In November 1925, in an article in the local newspaper, the Cairns Post, a journalist referred to the recently completed Tully sugar mill as the "Finest factory in Australia" and its' first crush "a red-letter day in the industrial history of Queensland". 

 

"The eyes of the sugar world will be riveted on Tully in the next few weeks," the paper read.
 

Today, almost 100 years later, the Tully mill is one of the largest sugar mills in Australia. 

Tully Sugar Ltd, along with industry partners will commemorate the mill’s Centenary by remembering its history and sharing its story with the community, locally and more broadly, through a series of events to be held during 'SUGAR WEEK' in May 2025.

I encourage you to keep checking back here in 2025 for more information on our Centenary Celebrations, to be held  from 15 - 24 May 2025 and join us for what I am sure will be a riveting Centenary sugar mill celebration.

Tianchi (Andrew) Yu

Chief Executive Officer

Tully Sugar Limited
 

Pictured above: The Tully District Sugar Pioneers' Display was built  on land at Tully Mill in 2010, to recognise the contribution of early pioneers to the Tully Sugar Industry. The display was jointly funded and constructed by Tully Canegrowers Ltd, Tully Sugar Ltd and The Rotary Club of Tully Inc.

​

A brief look back at over 100 years of sugar in Tully

​

the late 1800s ...

The origin of the sugar cane industry in Tully dates back to 1865, one year after Cardwell's settlement.  A wealthy Scotsman named John Ewen Davidson came to Cardwell with the objective of establishing a sugar cane plantation in the district north of the settlement. Davidson's attempts to establish a mill proved futile due to a severe cyclone and flooding. The second venture of sugar cane growing in Tully River district was by James Tyson who arrived here with Isaac Henry and Edward Hewitt in 1879. While others abandoned their efforts for settlement Isaac Henry stayed to pioneer cane growing in the region as we know it today.

1922
The Sugar Works Act of 1922 and the Theodore government approved a sugar mill at Tully.

19 June 1923

The Tully Sugar Works Area was proclaimed in the Government Gazette. The site of the new mill on the bank of Banyan Creek was chosen.  The name Tully was officially selected by the Bureau of Central Mills which controlled the surveying of the new town and the sugar mill designated area. The total land area available for the cultivation of cane, was approximately 150,000 acres (60,000 hectares).

August 1923

The tender to construct the Tully River Sugar Mill was awarded to Walkers Ltd, Maryborough with the Bundaberg Foundry supplying some of the machinery and equipment. F.E Barbat & Sons of Ipswich, undertook the actual construction of the factory.
 

10 September 1924

The Department of Public lands announced that a ballot for 66 blocks of ‘Tully-Banyan sugar lands’ in the parish of Rockingham’ had been held that day.

5 November 1925

The Tully Sugar Mill crushed its first cane. This was a test crush for the mill that ran through to 16 January 1926.

The mill's first full season began on 5 July 1926 and lasted 28.5 weeks until 19 January 1927.*
*as referenced in Alan Hudson's 'By the Banyan'.

 

1926
There were 256 farmers supplying cane to the Tully mill, 74 were returned soldier settlers.
 

1927
The Tully mill became the first Australian sugar mill to crush more than 200,000 tonnes of cane in a season.

13 November 1930
The Tully Sugar Works Act of 1930 authorised the transfer of the management and Control of the Tully Sugar Works from the Corporation of the Treasurer to a Co-operative Association and for other consequential purposes.
 

13 March 1931

The Tully Cooperative Sugar Milling Association is formed. In May the same year, the cooperative purchased the Tully sugar mill from the government. All 383 growers at that time applied for shares. Hugh Henry is the first Chairman.
 

1933

The Tully mill became the first Australian sugar mill to process more than 300,000 tonnes of cane despite rain falling on 100 out of 190 days of the season.

​

1963

The first major upgrading of Tully mill took place.
 

1964

Riversdale expansion – 54 new assignments were granted – most were new cane farmers, sending their first assignments to Tully mill in 1965.

 

Friday 18 September 1983

The first million-tonne crush was celebrated.

​

28 March 1990

The mill changes from a cooperative system to an unlimited company (incorporated as a public company). The old name of Tully Cooperative Milling Association Limited made way for the new Tully Sugar Limited.

 

1999

Cogeneration Project (Cogen) now supplies Tully Mill with an assured annual income of almost $1M as a by-product of the power which runs the mill during the crush.
 

May 1999

The mill workers recreation hall is removed to make way for the construction of the town’s first supermarket/shopping complex.
 

2002

A record 2 million tonne crush is reached on 28 October.

 

2008
The mill management and board acknowledge the ‘challenges confronting the mill and in industry in the form of increased competition for good quality agricultural land, the significant increases in farming input costs and the poor world sugar prices’. 

 

3 February 2011

Buildings in Tully were badly damaged by Cyclone Yasi and over $12 million worth of infrastructure wiped out at the mill.

July 2011

COFCO successfully purchases shares in Tully Sugar Limited.

 

20 March 2012

COFCO becomes the controlling shareholder of Tully Sugar Limited.
 

2015 & 2016

The mill just falls short of the 3 million tonne crush in two consecutive years with two record seasons of 2,897,999 and 2,935,950 tonnes.

 

2023

A new steam turbine generator began operating at its full 18MW capacity in December.

​

2024

Today Tully Sugar employs approximately 330 local workers during the crushing season. producing approximately 300,000 tonnes of raw sugar per year; 65,000 tonnes of molasses; and exporting clean, green power to the Queensland electricity grid.
 

The Company also owns and operates a number of cane farms, has commercial and residential real estate interests in Tully and is a Registered Training Organisation.

Read more at tullysugar.com

 

 

​