Epilogue
By 1892 sugar plantings in the lower Burnett had extended well beyond the pioneering area of the Woongarra Scrub and the planting of maize was largely abandoned as the farmers considered that they were much better off growing sugarcane crops. The 1891 season had been an unfavourable one for the sugarcane harvest, owing to a rainfall deficiency, and the 1892 season was also to experience a further deficiency, though of a lesser extent. Despite this, the farmers in the Gooburrum, Fairymead and Bingera districts were convinced that there was a substantial financial advantage to be acquired by cultivating sugarcane, rather than maize, notwithstanding the fluctuations in Government policy.
Contemporary reports of 1892 indicate that, though the cane producing areas of Fairymead and Bingera were well established, the Gooburrum district, even though it had been settled for many years, was only then experiencing the conversion into a sugarcane growing area. The prime agricultural lands under cultivation in Gooburrum had originally been covered with scrub and this had created a fertile topsoil. All cane grown in the district during the then current year’s season had been purchased by the Fairymead Mill which had provided the growers with an advance of one shilling per ton for the season’s crop. As it had been estimated that there were then 1,500 acres under cane in the Gooburrum, this advance would have provided a very significant boost to that district’s economy. From the Fairymead Mill the cane’s tramlines through the Gooburrum district extended for about five miles. The tram track was of a two-foot (600 mm.) gauge, and the trucks were drawn by a small but powerful steam locomotive fabricated by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, U. S. A. in 1889. The issue of the Chief Secretary’s (i.e. Premier’s) manifesto had encouraged the Fairymead management to request of the Kolan farmers that they cultivate a seasonal supply of 20,000 tons of sugarcane for delivery to their mill. To access this additional supply a branch line had been constructed from the mill’s terminus to connect with the Bundaberg to Gladstone Railway Line.
At Avondale, following the proposed extension of the Pacific Island labour force’s engagement, Messrs. Johnston and Brown’s firm had completed the planting of 200 acres of sugarcane on their leased block. Mr. Johnston had recently sold three newly developed farms, and it was intended to put a large portion of their estate under sugarcane during the following twelve months. The 20,000 tons of cane stalks per annum harvested in this district were transported over ten miles of Government railway with this transportation providing a considerable revenue boost to the Queensland Railway Department. From the railway wagons the sugarcane was lifted, in large bundles, onto the Fairymead flattops for direct transportation to the mill. Excluding the transportation provided by the Government railway department, the entire cane delivery infrastructure described above had been both funded and constructed by private enterprise.
In 1892 Fairymead was regarded as being one of the finest agricultural estates in the country with the design of its integrated sugar production system, from the fields to the wharf, being one of considerable sophistication. Being close to midway between North Bundaberg and the Burnett River’s mouth its location gave the Fairymead mill ready access to river transport. Aside from the mill itself, the Fairymead complex was as large as many rural villages when the cottages of the overseers and artisans together with the stores, offices and the huts of the Pacific Islanders were included in the comparison. The homestead, together with its private grounds, was excellently designed and the layout of the cane fields exhibited the considerable amount of care that had been taken both in their design and management.
Even in the off season there were between fifty and sixty white men employed on the estate as well as a small army of Pacific Islanders, the Messrs. Young having provided, as far as possible, against the termination of Melanesian labour. The wages of the white workers ranged from £1 per week upwards. A contemporary analysis of the financial returns undertaken by the Fairymead management, had shown that, of the wages paid by the estate to whites and Islanders over the previous ten years, the whites had received 70% and the Islanders 30% of total wages when general expenditure was excluded. The general expenditure covered the Melanesian farm workers’ passage costs and their upkeep inclusive of rations, accommodation and clothing allowance over the full year including the ‘off season’ period when there was little work for the farm’s labour-force.
On the 4th of May 1892 Walter Adams, accompanied by his wife Mary, travelled to Sydney to obtain expert medical advice on the treatment of Walter’s serious condition and it was here that he was to die eleven days later, on the 15th of May. Walter’s remains were returned to Bundaberg by rail transport for burial, his funeral being held on the 21st of May 1892.
The funeral took place on a day of very heavy rainfall. The long list of personal friends consisted of representatives from every rank, profession, trade and calling from in and around Bundaberg, including those of humble backgrounds, with many others coming from regional districts far upland and even from as far away as Brisbane. Clergymen of all denominations were present. The district’s professions and businesses all had representatives in attendance, some in buggies of which there were at least 132, whilst others in the cortege were in hansom cabs, on horseback, or on foot. Hundreds had lined the streets through which the procession, which had a length of four town blocks, was to pass and as it proceeded along Bourbon Street from the Club Hotel those under the main street’s verandas uncovered their heads as the hearse passed. Business in the streets through which the cortege passed were entirely suspended and Bourbon Street presented an array of shuttered windows and closed doors. Following the burial at the Catholic Cemetery the large assemblage, by far the largest and most representative ever brought together in Bundaberg, dispersed.
In recognition of Walter’s passing the following tribute was proposed and passed at a meeting of the Bundaberg Chamber of Commerce for presentation to the newly widowed Mary Adams, the president having moved a vote of condolence which was seconded by Mr. M. Duffy and carried unanimously by the chamber:
“Ever an active man in the interests of the town, Mr. Adams was at the inception of the chamber in 1882 and was its first president. All present must feel deeply that the chamber had sustained a great loss. Of the value put on Mr. Adams’s services no better proof could have been given by his townsmen than by his election to Parliament and, when in Parliament, he kept up a close and unfailing communication with the Chamber in all matters that might in the slightest degree affect the general interests of the town or district. He was a marked friend of the poor of Bundaberg, and of him it might truthfully be said he was one of Nature’s gentlemen who knew how to do a good act without proclaiming it abroad. Many a £5 had he quietly given away, and his kindly assistance would be sadly missed by many.”
The account of Walter’s career, published in the Bundaberg and Mount Perry Mail of the 16th of May 1892 following the news of his death, and reproduced in The Brisbane Courier of the following day, gave a summary of Walter’s career as obtained from the former paper’s copy of The History of Queensland. A reproduction of this summary follows:
“Walter Adams, J.P., M.L.A., Sommerville House, George-street, is the proprietor of the Summerville plantation. He is a thoroughly representative man, both on account of his long residence in the district and his prominence as a public man. Born in Yeovil, Somersetshire in 1830 he received his education at Somerton and accepted a position in an extensive machinery factory owned by his cousin. In 1849 he arrived in Australia and made his first essay in colonial business life with no success. He was compelled to enter the employ of a blacksmith eighteen months later and, on settling in Maryborough in Queensland, accepted a like position- Soon after this he established a business which he conducted for seven years, at the end of which time he purchased land and became a farmer. Nine years later he commenced business as a contractor, and for two years carried on business in this line. In 1871 he settled on the Burnett and selected land, continuing his occupation of a contractor, combined with hotel keeping, and constructed the first Government bridge in this district, also the first piece of road work. He laid the first telegraph line from the township to Burnett Heads, and in many ways made himself the pioneer in the foundation of a thriving settlement.
Realizing how important Bundaberg would become, he sold the whole of his Maryborough property, and invested the proceeds in local lands, which have returned him the profit due to his foresight. Mr. Adams was one of the first members of the Progress Committee and held his seat for many years. He was elected an alderman at the municipal election in June 1881 and filled two consecutive terms as mayor. He was re-elected on every subsequent occasion to the council but was finally compelled to resign owing to his election as member for the district. He was at one time an alderman of Maryborough and Chairman of Works, resigning this position only on leaving the district. He was gazetted a J.P. in 1886 and on contesting the electorate of Mulgrave on the retirement of Sir Thomas McIlwraith in the same year was returned as a Conservative member by defeating the Liberal candidate, Mr. J. C. Walker. He was re-elected in 1888 without opposition, since which time he has filled his seat in the Legislature. He has filled the position of president of the School of Arts Committee and was for many years a member of the Hospital Committee and vice-president of that institution. He it was who was instrumental in founding this and many other public affairs.”
In his last will Walter Adams bequeathed to his wife Mary his complete estate apart from moneys secured upon real estate mortgages. Freehold properties that were held by Walter at his death, including the Metropolitan Hotel and his private residence Sommerville House at 118 George Street, were to be administered on trust for Mary to receive rents, profits and residence during her lifetime. On Mary’s death they were to fall into, and form part of, the Adams’s residuary estate.
Mary Adams was to survive her husband by almost twelve years and died on the 26th of February 1904. She was buried next to Walter in the family’s plot in the Bundaberg Catholic Cemetery.
It seems appropriate to conclude with opinions of Walter Adams as expressed by peers and contemporaries.
The Bundaberg and Mount Perry Mail of Monday, the 16th of May 1892 stated: “We but re-echo the general sentiment of both town and district that only with difficulty will the community be able to find another man of equal qualities and attractiveness of character to replace him who has fallen in his 62nd year. Ever zealous for the welfare of the town and people he represented, the many institutions that now embellish our social life in Bundaberg, and in the establishment and development of which he was the foremost worker, are lasting reminders to us of him who is no more. Respected by those of equal status in life, he was no less revered by many of humbler ranks - and among these are many who in silence received from his kindly hand and will sadly miss his unremitting ministrations.”
The following is a description of Walter, as included in the Almanac of Mr. Theopilus Parsons Pugh, a man of Walter’s time, the fourth Police Magistrate to be appointed to Bundaberg, and who was described by Mr. J, Y. Walker in his HISTORY OF BUNDABERG, published in 1890, as “---------- one of the oldest pioneers of Queensland, a gentleman of light and learning and the original author and compiler of Pugh’s Almanac.” Included in the entry on Men of the Time from PUGH’S ALMANAC of 1892 - was the following:
“ADAMS Walter, M.L.A., was born at Yeovil, Somersetshire, England, in 1830. He was educated at a private school at Somerton, near the place of his birth. He arrived in Sydney in September 1849, and in 1853 left for Wide Bay, and remained in Maryborough until 1872, for some years holding an aldermanic seat in the Council for that town, being also chairman of the Works Committee. Mr. Adams, in 1872, left Maryborough for Bundaberg, where he took a lively interest in all the affairs of the district. President of the School of Arts for five years, also of the Hospital, and took energetic steps for the establishment of the first Primary school. At the first Municipal election he was elected alderman and has since been twice mayor of that town. In July 1886, on the retirement of Sir Thomas McIlwraith, Mr. Adams contested the seat for Mulgrave, the electoral district in which Bundaberg is situated, and was returned by a considerable majority.”
And, in a tribute to both Walter and to Bundaberg itself, the Almanac was to declare that Walter had “made himself the pioneer in the foundation of a thriving settlement.”