Mount Martin Cane Lift facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Mount Martin Cane Lift |
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Mount Martin Cane Lift, 2006
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| Location | Mirani Mount Ossa Road, Mount Martin, Mackay Region, Queensland, Australia |
| Design period | 1919 - 1930s (interwar period) |
| Built | Before 1939 |
| Official name: Mount Martin Cane Lift | |
| Type | state heritage |
| Designated | 5 February 2010 |
| Reference no. | 602750 |
| Significant period | Post World War I |
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The Mount Martin Cane Lift is an old machine that helped farmers move sugar cane. It is located in Mount Martin, near Mackay, in Queensland, Australia. This special lift was built before 1939 and is now listed on the Queensland Heritage Register. This means it's an important part of Queensland's history.
Contents
What is a Cane Lift?
Sugar cane is a very important crop in Queensland. The state grows almost all of Australia's sugar! For a long time, farmers harvested sugar cane by hand. They would cut the tall stalks and tie them into big bundles. These bundles were very heavy.
Before modern machines, farmers needed a way to get these heavy bundles from their fields to the sugar mills. Mills are factories where sugar cane is crushed to make sugar. This is where cane lifts came in handy. They were like giant cranes that lifted the cane bundles onto special wagons. These wagons then took the cane to the mills.
How Cane Lifts Helped Farmers
Sugar cane was first grown in Australia way back in 1788. In Queensland, growing sugar cane really took off in the 1860s. The Pioneer Valley near Mackay became a big sugar-growing area.
At first, people used horses and wagons to move the cut cane. But this was slow and hard work. To make things faster, sugar mills built special train tracks, called "tram networks," that went right into the cane fields.
From the 1890s, cane lifts became very popular. They were placed next to these tram or railway tracks. Farmers would bring their bundles of cane to the lift. The lift would then hoist the bundles high up and lower them into the waiting train or tram wagons. This made loading much quicker and easier.
Many cane lifts were on private farms, while others were on railway land. Often, the sugar mills paid to build the lifts. Farmers would then pay back the cost little by little, based on how much cane they sent to the mill.
Different Types of Cane Lifts
There were a few different designs for cane lifts. One type was called a "traverser." It had an overhead winch that moved along a horizontal beam. The cane bundles were lifted and then slid across to a wagon.
The Mount Martin lift is a different type, called a "derrick." This kind of lift has a tall upright pole, called a mast. A long arm, called a boom, sticks out from the bottom of the mast. A horizontal beam connects the top of the mast to the end of the boom. This setup allows the boom to swing in a big arc. A hook hangs from the end of the horizontal beam to lift the cane.
Derrick lifts were used a lot, especially for loading cane onto main railway wagons. A carpenter named Albert John Wellman Fudge is often given credit for inventing this type of lift. He built many of them in the Mackay area.
Powering the Lifts
To lift the heavy cane, the lifts needed power. Early lifts often used a horse. The horse would walk in a circle, turning a drum that pulled the lifting cable. Later, small engines were used instead of horses. After World War II, some lifts even used trucks for power. The truck would drive onto special rollers, and its wheels would power the lift.
The Mount Martin lift was built near a railway line that opened in 1911. It was used to load cane onto railway wagons. This railway line was closed in 1970 because it became cheaper to move cane by road. Today, a cane tramway runs along the old railway path near the lift.
Why Cane Lifts Are No Longer Used
Cane lifts became old-fashioned when new machines called "chopper harvesters" were invented. For many years, people tried to build machines to harvest cane, but they weren't very good.
In the 1950s and 1960s, chopper harvesters became common. These amazing machines cut the cane stalks into small pieces, called billets. The billets are then shot directly into bins pulled by trucks or tractors. These bins are then taken to the mill or transferred to tram wagons.
Because chopper harvesters could cut and load the cane all at once, there was no longer a need for cane lifts. The lifts, like the one at Mount Martin, are now important reminders of how sugar farming used to be done.
What the Mount Martin Cane Lift Looks Like
The Mount Martin cane lift is located about 45 kilometers west of Mackay. It stands in a grassy field next to a cane field and a tram track.
The lift is quite tall, standing between 7 and 8 meters high. Its main parts are:
- A single upright wooden mast (the tall pole).
- A wooden boom (the long arm that sticks out).
- A horizontal beam assembly (two wooden beams connected together).
The boom is attached to the bottom of the mast with a hinge, so it can swing. The horizontal beam is hinged to the top of the mast and the end of the boom. This setup holds the boom in a diagonal position.
There are pulley wheels on the horizontal beam. A strong steel cable runs through these wheels, and a hook hangs from the end of the cable. This is what lifted the cane. There's also a steel ladder on the side of the mast and a safety rail on the horizontal beam. These were used by workers to reach the top for maintenance.
Why It's Important
The Mount Martin Cane Lift is listed on the Queensland Heritage Register because it's important to Queensland's history.
- It shows how things changed: This lift helps us understand how the sugar industry grew and changed over time. It shows how cane was moved before modern machines took over.
- It's a great example: The Mount Martin lift is a very good example of a "derrick" type cane lift. It still has all its main parts, like the pulleys, cable, hook, and ladder. The ladder was important for workers to climb up and fix things.
