> Fifty kilometres south at Sand Hills (an area later renamed Keppel Sands and Joskeleigh), German-born pastoralist Paul Joske attempted growing cane but with dismal results as his land proved unsuitable. Joske's experiment with sugar cane was abandoned quickly and he successfully returned to growing more stable crops.
Broome�s vision collapsed in 1883 due largely to late summer rains. The banks foreclosed, and the business was taken over by the company�s Rockhampton backers. They auctioned it promptly at a significant loss to two of the mill�s former shareholders. Rutherford Armstrong took the reins of the new venture, renamed the Farnborough Sugar Plantation. He trebled production and several good seasons followed.
In 1896, twenty properties were growing cane at a rate of 21 tons per acre, which was considered good for the industry. However the Depression combined with a low world sugar price and changes to the Pacific Islanders Protection Act, brought the mill to its knees once more. It finally closed its doors in 1903.
As late at 1911, attempts were made by various parties to resurrect the sugar industry with proposals for central mills at Rockhampton and Yeppoon, however people's memories were long, and financier's did not come forth. With no financial guaranteeship for a local industry, the Sugar Commission concentrated on building mills in the north of the state, where arguably the climate is more suited to sugar cane.
Plight of the Kanakas
In the aftermath of the failed Yeppoon sugar industry, the indentured labourers who had worked the cane fields found themselves facing new fears. Freed from service, they were not free in the eyes of the state. Some of the Islanders had been in Australia for decades, and during that time, their rights had dwindled away.
Plantation owners on the Capricorn Coast were not unique in sourcing South Sea Islanders for indentured labour. Indeed it was the norm, and Yeppoon had a
