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91-722: The Peak Downs Highway links the towns of Mackay and Clermont in the Australian state of Queensland . It represents the main link between Queensland's Whitsunday Coast and the Central West region of the state. The highway runs for a total length of 266 kilometres (165 mi), before joining the Gregory Highway (Highway A7, formerly Highway 55) south to Clermont , a total of 283 kilometres (176 mi). Major settlements served by this route include Walkerston , Nebo , Moranbah (10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of

182-610: A better life. An American law passed in 1833 abolished the imprisonment of debtors, which made prosecuting runaway servants more difficult, increasing the risk of indenture contract purchases. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution , passed in the wake of the American Civil War , made involuntary indentured servitude illegal in the United States. Through its introduction,

273-407: A cost of $ 18 million, was due to finish in late 2021. A project to construct a bypass of Walkerston, at a cost of $ 186.6 million, was expected to be complete by mid to late 2024. [REDACTED] Australian Roads portal [REDACTED] Media related to Peak Downs Highway at Wikimedia Commons Mackay, Queensland Download coordinates as: Mackay ( / m ə ˈ k aɪ / )

364-546: A large storm surge . The resulting death toll was further increased by an outbreak of bubonic plague . Communication links into Mackay were destroyed. The outside world did not learn of the Mackay cyclone until five days after impact, leading to some speculation the city had been completely destroyed. The disaster remains one of the most destructive cyclones to strike a populated centre in Australia. The foundation stone of

455-569: A major reception centre for indentured Indians from India who came to work on plantations following the abolition of slavery. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948) declares in Article 4 "No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms". More specifically, it is dealt with by article 1(a) of

546-433: A much higher rate than men due to the high population of men already in the colonies. However, women had to prove their status as single and eligible to emigrate, as married women could not leave without their husbands. Many women seeking escape from abusive relationships were willing to take that chance. The Indian Immigration Act of 1883 prevented women from exiting India as widowed or single in order to escape. Arrival in

637-654: A parent's consent. Such differences in social classes would ensure that alliances between the two groups would not lead to revolts towards plantation owners and managers. As well, during periods of mass indentured servitude of Irish peoples in the Caribbean, certain Irish individuals would use enslaved labour to profit financially and climb the ladder of social class. Historians Kristen Block and Jenny Shaw write that: "the Irish - by virtue of their European heritage - gained […] greater social and economic mobility." An example

728-400: A rich history and culture, known for its architecture, food, and as a cultural-melting pot . It has long established cross-cultural communities that have influenced the city; including Yuwi , South Sea Islanders , Italians , Maltese , and more recently Filipinos . Mackay is considered the capital of South Sea Islander culture, being home to the largest population in the nation. The city

819-611: Is a city in the Mackay Region on the eastern or Coral Sea coast of Queensland , Australia. It is located about 970 kilometres (603 mi) north of Brisbane , on the Pioneer River . Mackay is described as being in either Central Queensland or North Queensland , as these regions are not precisely defined. More generally, the area is known as the Mackay– Whitsunday Region. Nicknames of Mackay include

910-469: Is a former indentured servant in Barbados, Cornelius Bryan, would go on to own land and enslaved people himself, demonstrating the tiers between servant and slave classes. The Indian indenture system was a system of indenture by which two million Indians called coolies were transported to various colonies of European powers to provide labour for the (mainly sugar) plantations. It started from

1001-493: Is best seen here as women were still subjected to the control of the plantation owners as well as their newly assigned 'partner'. Indentured servitude of Irish and other European peoples occurred in seventeenth-century Barbados, and was fundamentally different from enslavement: an enslaved African's body was owned, as were the bodies of their children, while the labour of indentured servants was under contractual ownership of another person. Laws and racial hierarchy would allow for

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1092-699: Is called CQ Rescue. Mackay has a dry-winter humid subtropical climate ( Koppen : Cwa), closely bordering a tropical savanna climate ( Koppen : Aw) with hot, very rainy summers and very mild, dry winters. Warm to hot weather predominates throughout the year, with mean maximums averaging from 30.5 °C (86.9 °F) in January to 22.8 °C (73.0 °F) in July, while minimums range from 11.4 °C (52.5 °F) in July to 23.3 °C (73.9 °F) in February. The wet season , lasting from December to March,

1183-678: Is centred on the shores of a billabong that years ago formed part of the Pioneer River further to the north. Heading east past the Mackay Base Hospital and along the Catherine Freeman Walk, the Bluewater Lagoon emerges. Comprising three tiered lagoons, the lagoon is a free family-friendly leisure facility overlooking the Pioneer River in the heart of Mackay's city centre. A waterfall connects

1274-402: Is characterised by hot weather, high humidity and intense rainfall, with occasional monsoonal low pressure systems and tropical cyclones . Meanwhile, the dry season , from June to October, are cooler and less humid. The majority of the 110.0 clear days are recorded during these months; which are sunny and relatively dry. While frost is extremely rare in Mackay; it has been recorded to the west of

1365-540: Is despite being close to notable attractions including Eungella National Park , the Great Barrier Reef , and the Whitsunday Islands . Data published in 2010 indicate about 685,000 domestic and international visitors come to the region annually. Domestic and international visitor night stays have increased to 2.7 million annually, an increase of nearly 1 million since 2000. Mackay

1456-856: Is noted for its seafood , tropical produce , public art and laneways, jazz scene, and festivals including the Mackay Festival of Arts and Jazz in the Park. Major landmarks in Mackay include, Bluewater Quay and river markets , Mackay Harbour , the Leichhardt Tree, the Bluewater Sculpture trail and the Kommo Toera trail through the Mackay Wetlands. The city's hinterland includes, Mount Blackwood , Eungella National Park including Finch Hatton Gorge, along with

1547-477: Is pronounced " / aɪ / " not " / eɪ / ". The area which is now Mackay City was originally inhabited by the local Yuibera people. Yuwibara ( also known as Yuibera, Yuri, Juipera, Yuwiburra) is an Australian Indigenous language spoken on Yuwibara country. It is closely related to the Biri languages/dialects . The Yuwibara language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of

1638-405: Is the single largest coal reserve in Australia, with 34 operational coal mines extracting more than 100 million tonnes annually. While much of this is used in Australia, Japan and China are the largest export recipients. Mackay was known as the "sugar capital" of Australia, producing a sizeable portion of Australia's domestic supplies and exports. However, the industry experienced a decline in

1729-603: Is well situated to become a major service centre for the marine industry, being in immediate proximity to the Whitsundays, and located halfway between Brisbane and Cairns . Currently the Mackay Marina is the largest base in the district for the maintenance, refit and related services for all marine craft, particularly Super Yachts. The Mackay Whitsunday Super Yacht Cluster, a group of regional companies focusing on providing integrated repair, refit and provisioning for

1820-707: The American Colonies between the 1630s and the American Revolution came under indentures . However, while almost half the European immigrants to the Thirteen Colonies were indentured servants, at any one time they were outnumbered by workers who had never been indentured, or whose indenture had expired, and thus free wage labor was the more prevalent for Europeans in the colonies. Indentured people were numerically important mostly in

1911-546: The British Empire , transportation of Indian labour to the island gained pace. By 1838, 25,000 Indian labourers had been transported to Mauritius. After the end of slavery, the West Indian sugar colonies tried the use of emancipated slaves , families from Ireland , Germany and Malta and Portuguese from Madeira . All these efforts failed to satisfy the labour needs of the colonies due to high mortality of

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2002-535: The Coral Sea coast and about both banks of the Pioneer River . The Clarke Range lies to the west of the city. The city is expanding to accommodate for growth with most of the expansion happening in the Beachside, Southern, Central and Pioneer Valley suburbs. Suburbs to the north of the city such as Midge Point are also fast growing with residential estates in demand. There is disagreement about how to describe

2093-575: The Ellice Islands (subsequently known as Tuvalu ). They became collectively known as " Kanakas ". Indentured labour existed in Papua New Guinea . It remains unknown how many Islanders the trade controversially kidnapped. Whether the system legally recruited Islanders, persuaded, deceived, coerced or forced them to leave their homes and travel by ship to Queensland remains difficult to determine. Official documents and accounts from

2184-542: The Mackay Region . Captain James Cook , sailed past the Mackay coast on 1 June 1770 and named several local landmarks, including Cape Palmerston , Slade Point and Cape Hillsborough . It was during this trip that the Endeavour ' s botanist, Sir Joseph Banks , briefly recorded seeing Indigenous Australians . In 1860, John Mackay led an overland expedition to the region to obtain land. Finding most of

2275-533: The Native Police under Robert Arthur Johnstone started patrolling the area in 1867, and encountered several Aboriginal camps on the north side of the Pioneer River, one of which contained more than 200 people. A newspaper report of the time says that Johnstone dealt with these people "in the usual and only effectual mode for restraining their savage propensities." The usual mode of the Native Police

2366-594: The Swan River area of Western Australia existed between 1829 and 1832. During the 1860s planters in Australia , Fiji , New Caledonia , and the Samoa Islands , in need of laborers, encouraged a trade in long-term indentured labor called "blackbirding". At the height of the labor trade, more than one-half the adult male population of several of the islands worked abroad. Over a period of 40 years, from

2457-488: The "indentured" and "slaves" to be treated differently, as well as their identities to be defined differently.   Barbados is an example of a colony in which the separation between enslaved Africans and "servants" was codified into law. Distinct legal "acts" were created in 1661 treating each party as a separate group. The British ruling class anxieties over Irish loyalties would lead to harsh policing of Irish servants' movements, for instance, needing "reason" to leave

2548-534: The 1651 Battle of Worcester . King James II acted similarly after the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685, and the use of such measures continued into the 18th century. Indentured servants could not marry without the permission of their master, were frequently subject to physical punishment, and did not receive legal favor from the courts. Female indentured servants in particular might be raped and/or sexually abused by their masters. If children were produced

2639-579: The 18th and early 19th centuries, children from the UK were often kidnapped and sold into indentured labor in the American and Caribbean colonies (often without any indentures). Indentured servitude was also used by governments in Britain for captured prisoners of war in rebellions and civil wars. Oliver Cromwell sent into indentured service thousands of prisoners captured in the 1648 Battle of Preston and

2730-399: The 2000s. The industry in Mackay has its roots back in the 19th century. Historically, plantations were small and had their own mills to crush the cane during harvest. Over the years as the industry grew and developed, co-operatives were formed to consolidate the harvesting, crushing and distribution of the sugar in selected zones. Throughout the 20th century, the privately owned mills in

2821-486: The Anglican Parish Hall at the intersection of Sydney and Gordon Streets for a civic reception, held in honour of their arrival. On 15 February 2008, almost exactly 50 years from the last major flood, Mackay was devastated by severe flooding caused by over 600 mm of rain in 6 hours with around 2000 homes affected. Mackay was battered by Tropical Cyclone Ului , a category three cyclone which crossed

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2912-520: The Australian economy, or 7.1% of Queensland's gross state product (GSP). This is largely on the back of its export-oriented industries of sugar and mining. Mackay is famous for its history as one of Australia's largest sugarcane farming regions. However, in recent years, the mining industry has become the mainstay of the local economy. Mackay is widely recognised as the gateway to the Bowen Basin coal mining reserves of Central Queensland . It

3003-703: The Bakers Creek area. The Rats of Tobruk Memorial commemorates those who died at and since the Battle of Tobruk . The memorial was dedicated on 4 March 2001. On 18 February 1958, Mackay was hit with massive flooding caused by heavy rainfall upstream with 878 mm of rain falling at Finch Hatton in 24 hours. The flood peaked at 9.14 metres (29.99 ft). The water flowed down the valley and flooded Mackay within hours. Residents were rescued off rooftops by boats and taken to emergency accommodation. The flood broke Australian records. In 1970 Queen Elizabeth II ,

3094-673: The Bluewater trail is to facilitate pedestrian and cyclist-friendly activities that can be enjoyed anytime during the day or night. Now completed the track links several new attractions and tourism infrastructure pieces around the city including the Bluewater Lagoon, the Bluewater Quay and the Mackay Regional Botanic Gardens. It also incorporates the Sandfly Creek walkway through East Mackay, and

3185-903: The British introduced the Indian indenture system, resulting in a permanent Indian South African presence. On 18 January 1826, the Government of the French Indian Ocean island of Réunion laid down terms for the introduction of Indian labourers to the colony. Each man was required to appear before a magistrate and declare that he was going voluntarily. The contract was for five years with pay of ₹8 (12¢ US) per month and rations provided labourers had been transported from Pondicherry and Karaikal . The first attempt at importing Indian labour into Mauritius , in 1829, ended in failure, but by 1834, with abolition of slavery throughout most of

3276-576: The Caribbean (primarily the English-speaking islands of the Caribbean) before 1840. In 1838, with the abolition of slavery at its onset, the British were in the process of transporting a million Indians out of India and into the Caribbean to take the place of the recently freed Africans (freed in 1833) in indentureship. Women, looking for what they believed would be a better life in the colonies, were specifically sought after and recruited at

3367-557: The Catherine Freeman Walk which connects West Mackay to the city under the Ron Camm Bridge. Located in the south of Mackay, the Mackay Regional Botanic Gardens are the start of the Bluewater Trail. The gardens opened and replaced Queen's Park as Mackay's botanic gardens in 2003 containing an array of rare plants native to the Mackay area and Central Queensland. Before 2003, the area was commonly called The Lagoons, and

3458-549: The Duke of Edinburgh , and Princess Anne toured Australia including Queensland. The Queensland tour began on Sunday 12 April when the royal yacht Britannia entered Moreton Bay at Caloundra, sailing into Newstead Wharf. After visiting Brisbane, Longreach and Mount Isa the Royal Family travelled to Mackay. The visit to Mackay in the evening followed a late afternoon flight from Mount Isa on 16 April. The Royal Family were taken to

3549-706: The Mackay War Memorial was laid on the river bank on 18 November 1928 by the mayor George Albert Milton. It was unveiled on 1 May 1929 by the mayor. Due to flooding, the memorial was relocated to Jubilee Park in 1945. Due to the construction of the Civic Centre, it was relocated to another part of the park in March 1973. The largest loss of life in an Australian aircraft accident was a B17 aircraft, with 40 of 41 people on board perishing, on 14 June 1943, after departing from Mackay Aerodrome, and crashing in

3640-519: The Mackay district closed one by one until only three remained – Marian, Racecourse Mill , and Farleigh. Today, Pleystowe is the oldest surviving mill in the district (but closed in 2008). The Marian Sugar Cane Mill is situated in Marian , 25 km west of Mackay. At the Farleigh Mill, there are mill tours accessed via the internet. Racecourse Mill also does tours, and therefore accessible via

3731-483: The Mackay region. It hosts department stores, supermarkets and other speciality outlets. Outside the main centre, a number of bulky-good outlets also operate, along with a six-screen Birch Carroll and Coyle cinema complex. The Bluewater Trail project, managed by the Mackay Regional Council , covers more than 20 kilometres (12 mi) of dedicated pedestrian paths and bikeways. The primary purpose of

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3822-531: The Pioneer Valley on 20 May 1860 describes "a large river about one hundred yards broad, with good provision of water. McCrossan proposed it should be called the Mackay River, and the party agreed to it." He returned in 1862 with a herd of cattle and established the first settlement at Greenmount . By October 1862 a settlement was established on the banks of the "Mackay" river close to the mouth. But

3913-522: The Sugar capital, Alexandra and Macktown. The demonym of Mackay residents is Mackayites. Founded in 1862 the settlement was originally known as Alexandra, in honour of Princess Alexandra of Denmark , and was later renamed Mackay after John Mackay . Sugar became the economic foundation of the city, with plantations using South Sea Islanders that had been blackbirded as indentured labourers or slaves . The trades ending in 1904 roughly coincided with

4004-599: The United States, but economic historians dispute its long-term impact. Sharon Salinger argues that the economic crisis that followed the war made long-term labor contracts unattractive. Her analysis of Philadelphia 's population shows that the percentage of bound citizens fell from 17% to 6.4% throughout the war. William Miller posits a more moderate theory, stating that "the Revolution...wrought disturbances upon white servitude. But these were temporary rather than lasting". David Galenson supports this theory by proposing that

4095-512: The availability or willingness of local tribesmen. Indentured Indians from India were imported, for such projects as the Uganda Railway , as farm labor, and as miners. They and their descendants formed a significant portion of the population and economy of Kenya and Uganda, although not without engendering resentment from others. Idi Amin 's expulsion of the "Asians" from Uganda in 1972 was an expulsion of Indo-Africans. The majority of

4186-464: The by-product molasses annually. The sugar industry in Mackay has faced steep challenges since 2000, since it is largely dependent on high world sugar prices to remain viable. However, efforts are going into diversifying the use of sugar cane for different purposes. Compared to many of its neighbouring cities and regions in Queensland, Mackay's tourism industry is small and still developing. This

4277-459: The capital market". In some cases, the indenture was made with a ship's master, who sold the indenture to an employer in the colonies. Most indentured servants worked as farm laborers or domestic servants, although some were apprenticed to craftsmen. The terms of an indenture were not always enforced by American courts, although runaways were usually sought out and returned to their employer. Between one-half and two-thirds of European immigrants to

4368-407: The city during some winters. April and November are transitional months- moderately rainy and humid. Extreme temperatures in Mackay have ranged from 39.7 °C (103.5 °F) on 26 November 1918 to −0.4 °C (31.3 °F) on 22 July 1951. The highest rainfall recorded in one day was 627.4 mm (24.7 in) on 22 January 1918. As of the 2007–08, Mackay contributed $ 15.4 billion to

4459-431: The coast at nearby Airlie Beach, around 1:30 am on Sunday 21 March 2010. Over 60,000 homes lost power and some phone services also failed during the storm, but no deaths were reported. The Dudley Denny City Library opened in 2016. In 2016 census , the city of Mackay had a population of 78,685. Mackay has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: Mackay is situated on the 21st parallel south adjacent to

4550-428: The colonial government, and inequality between the upper and lower class in colonial society. Indentured servitude was the primary source of labor for early American colonists until the rebellion. Little changed in the immediate aftermath of Bacon's Rebellion; however, the rebellion did cause a general distrust of servant labor and fear of future rebellion. The fear of indentured servitude eventually cemented itself into

4641-468: The colonies brought unexpected conditions of poverty, homelessness, and little to no food as the high numbers of emigrants overwhelmed the small villages and flooded the labor market. Many were forced into signing labor contracts that exposed them to the hard field labor on the plantation. Additionally, on arrival to the plantation, single women were 'assigned' a man as they were not allowed to live alone. The subtle difference between slavery and indenture-ship

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4732-482: The details regarding indentured labor varied across import and export regions and most overseas contracts were made before the voyage with the understanding that prospective migrants were competent enough to make overseas contracts on their own account and that they preferred to have a contract before the voyage. Most labor contracts made were in increments of five years, with the opportunity to extend another five years. Many contracts also provided free passage home after

4823-581: The dictated labor was completed. However, there were generally no policies regulating employers once the labor hours were completed, which led to frequent ill-treatment. In 1643, the European population of Barbados was 37,200 (86% of the population). During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms , at least 10,000 Scottish and Irish prisoners of war were transported as indentured laborers to the colonies. A half million Europeans went as indentured servants to

4914-533: The eighteenth century, it remains true that a certain small part of the European colonial population of America was brought by force, and a much larger portion came in response to deceit and misrepresentation on the part of the spirits [recruiting agents]." One "spirit" named William Thiene was known to have spirited away 840 people from Britain to the colonies in a single year. Historian Lerone Bennett Jr. notes that "Masters given to flogging often did not care whether their victims were black or white." Also, during

5005-515: The end of slavery in 1833 and continued until 1920. This resulted in the development of a large Indian diaspora , which spread from the Indian Ocean (i.e. Réunion and Mauritius ) to Pacific Ocean (i.e. Fiji ), as well as the growth of Indo-Caribbean and Indo-African population. The British wanted local black Africans to work in Natal as workers. But the locals refused, and as a result,

5096-565: The expansive mountain bike trails between Eungella and Finch Hatton . Mackay's coastal highlights include, Cape Hillsborough , the national parks of Round Top and Flat Top islands and the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Great Barrier Reef . The city was named after John Mackay . In 1860, he was the leader of an expedition into the Pioneer Valley . John Mackay's journal as his expedition party entered

5187-471: The group of Islanders, knocking them down with their improvised weapons and riding over them. Officially two Islanders were killed but it was believed a greater number later died of injuries. One white man involved, George Goyner, was found guilty of assault and sentenced to two months in prison. Around thirty Islanders were also imprisoned. In 1918, Mackay was hit by a major tropical cyclone causing severe damage and loss of life with hurricane-force winds and

5278-588: The hearts of Americans, leading towards the reliance on enslaved Africans. This helped to ingrain the idea of racial segregation and unite white Americans under race rather than economic or social class. Doing so prevented the potential for future rebellion and changed the way that agriculture was approached. The American and British governments passed several laws that helped foster the decline of indentures. The UK Parliament's Passenger Vessels Act 1803 regulated travel conditions aboard ships to make transportation more expensive, and to hinder landlords' tenants seeking

5369-602: The highway, but the largest town along the route) and Clermont . The ABC has described the road as "crucial to the national economy" but, reporting 550 crashes in 10 years, said that it had been likened to roads in the Third World. "Someone is killed or seriously injured on the Peak Downs Highway on average about once every two-and-a-half weeks," it said. In December 2019 Mackay's Daily Mercury reported that 49 people had been killed and more than 1000 injured on

5460-548: The highway. The highway is notorious for the extremely dangerous conditions caused by its service as a primary access route for workers, fuel, machinery and other supplies to the coal mines of the Bowen Basin. The narrow two-lane highway is often congested with oversize loads (e.g. mining haul-trucks, dozers and excavators, tyres and buckets) and road trains, which presents a significant hazard and frustration to fatigued long-haul commuters (Drive-in, Drive-out mine workers) on

5551-529: The immediate east of the Forgan Bridge . The street now has various public amenities including access to a new viewing platform, upgraded fishing jetty, stage areas, cafes and space for weekend markets. Being 250 metres (820 ft) long, the quay is built around the historic Leichhardt Tree (which falls under the Nauclea evergreen variety), a common meeting point for new migrants to Mackay who arrived at

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5642-475: The immigration of Mediterranean migrants from Italy and Malta beginning in 1891 to work the sugarcane plantations, and by the 1930s one third of Australia’s Italian migrants lived in North Queensland. The city was nearly destroyed in the 1918 cyclone , and the following reconstruction used primarily Art Deco and Spanish Mission architectural styles for which the city is famous. Mackay has

5733-410: The increasing number of visiting super yachts, was established in 2001 to support and promote the development of this sector. Mackay has three main shopping centres. Caneland Central is the largest of these, with more than 130 speciality stores. Myer is among the new anchor tenants. This expansion was opened on 13 October 2011. Mount Pleasant Shopping Centre is the second major shopping centre in

5824-489: The indenture (loan) was paid off, the worker was free but not always in good health or of sound body. Sometimes they might be given a plot of land or a small sum to buy it, but the land was usually poor. Until the late 18th century, indentured servitude was common in British America . It was often a way for Europeans to migrate to the American colonies: they signed an indenture in return for a costly passage. However,

5915-610: The inland areas already having been selected by other British colonists, Mackay turned toward the coast and entered what he called the May Plains but is now known as the Pioneer Valley . Mackay was the first European to visit the region that is now named after him. He selected three large areas of land which he named Greenmount , Cape Palmerston and Shamrock Vale . In 1862 he returned with James Starr and 1200 head of livestock to establish these cattle stations but soon got into financial difficulty and sold them off. In 1863, Mackay

6006-498: The internet. Mackay Sugar operates three of these remaining mills, including Racecourse, which became site of the region's first sugar refinery (which is owned by CSR Limited ) in the 1990s. Growers in the region have a total cane production area of approximately 86,000 hectares. The growers are capable (in good seasons) of supplying up to 6.5 million tonnes of cane to the factories for processing. On average, Mackay Sugar produces about 850,000 tonnes of raw sugar and 180,000 tonnes of

6097-520: The labour would be extended by two years. Cases of successful prosecution for these crimes were very uncommon, as indentured servants were unlikely to have access to a magistrate, and social pressure to avoid such brutality could vary by geography and cultural norm. The situation was particularly difficult for indentured women, because in both low social class and gender, they were believed to be particularly prone to vice, making legal redress unusual. The American Revolution severely limited immigration to

6188-473: The location of Mackay, with debate ongoing as to whether the city is located in North Queensland or Central Queensland . There is no uniform agreement among either state or federal government agencies on the definition of North Queensland, with government services for Mackay being provided through both Townsville (North Queensland) and Rockhampton (Central Queensland). In its news coverage,

6279-445: The mid-1880s there were over 30 sugar plantations and 26 sugar mills in the Mackay region. Over one third of the 6000 inhabitants were South Sea Islander labourers. On Boxing Day 1883, a race riot occurred between members of these workers and some of the European population at the Mackay racecourse. Hundreds of people on both sides threw bottles at each other until around 50 Anglo-Australian horsemen wielding stirrup irons galloped into

6370-445: The mid-19th century to the early 20th century, labor for the sugar-cane fields of Queensland , Australia included an element of coercive recruitment and indentured servitude of the 62,000 South Sea Islanders . The workers came mainly from Melanesia – mainly from the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu – with a small number from Polynesian and Micronesian areas such as Samoa , the Gilbert Islands (subsequently known as Kiribati ) and

6461-403: The name Alexandra for his sugar cane plantation in 1866. It is also the name of a Mackay suburb of Alexandra today. There has always been much contention over the pronunciation of the name Mackay. Correspondence received by Mackay City Library in 2007, from descendants of John Mackay, confirms that the correct pronunciation is / m ə ˈ k aɪ / , from the Gaelic name MacAoidh , which

6552-602: The national Australian Broadcasting Corporation consistently describes Mackay as being in North Queensland. The ABC's local radio station in Mackay is also called ABC Tropical North . However, Queensland Health designates Mackay as a health district distinct from both Central Queensland and Townsville health districts and the Mackay-based rescue helicopter , part of the Queensland Health Aeromedical Retrieval Service,

6643-599: The new arrivals and their reluctance to continue working at the end of their indenture. On 16 November 1844, the British Indian Government legalised emigration to Jamaica , Trinidad and Demerara ( Guyana ). The first ship, Whitby , sailed from Calcutta for British Guiana on 13 January 1838, and arrived in Berbice on 5 May 1838. Transportation to the Caribbean stopped in 1848 due to problems in

6734-445: The numbers of British indentured servants never recovered, and that Europeans of other nationalities replaced them. Indentured servitude began its decline after Bacon's Rebellion , a servant uprising against the government of Colonial Virginia. This was due to multiple factors, such as the treatment of servants, support of native tribes in the surrounding area, a refusal to expand the amount of land an indentured servant could work by

6825-401: The old Port district along River Street. The Bluewater Trail project has been very successful, gained significant recognition and received several awards: Indentured servitude Historically, in an apprenticeship , an apprentice worked with no pay for a master tradesman to learn a trade . This was often for a fixed length of time, usually seven years or less. Apprenticeship was not

6916-647: The period often conflict with the oral tradition passed down to the descendants of workers. Stories of blatantly violent kidnapping tend to relate to the first 10–15 years of the trade. Australia deported many of these Islanders back to their places of origin in the period 1906–1908 under the provisions of the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 . A significant number of construction projects in British East Africa and South Africa , required vast quantities of labor, exceeding

7007-609: The plantations from which they were employed. Similarly, the laws regarding slavery would prevent enslaved Africans from doing the same. While enslaved Africans - and for a period, free Africans - were not allowed to use the court system in any manner, even to act as a witness, Barbados would allow "white servants" to go to court if they felt that they had received poor treatment. Additionally, children of African descent were offered no supplementary protection, while children of English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh extraction who were sent to Barbados as indentured servants could not work without

7098-483: The population of Mauritius are descendants of Indian indentured labourers brought in between 1834 and 1921. Initially brought to work the sugar estates following the abolition of slavery in the British Empire an estimated half a million indentured laborers were present on the island during this period. Aapravasi Ghat , in the bay at Port Louis and now a UNESCO site, was the first British colony to serve as

7189-399: The region from Virginia north to New Jersey . Other colonies saw far fewer of them. The total number of European immigrants to all 13 colonies before 1775 was about 500,000; of these 55,000 were involuntary prisoners. Of the 450,000 or so European arrivals who came voluntarily, Tomlins estimates that 48% were indentured. About 75% of these were under the age of 25. The age of adulthood for men

7280-521: The risk of death or serious injury to the highway’s users remains. A project to realign and upgrade the road on the Eton Range, at a cost of $ 189.26 million, was completed in October 2020. A project to rehabilitate and widen 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) of highway near Wolfgang Road, at a cost of $ 11.5 million, was completed in March 2022. A project to improve road safety between Eton and Mackay, at

7371-498: The road. The Northern Australia Roads Program announced in 2016 included the following project for the Peak Downs Highway. Completion of a project for pavement widening and strengthening between Clermont and Nebo had in June 2021 been expected in late 2022 at a total cost of $ 35 million. As of March 2023, roadworks of various kinds, some resurfacing, some more in depth, are ongoing in places, while others are relatively untouched, and

7462-486: The same as indentureship, although many apprentices were tricked into falling into debt and thus having to indenture themselves for years more to pay off such sums. Like any loan , an indenture could be sold. Most masters had to depend on middlemen or ships' masters to recruit and transport the workers, so indentureships were commonly sold by such men to planters or others upon the ships' arrival. Like slaves, their prices went up or down, depending on supply and demand. When

7553-541: The sugar industry and resumed in Demerara and Trinidad in 1851 and Jamaica in 1860. This system of labour was coined by contemporaries at the time as a "new system of slavery", a term later used by historian Hugh Tinker in his influential book of the same name. The Indian indenture system was finally banned in 1917. Although the system was officially suspended, those who were serving indentures at that time were required to complete their terms of service, thereby extending

7644-649: The system into the early 1920s. According to The Economist , "When the Indian Legislative Council finally ended indenture...it did so because of pressure from Indian nationalists and declining profitability, rather than from humanitarian concerns." Convicts transported to the Australian colonies before the 1840s often found themselves hired out in a form of indentured labor. Indentured servants also emigrated to New South Wales . The Van Diemen's Land Company used skilled indentured labor for periods of seven years or less. A similar scheme for

7735-500: The system was also used to exploit many of them, as well as Asians (mostly from India and China) who wanted to migrate to the New World. These Asian people were used mainly to construct roads and railway systems. After their indenture expired, the immigrants were free to work for themselves or another employer. At least one economist has suggested that "indentured servitude was an economic arrangement designed to iron out imperfections in

7826-557: The two main lagoon areas, which vary in depth up to 1.8 metres (5 ft 11 in). Similar to the well-known Streets Beach at the South Bank Parklands in Brisbane, the lagoon is a popular summertime attraction for locals and visitors. Further east along the trail is Bluewater Quay. As part of Queensland's 150th anniversary celebrations, $ 12 million has been invested into the transformation of River Street, to

7917-562: The unregistered name of the Mackay River didn't last long. Commodore Burnett of HMS "Pioneer" was surveying the Queensland coastline and as there was already a "Mackay" River in Rockingham Bay, he decided on 27 December 1862 to rename the river "Pioneer". In May 1863 Thomas Henry Fitzgerald completed the first survey of the township and proposed it would be called Alexandra after Princess Alexandra of Denmark , who married Prince Edward (later King Edward VII ). Fitzgerald finally used

8008-716: Was 24 years (not 21); those over 24 generally came on contracts lasting about three years. Regarding the children who came, Gary Nash reports that "many of the servants were nephews, nieces, cousins, and children of friends of emigrating Englishmen, who paid their passage in return for their labor once in America." Several instances of kidnapping for transportation to the Americas are recorded, such as that of Peter Williamson (1730–1799). Historian Richard Hofstadter pointed out that "Although efforts were made to regulate or check their activities, and they diminished in importance in

8099-503: Was connected with sugar plantations in colonial Java , planted the first sugarcane crop in the Mackay region. John Ewen Davidson and T. H. Fitzgerald built the first production sugar mill in 1868. Most of the labour on the sugar plantations was provided by South Sea Islanders . The first 70 of these workers arrived in Mackay on 12 May 1867 aboard the Prima Donna . and were sent to work at Fitzgerald's Alexandra Plantation . By

8190-459: Was declared a port of entry for settlers. Amongst the first boatload of arrivals was hotelier and future mayor Korah Halcomb Wills . Mackay was initially named Alexandra but the government soon changed it to Mackay to honour its founder. The first sale of town allotments was in 1864. During the 1860s, the local Aboriginal population, as Henry Ling Roth puts it, "did what they could to defend their country and their lives." The local detachment of

8281-459: Was terror, violence and massacre. In 1868 a large group of Aboriginal people killed 7 cattle at Greenmount. Johnstone and his troopers were sent out after them but it is unclear if he succeeded in "administering a lesson to the blackskins." Colonist, George Bridgman, provided some sanctuary to the remnants of the tribes and in 1871 an Aboriginal Reserve was gazetted near Rosella . This reserve shut in 1885. In 1865, John Spiller, an Englishman who

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