The Filing Cabinet: The North: Significant Centres
Brandon
Located around 65 kilometres east-southeast of Townsville and 6 kilometres west-northwest of Ayr on Bindal country within the Burdekin Shire, Brandon takes its name from Henry Brandon, a pioneer sugar planter and son-in-law of Korah Halcomb Wills, who was associated with the Pioneer sugar plantation in Mackay.
After Brandon disposed of his interests in Mackay, he acquired a block of land west of Sheep Station Creek as a site for a sugar mill, which he named Pioneer. When a nearby selector subdivided his land in 1882, he called the township Brandon.
Competition between Brandon and nearby Ayr continued over the next sixty years, with Ayr gradually emerging as the Lower Burdekin's commercial and business hub. However, Brandon benefited substantially when Pioneer Mill proprietor John Drysdale persuaded Alfred Green to move his foundry, renamed the Delta Iron Works, from Townsville to Brandon
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