Small Sugar Farmer Agency in the Tropics 1872-1914 and the Anomalous Herbert River Farmers' Association
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ResearchOnline@JCU This file is part of the following work: Vidonja Balanzategui, Bianka (2019) Small sugar farmer agency in the tropics 1872-1914 and the anomalous Herbert River Farmers' Association. PhD Thesis, James Cook University. Access to this file is available from: https://doi.org/10.25903/5e461faf4ed40 Copyright © 2019 Bianka Vidonja Balanzategui. The author has certified to JCU that they have made a reasonable effort to gain permission and acknowledge the owners of any third party copyright material included in this document. If you believe that this is not the case, please email [email protected] Small sugar farmer agency in the tropics 1872— 1914 and the anomalous Herbert River Farmers’ Association Thesis submitted by Bianka Vidonja Balanzategui B.Ed, B.A (Hons), M.A (Material Culture), Dip. Modern Languages James Cook University 2019 For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History) In the College of Arts, Society and Education James Cook University Submitted February 2019 i STATEMENT OF ACCESS I, the undersigned, the author of this thesis, understand that James Cook University will make it available for use within the Eddie Koiki Mabo Library and, by microfilm or other means, allow access to users in other approved libraries. All users consulting this thesis are required to sign the following statement: In consulting this thesis, I agree not to copy or closely paraphrase it is whole or in part without the written consent of the author; and to make proper public written acknowledgement for any assistance which I may have obtained from it. Beyond this, I do not want to place any restrictions on access to this thesis. _________________________________ ________________________________ Signature Date ii STATEMENT OF SOURCES Declaration I declare that this thesis is my own work and has not been submitted it any form for another degree or diploma at any university or other institution of tertiary education. Information derived from the published or unpublished work of others has been acknowledged in the text and a list of references is provided. I would be pleased to hear from any copyright owner who has been omitted or incorrectly acknowledged. ___________________________________ _________________________________ Signature Date iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this thesis has only been possible because of the encouragement and support of a number of people. Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the belief in me shown many years ago by Dr Janice Wegner and Dr Diane Menghetti.1 At the time I was living on a sugar farm at Stone River, west of Ingham, raising a large family. Jan and Di encouraged my ambition to reenrol at James Cook University and complete a PhD thesis. They saw value in my proposed topic. Unfortunately, the demands of life, family and farm intervened and I did not enrol as a PhD candidate until 2014, forty years after first enrolling at James Cook University as an undergraduate. That I did so in 2014 was again because of the unstinting encouragement of Jan, as my secondary supervisor, and Dr Claire Brennan as my primary supervisor. I still live at Stone River and have completed the PhD remotely but also have been fortunate to have a dedicated office workplace at James Cook University. I have also been engaged as a tutor of History and Politics. Both the dedicated work space and the tutoring roles have provided me with a sense of collegiality. Claire has been unflagging in her efforts to ensure that we meet regularly for appointments and share regular email updates. She has been accommodating of my writing method and generous with her advice and encouragement. During my candidature, Claire has had extended periods of maternity and sabbatical leave but neither these, nor her own professional and family commitments, have impacted adversely on my candidature. Jan has been a faithful secondary supervisor, along with Claire, ensuring I have completed milestones and stayed on track. I would like to acknowledge the volunteers and librarians of Eddie Koiki Mabo library, Hinchinbrook Shire Library, the Queensland State Library, Queensland State Archives and the National Archives of Australia. I am grateful for the tireless responses to my research queries by librarians Rita Bisley and Claire Ovaska, Bronwyn McBurnie and the encouragement and the professional input of my friend and librarian, Barbara Debono. I thank the Pearson family and the Herbert River Farmers’ League for allowing me access to league files and records. I also thank members of the Herbert River community who endeavoured, without success, to locate the Halifax Planters’ Club records. 1 Dr Diane Menghetti, now deceased, was then Associate Professor of History at James Cook University. iv Another valued opportunity for collegiality was the weekly morning teas where I was bolstered by the companionship of my fellow postgraduate history students and a number of academic JCU staff. I thank Claire for organizing those. I gratefully acknowledge professional editor Dr Hamish Clayton who provided copyediting and proofreading services, according to the guidelines laid out in the university-endorsed national ‘Guidelines for editing research theses’. I would also like to acknowledge the Njawaygi, the Wargamay and the Bandyin peoples on whose land the Europeans trespassed, and by whose labours that land was cleared and planted for the cultivation of sugar. My friends, especially the WWW (Wild Women of the ‘Wound’ Table) of which one of the ‘wildest’ and funniest is fellow PhD candidate Kerry Russo, Associate Dean, Learning and Teaching College of Business, Law and Governance JCU, have provided much valued regular lunch dates rich with laughter and encouragement. My children and their partners, my husband Mark and ‘sister of my heart’ Barbara Debono have been unwavering in their encouragement, support and love. That I weathered the tensions and doubts that are part and parcel of a PhD candidature and maintained joy in pursuit of the goal is a tribute to the constancy of their patience and interest. A great sorrow is that my darling little mother, my greatest supporter, died in 2015, a year into my candidature and will not get to see me wearing the ‘floppy hat’. v STATEMENT OF THE CONTRIBUTION OF OTHERS Nature of Contribution Contribution Contributor Intellectual Support Proposal writing Dr Claire Brennan Advice and professional Dr Janice Wegner development Adjunct Professor Russell Editorial assistance McGregor Financial Support Tuition Fee Waiver Australian Government Minimum Resource James Cook University Allocation PhD Student Competitive Funding Editorial Support Proofreading Dr Hamish Clayton vi ABSTRACT One hundred and thirty-six years ago six immigrant small selectors formed the Herbert River Farmers’ Association (HRFA). On the Herbert a plantation mode of sugar production began in 1872. The selectors there used the HRFA to actively participate in the transition of the tropical Australian sugar industry from plantation to small, family farms by 1914. Associations such as theirs formed the cornerstone of the institutional foundations of a globally unique and successful industry farmed by small, family farmers. Principal exponents of sugar industry organization history have consistently dismissed the small sugar cane farmers’ associations. Broader sugar industry scholarship however, identified them as having contributed to the demise of plantation production and the development of farm-based central milling. This assessment recognized that the HRFA and fellow small associations promoted small farming and that their members proved that white, small sugar farmers could farm in a tropical environment without detriment to their health and could provide a reliable supply of high-quality cane. Agricultural associations in sugar growing regions in the period 1872 to 1914 were dominated by elite white planters, practising an exploitative mode of production that used unfree or indentured coloured labour. Furthermore, land was not distributed equally to planters and small farmers alike, denying the small farmers, white or otherwise, the type of independence that came to characterise Australian white, small, sugar farmers. Land ownership and the freedom to form associations allowed the small selectors of the Herbert River Valley in tropical north Queensland in the late nineteenth century to negotiate with the planters in a way that the tenant farmers and share-croppers in other sugar growing regions could not. Accounts of the origins and nature of the sugar industry agricultural association movement focus exclusively on the planter associations while small sugar farmer associations are virtually invisible in the scholarship. Agricultural associations were vehicles both planters and farmers used to access rural extension, promote agricultural skills and innovation, and lobby with one voice. A top-down approach has made for a void in the understanding and appreciation of the development and role of small sugar industry agricultural associations in Australia. The Australian small sugar farmers’ association was unique in the global sugar industry association movement and the HRFA was the first of its kind in the plantation era in tropical Australia. vii CONTENTS Statement of Access…………………………………………………………………….ii Statement of Sources…………………………………………………………………..iii Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………….iv Statement of Contribution of Others…………………………………………………vi Abstract……………………………………………………………………………......vii Contents………………………………………………………………………………viii