City's oldest mill to close

THE 123-year history of Fairymead Mill has come to an end, with Isis Central Sugar Mill and the state government blamed for its closure.

THE 123-year history of Fairymead Mill has come to an end, with Isis Central Sugar Mill and the state government blamed for its closure.

Bundaberg Sugar general manager Grant Maclean, who started at Fairymead himself in 1967, said the mill had "a lot of wonderful history''.

Hundreds of workers have been employed at the mill since it was established in 1882 and at least 80 people will lose their jobs following yesterday's announcement.

"Closing the mill is not something we wanted to do, but when the cane supply went down we had no option,'' Mr Maclean said.

Predictions had been made about one of the Bundaberg mills closing since December when Isis Central Sugar Mill announced it had secured about 500,000t of cane from the Bundaberg region.

On January 1, the state government removed Cane Production Area (CPA) legislation, which required growers to supply to certain mills.

Unions yesterday slammed the decision and leaders will meet with affected workers in Bundaberg today.

Australian Workers Union (AWU) members will be holding crisis talks from 7am and spokesman Keith Ballin predicted there would be some hostility towards Bundaberg Sugar.

"It's a cut-throat industry these days and with all that's going on, who is it that suffers most? The workers.'' Mr Ballin said.

"I imagine there will be quite a few people upset by all this and the way it was handled.''

Growers contacted by the News-Mail yesterday were expecting the news and did not think it would have a big impact on their operations.

Roy Price, who has supplied cane to Fairymead Mill from his Moorlands Road farm for 10 years, said the closure of one of the mills was only a matter of time.

"It was inevitable - they can't keep three mills open and it was tough enough during the drought and with Isis getting the 500,000t out of the the district they just had to rationalise,'' Mr Price said.

"I don't think it will affect us at all because Bundaberg Sugar just picked up the cane at the front gate and sent it to whichever mill they liked.''

Mr Maclean said growers would continue to deliver to their railway sidings.

There will be more cane trucked on the region's roads - raising concerns about road safety and repairs.

Originally published as City's oldest mill to close