Kill, cure or strangle: The history of government intervention in three key agricultural industries on the Atherton Tablelands, 1895 – 2005

The Atherton Tablelands, west of Cairns in Far North Queensland, comprise some of the richest agricultural lands in Australia. The area was settled from the 1880s, following the discovery of gold and other minerals on the Palmer River, the Hodgkinson and the Herberton fields. Situated as it is on the economic and geographic periphery of Australia, government sponsored agriculture on the Tablelands was seen not so much as a food producing venture, as a means of closer settlement and strategic defence in accord with the White Australia Policy. Maize, dairy, and tobacco industries were set up by opening Crown Land for selection under conditions which inevitably caused destruction of thousands of acres of valuable…