Ayr
Located 88 kilometres south of Townsville on the Bruce Highway in Bindal country, Ayr is the administrative centre for the Burdekin Shire Council and the commercial hub of an extensive agricultural area extending inland from the Burdekin Delta that uses underground water from an extensive aquifer and water from the Burdekin Dam to irrigate sugar cane and a variety of other crops including mangoes, melons, salad vegetables and rice, and beef cattle..
Early European visitors to the area included Captain John Clements Wickham, on HMS Beagle's third voyage in Australian waters (1839), Lieutenant John Ince, Joseph Jukes and Frederick Evans on HMS Fly (1843) and Henry Daniel Sinclair, James Gordon and Ben Poole on their search for a possible outlet for the proposed Kennedy Pastoral District. All three groups travelled some distance upstream before moving on.
The quest for a port and unresolved issues with the Burdekin River's outlet brought George Elphinstone Dalrymple to the area on an overland expedition (1859) and a seaborne investigation with Lieutenant J. W. Smith in 1860, In the meantime, shipwreck survivor James Morrilllived with local Indigenous groups in the region from 1846 until an outstation on a newly established pastoral run provided an opportunity to return to European society. Morrill's attempt to negotiate an arrangement whereby the coastal wetlands on the north side of the Burdekin would be a reserve for the local people fell on deaf ears.
Pastoralists moved onto squatting leases on the lower Burdekin area after 1861, with Edward Spencer Antill selecting Jarvisfield, named after the Antill family estate near Picton in 1862, John Graham MacDonald taking up Inkerman Downs and Edward Cunningham forming Woodhouse station. The township of Wickham on Rita Island, established as an outlet for the new stations in 1864, was destroyed by floodwaters in 1870. Its eventual replacement, laid out by surveyor Ellis William Lymburner on Robert William Graham's Lilliesmere run, took its name from the Scottish birthplace of Queensland Premier Sir Thomas McIlwraith. Ayr Post Office opened in August 1883.
Sugar growers moved onto the Delta flatlands after 1879 when Robert William Graham and Archibald Campbell MacMillan formed the Burdekin Delta Sugar Company and established a plantation and mill at Airdmillan. Both became unviable in 1885 after kidnapped South Sea Islanders working on the plantation were repatriated. Airdmillan was subdivided in the 1890s
Other plantations and mills from the 1880s included James Mackenzie's Seaforth, Colin Munro's Drynie, Charles and John Young's Kalamia, and John Spiller and Henry Brandon's Pioneer plantation, which they sold to the Drysdale brothers. The Drysdales went on to build the Pioneer and Inkerman Mills (1884 and 1914, respectively) and pioneered the use of underground water to irrigate the cane crop.
Links to add:
Burdekin Delta
Burdekin Dam
John Clements Wickham
HMS Beagle
John Ince
Joseph Jukes
Frederick Evans
HMS Fly
Henry Daniel Sinclair
James Gordon
Ben Poole
Kennedy Pastoral District
Lieutenant J. W. Smith
Edward Spencer Antill
Jarvisfield
Antill family estate:
John Graham MacDonald
Inkerman Downs
Edward Cunningham
Woodhouse station
Wickham
Rita Island
Ellis William Lymburner
Robert William Graham
Lilliesmere run
Archibald Campbell MacMillan
Burdekin Delta Sugar Company
Airdmillan
South Sea Islanders
James Mackenzie
Seaforth
Colin Munro
Drynie
Charles and John Young
Kalamia
John Spiller
Henry Brandon
Pioneer plantation
Drysdale brothers.
Pioneer Mill
Inkerman Mill
