Sugar Mill Tours - Mackay

While travelling down the coast of Queensland on our last holiday we decided to join a tour of a working sugar mill at Farleigh near MacKay. This tour was conducted by Reeforest Adventure Tours and our informative guide was Jackie (New Zealander who has lived in Australia for 30 years). 

You will need a long sleeve shirt (tucked in), long pants and closed in shoes – are required to wear hair net, helmet, safety glasses and helmet which are supplied at the Mill (ear plugs are given to each participant if required inside the mill). Meet at the hall of the Farleigh Mill by driving along the Bruce Highway onto Childow Street towards the Mill - there are plenty of signs along the way for clear directions.

I understand that there are only two mills that offer tours and I highly recommend that you join one to find out about processing the sugar cane, and  but also discover uses for by-products. Not only is sugar a product of the cane but the waste is used for fuel which powers the mill and heats the boilers. Molasses from the process is used for rum production, stock feed, and the manufacture of ethanol fuel - nothing goes to waste. A product that is separated for the sugar mixture is call mud and this is mixed with the ash form the burnt cane and taken back to the farms for fertilizer. 

The Fairleigh Mill is owed by a cooperative of farmers - Mackay Sugar. This is an Australian owned and operated co-operative, and Mackay is one of the biggest sugar ports in the world.  They expect to mill over five million tons of sugar from the three mills in 2016 – mind blowing.