Mossman’s sugar Industry and mill may have faced uncertainty lately but whatever its future may be, one thing is certain; its past has significantly shaped the town of today.

In 1873, following the discovery of gold on the Palmer River, the Queensland Government sent George Dalrymple to explore the northern coast to determine its suitability for development.

Upon his explorations, Dalrymple named the Mosman River (later changed to Mossman) after explorer Hugh Mosman, and reported on the good agricultural land along the river.

Following Dalrymple’s reports Dan Hart, a timber cutter from Jamaica, arrived in 1874 and became the first non-indigenous settler of Mossman.

In 1878, Hart settled his property on what is now the western half of Mossman town and named it ‘Coolshade’.

Before long he was growing tropical fruit and began experimenting with the cultivation of sugarcane, with which he had experience of from his time in Jamaica.

Hart was the first man to grow sugar in the area, pioneering the industry in Mossman and for a time the town was known as Hartsville.

He later donated land to the Anglican church where present-day St David’s Church now stands and imported seeds from Jamaica to plant the landmark Raintree’s adjacent to the church.

In 1879, Thomas William Wilson took up property on the eastern half of what is now Mossman town where he also experimented with Sugar.

He too donated a portion of his land for the Mossman River State School which opened in 1898.

Both Hart and Wilson subdivided parts of their land to create a site for the township of Mossman and present-day Front street follows the boundary between the two properties.

Other early settlers include R.O. Jones who selected land in North Mossman and named it ‘the Cedars’.

William Buchanan, who eatablished 'Bonnie Doon’. John Pringle in south Mossman with ‘Fairymount’.

William Samuel Johnston with his farm 'Drumsara’ and his brother John Dorrens Johnston with ‘Mango Park’.

The Foxton, Rex, O’Brien and Crees families were also among the early settlers whose names would be familiar to today’s residents.

While the early farmers dabbled in various crops, however the district’s excessive rain resulted in most of the land being converted to cane farming.

In the early days of sugar, the cane was often farmed in a plantation style were farmers grew and milled raw sugar on their own properties.

The first sugar mill was erected on the Brie Brie estate on the South Mossman River in 1883 by Harriet Parker.

However, this system was very costly and the small mill had little output making it unviable and the doors were closed in 1888.

As plantation systems continued to struggle, farmers realised they needed to create a large central co-operative sugar mill instead.

In 1893, the Queensland Government passed the Sugar Works Guarantee Act which allowed landowners to mortgage their land to the government for a loan to build a central mill.

The Mossman farmers formed the Mossman River Central Mill League and after much negotiation on where the mill would be placed, they eventually accepted Thomas Wilson’s offer of 20 acres at the junction of the two branches of the Mossman River for ?200.

The Mossman Mill was opened in August 1897 and became the most northern mill in Australia.

The mill continued to expand and in 1906 became the first Queensland mill to crush over 100,000 tonnes of cane.

The town of Mossman sprung up around the mill with Mill Street becoming the central hub of the town, along with five hotels.