Corporate entry: C.S.R. Limited
Summary
Records and Photographs 1847-1972. C.S.R. Limited was first formed in 1855 as an unlimited company following a reconstruction of the Australasian Sugar Co. of Sydney, which in 1842 had succeeded the Australian Sugar Company - the first Australian refining operation, established in 1839. In June 1857 an associate company the Victoria Sugar Co. was formed in Melbourne to establish a refinery and distillery, which gave rise finally to the present Yarraville plant. Originally raw material was imported for processing, however a serious slump in sugar in 1857-88 pointed to the need for local production; in 1870 the company established three raw sugar mills in the northern rivers district of New South Wales. A system of independent small farms supplying a central mill was introduced which became a characteristic of the sugar industry in Australia and Fiji. Expansion followed into Queensland, with operations commencing at Homebush Mill Mackay, and Victoria Mill Ingham in 1883, in 1885 Goondi Mill via Innisfail began production under C.S.R., Macknade Mill via Ingham was purchased in 1896, as was the Hambledon Mill south of Cairns the following year. The Company established three mills in Fiji between 1880 and 1885, the New Zealand Sugar Company Limited having been formed in 1883 to control C.S.R. interests outside Australia, including the Chelsea Refinery in Auckland, founded in 1884. In Australia the C.S.R. and the Victorian Sugar Company amalgamated in July 1887, whereupon the Colonial Sugar Refining Company Limited was registered; the present title C.S.R. Limited was adopted in July 1973. From sugar refining, milling and distillery operations, C.S.R. has diversified in recent years into mining, building materials, chemicals, and since the take over of Australian Estates in 1975, the pastoral industry. Since 1973 it has withdrawn its interests in sugar production and processing in Fiji, but C.S.R. remains foremost in this field in Australia, and given its marketing expertise it has been appointed government agent for the organization and sale of the total Australian sugar crop. Records are extensive: there are two deposits. No.142 is from Melbourne Head Office, spanning 1847-1972 and comprises 480 linear feet. Deposit 171 is a collection of photographs previously held at the Technical Library of C.S.R. Limited in Sydney; it spans ca. 1878-1960 and comprises 3.5 linear feet.
Melbourne Head Office. Records have been divided into Head Office Correspondence and General Records Series, and Correspondence and Other Records of Related Companies, Branch Offices and Refineries, Mills and Cane Nurseries, Inspectors, Chemists, Company Officers and Agents. There is also a photograph collection.
Head Office Correspondence - Outward. Press copies of letters sent from Head Office, 1854-1947.
Head Office Correspondence - Inward. Original letters received in Head Office, also copies of letters exchanged between mills or C.S.R. officers, received at Head Office, 1879-1954.
Head Office - General Records. All series other than correspondence, held at Head Office. A miscellaneous collection, including annual reports, monthly balances, chemical, financial, marketing, engineering records, share records, legal documents, memorandum and articles of association, income tax files, mill work books (production details), memos, notebooks, property plans, various publications, government reports and publications, handbooks, photographs, newspaper extracts, 1855-1972. Correspondence and Other Records, of:
Related Companies. Includes Australasian Sugar Co., letterbooks 1847-1857, wages book 1851-1854. Robey & Co. letterbooks, 1853-1855, record of imports 1854-1862. New Zealand Sugar Co. Ltd., correspondence 1883-1897, etc.
Branch Offices. Adelaide, various contracts 1891-1925, Melbourne, correspondence 1887-1923.
Refineries. Correspondence, statistics etc., regarding New Farm, Chelsea, Pyrmont and Yarraville, 1893-1939.
Mills and Cane Nurseries. Correspondence, various reports, regarding mills and nurseries including Broadwater, Chatsworth, Darkwater, Hambledon, Harwood, Southgate and the Fiji mills, 1870-1952.
Inspectors. Correspondence: mill inspectors 1880-1948; engineering inspector 1883-1898; refinery inspector 1900-1912, 1914-1917.
Chemists. Correspondence and notebooks of company chemists, 1895-1927.
Company Officers. 'Travelling' letterbooks of superintendents 1870-1882; and correspondence of John Smith, C.S.R. inspector, includes his reports to head office at the Queensland hearings of the Royal Commission into the Sugar Industry (1912), 1903-1914.
Agents. Miscellaneous collection, includes:
Files regarding Parbury, Lamb and Co., C.S.R.'s onetime Brisbane agents, 1881-1910.
Land transfers to C.S.R., Homebush, Herbert River and Goondi, 1885-1893.
Johnstone River accounts 1883-1885.
Johnstone River Divisional Board records, 1898-1904.
Johnstone River land matters, 1881-1891.
Johnstone River land Convent selections, 1882-1910.
Kanakas, papers regarding shipments, 1881-1884.
Land matters, tramways, Mackay and Herbert River, 1881-1889.
Miscellaneous correspondence, 1891-1898.
Re-engaged Islanders, Invoices, Share matters, etc 1883, 1885-1896.
Treasury rents, 1882-1887.
Correspondence to and from J. Pickering, consulting engineer for the C.S.R. Co., Glasgow, 1905-1928.
Photographs. Large collection, 1856? 1868-1961, albums and loose prints listed under the following headings:
C.S.R. Cricket and Tennis Teams, 1897-1935, two albums, 36 prints.
Head Office Albums, 1878-1961, 15 albums.
Fiji, 1881-1960, 16 albums, 60 prints.
New South Wales, 1868-1938, four albums, ca. 185 prints.
Queensland, 1883-1939, eight albums, 16 prints.
Refineries and Branch Offices, 1878-1950, one album, 162 prints.
Publicity Photographs, 1950s, one album.
C.S.R. Exhibits at Shows in Various Cities, 1934-1962, one album, 12 prints.
Isolated Photographs, (mostly lacking positive identification). 1856?-1960, 96 prints.
Note: date spans and quantities are approximate. A.B.L. 142.
C.S.R. Limited, Photographs, ca 1878-1960. A collection of photographs previously held in the Technical Library of C.S.R. Limited in Sydney. They illustrate company office buildings in Sydney and Brisbane, annual staff, sporting events, cane cultivation and experimental work, sugar milling in Australia and Fiji, sugar refining in Australia and New Zealand and distillery operations producing industrial alcohol, methylated spirits, molasses, carbon dioxide etc. Included also are views of the early stages of the Building Materials Division, the Activated Carbon plant at Pyrmont and pineapple production in Fiji. This collection is complemented by photographs in deposit 142. On many photographs reference is made to related correspondence; most letters may be found in deposit 142. The collection is arranged under the following headings:
Head Office and Branches 1896-1959 171/1-57.
Sugar Mills 1883-1960 171/58-762.
Refineries 1878-1949 171/763-912.
Distilleries 1890s-1951 171/913-948.
Cane Experimental Stations 1916-1950 171/949-1019.
South Johnstone, near Innisfail Qld n.d. 171/1020.
Burdekin River, Qld. 1950 171/1021-1022.
Mills - General (mostly Fiji) 1947, 1950 171/1023-1061.
Grain, (Wheat, Victoria) n.d. 171/1062.
Building Materials Division 1935-1949 171/1063-1083.
Various 1873, 1890s-1941 171/1084-1088
Pineapples, (Fiji) 1936-1959 171/1089-1273. Note: Many photographs are undated. A.B.L. 171. A.B.L. total company deposits: 142, 171 Restricted Access.