Industrial Ruins, south end of Macleay Island

On the southern end of High Central Road on Macleay Island are the remnants of industrial activities, thought to include sugar milling and a salt works dating to the late 1860s. Macleay, known as Tim Shea’s island in the 1860s was cleared of commercial timber before being planted with cotton and sugar. The first leaseholders were the Campbell family of Redbank. John ‘Tinker’ Campbell and his children had numerous interests including a boiling down works at Kangaroo Point and a plantation at Redland Bay. In 1865 son Robert took up the southern part of Macleay Island and his sister Rebecca, the central part. There was a duty on salt at this time, and as the owner of meatworks, salt was important for curing meat. Campbell initiated saltworks on the southern end of Macleay in the late 1860s, but it was not successful. Sugar production then became the main industry. The stone wall is the remnant of a shed, which was originally beside a number of square ship tanks used in salt production. The Cornish boiler and its stone firebox are remnants of late 1860s - 1870s sugar production. There is also evidence of an early road, foreshore slipway and winching channel.