Smithfield township today
Old Smithfield township was deserted by the middle of 1879. For the next 40 years it was rarely visited, with the land being used occasionally to graze cattle. In 1923 it became a sugar-cane farm, and cane has been grown there for almost 100 years.
A Deserted Township with a Rates Bill from the Council
The Cairns Divisional Board was proclaimed on 11 November 1879, and was the first local government authority inthe region. Old Smithfield township was deserted by this time and there were only six farms and 12 Anglo-Australian residents north of the Barron.1 The Divisional Board did not discuss the township, which was in their No. 1 sub-division. On 20 December 1890, this sub-division became part of the Barron Divisional Board. At their sixth meeting the aldermen discussed rates arrears, which amounted to £145/14s/6d. with most of the arrears accruing from the allotments of the old Smithfield township.2 Some of the rate arrears which were identified as uncollectable were wiped off the books. The following year all the rates arrears on the old Smithfield township allotments were wiped off on the motion of Alderman Richard Alfred Tills.3
In 1897 the subject of rate arrears was raised once more, with Alderman Michael Boland claiming that some of the township allotments had recently been sold but the new owners had not registered the sale, leaving the land “in the names of people who are worth nothing, and against whom it is not worthwhile for us to take action”.4 Alderman James Lyons argued that there were several cases at Smithfield township where owners had paid £10 for allotments of land which were now being used by the selectors for running cattle upon and therefore it was hard to make people pay township rates when there was no township there. The Shire Clerk reported there were 31 properties rated at the abandoned allotments at Smithfield.5 The subject was dropped and not raised again for nearly 25 years.
By the early 1920s much of the land on the northern bank of the Barron was under cultivation and cane farms were encroaching on the township reserve. Most of the original residents of Smithfield township had died, and not everyone had arranged transfer of freehold title in their wills.6 Only two people who owned town allotments at the abandoned township were up to date in their rate payments.
The Barron Divisional Board became the Barron Shire Council in 1902, and was absorbed into the Shire of Cairns in 1920.7 On 13 October 1922 the Shire discussed the outstanding rates and notified 28 freehold title holders at Smithfield township that collectively they owed £202/9s/5d. for outstanding rates and interest, and if the balance was not paid within three months, their allotments would be resumed by the Shire and sold at auction.8 Of the 36 allotments with rent arrears, one block was surrendered to the Crown and one block had the rent arrears paid.9 There was no response from the remaining landowners and the freehold title to the remaining allotments was resumed by the Secretary for Public Lands in the Public Works Department in 1924.
Shire of Cairns final demand for rate arrears
Cairns Post, 6 December 1922: 9.
Smithfield as a sugar-cane farm
In 1923, 39 allotments at Old Smithfield township were offered for lease.10 Sybil Orger Reed leased 23 allotments on the eastern side of Macdonald Street, and Thomas Bannister Moore leased 16 allotments on the western side of Macdonald Street.11 In 1924 Moore’s cane farm leases were transferred to Ernest Albert Atherton, who transferred them to Albino & Pietro Scaglione in 1931.12 In 1926 additional leases for two allotments on the eastern side of Macdonald Road were taken up by James Robert Bartley and Arthur Redford.13 In 1932 Reed sold her leases to Bartley & Redford, who dissolved their partnership in 1935, with Redford as the sole lessee/owner of all the land to the east of Macdonald Street. Old Smithfield township was now divided into two cane farms: Scaglione's to the west of Macdonald Road, and Redford's to the east. Redford built his farmhouse on what originally had been Hill and Norfolk Street in the old township, and in 1950 he built a gate across Macdonald Road, which became known locally as 'Redford Road'.
In 1960 the Marino family purchased Pietro Scaglione’s cane farm, and in 1969 they purchased Redford’s farm.14 They purchased the remaining freehold allotments in August 1978.
The entire township site along with the adjoining portions making up Marino’s cane farm were sold to Pioneer North Queensland Pty. Ltd. in July 2010, who began operating their Barron Sands Quarry upstream on the Barron floodplain in 2004.15
Old Smithfield Township today.
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This webpage is an excerpt from the upcoming book Old Smithfield: Barron River township (1876-1879) by Dr Dave Phoenix. Find Out More Here |
Featured Artefacts from Old Smithfield:
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1. Cairns Post, 15 May 1884: 3. ↩
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2. Cairns Post, 19 August 1891: 3. ↩
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>3. Cairns Post, 16 July 1892: 3.
Richard Alfred Tills (1860–1937), fourth mayor of Cairns. ↩ -
4. Morning Post (Cairns), 5 August 1897: 4. ↩
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5. Cairns Post, 19 July 1910: 2. ↩
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6. In 1880 Ulrich Storch sold his Macdonald Street allotment to Bernard Sinauer, see: Brisbane Courier, 5 July 1880: 4. James Moffatt died in 1886 and his two Logan Street allotments went to his daughter, Jane Anne (1856, Glasgow–1924, Cooktown), who married Samuel Heaslop/Hislop (1844, Ireland–1915, Cooktown), see: Brisbane Courier, 6 December 1886: 8. Thomas Henry Williams’ Macdonald Street allotment also went to Jane Anne Hislop. In 1894 Ellen Koch’s two allotments, one on Logan Street and the other on Macdonald Street, were claimed by her brother, Stephen Tobin, see: Telegraph (Brisbane), 26 February 1894: 1. Patrick Hallinan died in 1910 and his two allotments went to his wife, Mary Agnes Hallinan, see: Telegraph (Brisbane), 26 September 1910: 3. Percy Charles Fuller of Cooktown died in 1927 and left his Logan Street allotment to John Young; John Collins left two allotments to his brother, William Kevin Collins and his wife Mary; Callaghan Walsh left his allotment to Cairns Clerk of Petty Sessions James Powers; William Kelly’s allotment went to George Raff (who died in 1889) and Samuel Cochrane’s allotment went to George Raff and Thomas Edward White. ↩
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7. After the passage of the Local Authorities Act (Queensland, 1902), the Barron Divisional Board became the Shire of Barron. The Shire was broken up on 20 December 1919, with the Smithfield township area being absorbed into the Shire of Cairns, which was based in Gordonvale. On 16 November 1940 the Shire of Cairns was renamed Mulgrave Shire. The Shire of Cairns/Mulgrave Shire did not administer the city of Cairns, which was controlled by the Borough of Cairns (formed 1885), later the Town of Cairns (1903) then the City of Cairns (1923). ↩
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8. Cairns Post, 6 December 1922: 9; 10 February 1923: 10. ↩
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9. Allotment 2 in Section 2, Harris Hymes Solomon, deed 33.520, surrendered to the Crown, 21.03352 Townsville. Andrew Henderson (1879, Creswick, VIC–1962, Myola) of Myola paid £6/19/- rent arrears on Allotment 13 of Section 2, which had originally been Collinson & Mackay’s butchery, but which Henderson now owned under CT.N20529. (Land Register Vol. 202, Folio 248). George Mackay died in 1889 and his allotment went to Alexander Frederick John Draper and Emily Louisa McKay, see: Cairns Post, 7 January 1893: 2. ↩
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10. Eight Special Leases were offered under Subsection 1 of Section 179 of the Lands Act of 1910 (1 Geo V, No. 15, Queensland), see: Cairns Post, 29 September 1923: 2. ↩
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11. Sybil Orger Dunn (1878, Hong Kong–1958, Cairns), married Dr. John Hastings Reed (1885, Queensland–1931, Queensland) and had one child; Sybil Orger Reed had Special Lease SL.4028 issued 16.10.1923 over allotments 17 to 19 of Section 3; SL.4029 issued 16.10.1923 over allotments 11 to 13 of Section 3; SL.4030, issued 16.10.1923 over allotments 3 to 9 and 11 to 20 of Section 4. Thomas Bannister Moore (1875, Queensland–1931, Queensland) had Special Lease SL.4023 issued 16.10.1923 over allotments 4 and 7 of Section 1; SL.4024 issued 16.10.1923 over allotments 6 to 13 of Section 1; SL.4025 issued 16.10.1923 over allotment 20 of Section 1; SL.4026 issued 16.10.1923 over allotment 2 of Section 2; SL.4027 issued 16.10.1923 over allotments 6 to 9 of Section 2. ↩
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12. Ernest Albert Atherton (1879, Mareeba–1954, Mareeba). ↩
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13. James Robert Bartley (1891-1963, Kuranda). James Robert Bradley and Arthur Redford had Special Lease SL.5039 issued 21.12.1926 over allotments 1 and 2 of Section 3, see Cairns Post, 20 December 1926: 2. ↩
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14. The joint tenants who purchased Scaglione brother’s cane farm on 30 September 1960 were Guiseppe Marino, Fillipo Marino, Santo Marino and Santa Chillemi Marino (wife of Rosario Marino). The joint tenants who purchased Arthur Redford’s cane farm on 24 July 1969 were Guiseppe Marino, Fillipo Marino, Santo Marino and Carmelo Rosario Marino. ↩
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15. Title Reference 21078047, Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy. ↩