Mossman Sugar Mill

While the Mossman Sugar Cane Mill was built it 1896, the first sugar was not crushed on site until one year later. Since then, the mill has managed to overcome many potentially devastating hardships. The mill's first trial arose in 1901, just after Federation, when the Australian Government deported sugar cane cutters who were in the country illegally. These workers were predominantly from the Pacific Islands and with a drastic staffing shortage; the mill was plunged into turmoil. However the community pulled together and the Australian Government relaxed immigration laws between other countries and soon the mill was back in business. World War I and II also proved to be problematic times for the Mossman Sugar Cane Mill.

Despite the challenging times, over the years the Mossman Sugar Cane Mill managed to increase its hourly crushing capacity from 25 tonnes per hour to 350. Today the mill crushes 500,000 tonnes of cane, producing over 65,000 tonnes of raw sugar from over 120 farms supporting the local community and thus attracting tourism and the building of motels, resorts and Accommodation houses to further enhance the regions attractivness to tourists .

With over 20 different varieties of cane growing in the area, the Mossman Sugar Cane Mill production area spans over 8500 hectares all the way from the Daintree Rainforest up to Atherton Tablelands. The sugar cane flowers early May through June and the mill processes cane from July to November.