Farleigh
Located on the Bruce Highway ten kilometres west-northwest of Mackay in Yuwibara country, Farleigh takes its name from a farm selection that probably took it from one of several Farleighs in England. The English agricultural entrepreneur Sir John Bennett Laws acquired Farleigh and several nearby properties in the early 1880s and built the Farleigh mill to process the new plantation's sugar in 1883. Over the next decade, Farleigh absorbed the nearby Ashburton mill's operations and built the first stage of what eventually became an extensive network of cane tramways to transport Ashburton cane to Farleigh.
However, despite Lawes' status as a pioneer of artificial fertilisers, inadequate soil husbandry and declining production saw the mill close in 1900. The estate was sold off as part of the transition from plantation estates to smaller holdings. The new Farleigh Estate Sugar Company bought the mill in 1900, planning to develop it to replace smaller-scale operations at The Cedars, Coningsby, Pioneer, Richmond, Nindaroo, Habana and Dumbleton. The company took over the crush when the CSR Company's Homebush mill ceased operations in 1921. Although the business went bankrupt five years later, a cooperative of local growers bought the mill.
The North Coast railway line from Mackay reached Farleigh in April 1918, and when the next extension to Proserpine opened in December 1923, travellers from Brisbane could travel as far north as Ingham.
Farleigh Mill merged with other Mackay district mills to create the Mackay Sugar Co-operative Association in November 1987.
Links:
Sir John Bennett Laws
Farleigh mill
Ashburton mil
Farleigh Estate Sugar Company
The Cedars mill
Coningsby mill
Pioneer mill
Richmond mill
Nindaroo mill
Habana mill
Dumbleton mill
CSR Company
Homebush mill
North Coast railway line
Proserpine
Mackay Sugar Co-operative Association
