Party: Farming Co-operative and Marketing Mackay District Cane Growers Co-operative Society Limited, Four Ways, West Mackay
Summary
Established ca. 1939. Some administrative and business records held, including minutes of meetings. The industry is now apparently dominated by two major companies: Foxwood Ltd, and Rankine Brothers. These companies were approached for possible holdings of historical records, however little appears to have survived. The management at Foxwood Ltd, 433 Sheridan Street, Cairns, advised that a number of the Company's employees had been pioneers in the local timber industry and could provide useful oral history sources. The company did not hold historical material, with the exception of a journal of Lawson and Sons of Mareeba, a company taken over by Foxwood in 1968. This journal, 1909-1912, was kindly donated to the Delamothe Collection of North Queensland History, by Foxwood Ltd. Some additional records of Lawson and Sons, Mareeba are held, but these are comparatively recent, dating from 1960s. Mr Trevor Rankine of Rankine Brothers, Peeramon, advised that his family had entered the timber industry shortly after the Second World War, and from 1948 had absorbed a number of other operators. No historical records from these mills were held by Rankines. A third company, Associated Plywoods, of Tully Gorge road, via Ravenshoe was also investigated. The manager Mr Smith advised that the company had taken over some six operations, but that no records from these companies had been preserved, beyond a small number of historical photographs. Associated Plywoods is a division of the Placer Exploration Company, a predominantly Canadian owned company, with additional interests in New Guinea. People involved in the timber industry mentioned many former millers who had featured in the Atherton Tableland timber industry. The following must be regarded as a rough listing only but these names may be of interest to researchers:
Battle & Co., Tomoulin Mill.
Burns Philp & Co.
Burton Bros. & Tieman, Kairi Mill.
Corney & Smith.
Condons, Battle & Co.
Clarke & Hanley, Old Danbulla Mill, Tinaroo.
Charles English, Malanda Mill.
Hay & Haigh [Irvinebank?].
J.M. Johnston Pty. Ltd, Stratford and Milla Milla.
E. K. Keid, Wondekla.
Keogh & Son of Evelyn.
Lawsons of Mareeba, and elsewhere.
Stan and Norma May of Kairi Mill. Mazlin, [Ravenshoe?].
Allan Moffat's Cedar Creek Mill.
Northern Hardwoods, Kuranda.
George Pearson, Evelyn Central Mill.
Resenfelt and Meixner of Ravenshoe.
Stanley Shepherdson of Topaz.
C. Samselett, Ravenshoe.
Stuarts of Toumalin and Ravenshoe.
Donald Walker, Wandekia and Herberton.
Elsewhere in the survey area timber mills were investigated where possible, including Innisfail, Tully, Townsville, Alpha and Clermont, but with the exception of Springs Sawmill in Clermont, very little historical material was located.