Fairymead Sugar Plantation

Faced with the high cost of importing sugar from overseas, the Queensland Government wanted to find a way to encourage people to invest in sugarcane growing.

The Sugar and Coffee Regulations Act 1864, was introduced into the Queensland Legislative Assembly by Charles Coxen, member for the Northern Downs.

[2] The introduction of the Act brought about a renewed interest in sugar cane growing and people raced to accumulate land up and down the coast of Queensland.

Working under the Act the brothers divided up a central section of their property into three blocks, called Jamaica, Barbados and Mauritius and experimented with the growing of sugarcane.

These subdivided sections later became known as Fairymead, after a friend of the family visited the plantation and described the place as being like a "fairy mead" on a misty morning.

[1] Arthur and Horace Young, with their younger brother Ernest, began to transform Fairymead into a profitable state-of-the-art sugar plantation.

In 1902 the Young brothers established an irrigation system to help combat the effects of long periods of drought in the region and began working towards the mechanisation of the cane harvesting industry.

The rest of the district also benefited from Fairymead's reduced demand for cane cutters, who were made more available to service other sugar plantations in the region.

[1] Fairymead Sugar Mill closed in 2005, due to the milk sinking into the ground from the swap like soil from the previous flood.