With 10 days until we officially turn 100, we have decided to take a trip down memory lane.
Picture 1 (1922): The first two Australian Cotton gins were built by Australian Cotton Growing Association Ltd. (now known as Queensland Cotton) in 1922 at Rockhampton and Whinstanes, Brisbane. Pictured here is the Rockhampton Cotton Gin.
Picture 2 (1928): Some of the first commercial production of cotton started in the Dawson Valley region and was rainfed only.
Picture 3 (1922): Cotton acreage map for Queensland. A total of 7652 bales were grown for the 1922-1923 season. Average yields were as high as 2 bales/acre, with gross margins reaching $1908 per acre. In today’s values, this is translated to $4,713 per ha. No wonder, growers pursued with cotton production!
Picture 4 (1925): Birds eye view of Brisbane’s Eagle Farm cotton gin. At the time the Rockhampton gin was described as the most advanced Lummus automatic system and ginned around 3 to 4 bales per hour and they ginned around 4,600 bales in the first season. Compare this to now, where Queensland Cotton gins have the capacity to gin 200 bales an hour!
Photo credit: QLD State Library.
