QLD, 1960s?, Vintage QLD
Sugar Research Institute, West Mackay, QLD, 1966, Queensland State Archives
On 9 August 1968, TV Station MVQ6 broadcasts for the first time.

1970s

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip visited Mackay on April 16 1970.
Mackay Harbour Light, Bagley Point, Mackay, QLD, November 1974, Queensland State Archives
Eimeo Beach, Mackay, QLD, (1976) Queensland State Archives
In 1979, Canelands Shoppingtown opens.

1980s

The Mackay Entertainment Centre Officially opened in 1988.

1990s

In 1990, Theatre Royal next to Taylor's Hotel was demolished.


Around Mackay

Queensland National Bank at 79 Victoria Street, Mackay, Mackay Region, Queensland, Australia, was designed by Frederic Herbert Faircloth and constructed by local builder, William Patrick Guthrie, in 1923.
The Mackay Customs House, QLD, was completed in April 1902
Mackay Court House and MackayPolice Station, QLD, were built from 1886 to 1963
Originally, The Imperial Hotel built in 1942, Mackay, QLD
Wilkinsons Hotel in Mackay, Queensland, was built by the Guthrie Brothers in 1938
St Pauls Uniting Church, Mackay, QLD, built: 1897
Pioneer Shire Council Building I, Mackay, QLD, built 1935
Art Deco, Mackay, QLD
Hamilton's Building, Mackay, QLD, built 1899
CWA Rest Rooms were built in 1938, Mackay. QLD
The Mackay City Council approved for the clock to be built at the intersection of Victoria and Wood Streets by April 4, 1953.
McGuires Hotel was completed in 1938, in a Spanish Mission style – described as the “Ritz of the North” when it was built, Mackay, QLD
The original “Federal Hotel” was built in 1911. The name was changed to Hotel Mackay on 19 February 1923. The hotel was destroyed by fire on Wednesday 28 September 1938 and rebuilt. In 1942 the Americans took it over as an officer’s mess, Mackay, QLD
Mackay Masonic Temple at 57 Wood Street, Mackay, QLD, was built in 1924



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