Morayfield Plantation | 700014

The site of the Morayfield plantation is now a private estate on the Caboolture riverbank. From 1861, the Cabulture Cotton Company grew cotton here. From 1866 George Raff grew sugar here. Raff, a successful businessman and Member of Parliament, named his property Morayfields, honouring his Scottish homeland Morayshire. Raff, along with Claudius Whish on nearby Oaklands Plantation and Louis Hope at Ormiston near Cleveland, were pioneers of the Queensland sugar industry. All were advised by John Buhot who propagated sugar in the Botanic Gardens in 1862. By 1867 the plantation included a large mansion, manager’s house, labourer’s huts, stockyards, stables, sheds, carpenter’s shop, blacksmith shop and sawmill. Raff’s sugar factory was situated close to the river. A tramway was built from within the 65ha plantation to take cut cane to the mill and then to a riverside wharf after processing. Raff is thought to be the first to use a locomotive-driven tramway on a Queensland sugar plantation. He also operated a rum distillery. Raff, along with Whish and Hope, were amongst the first to use South Sea Islander labour on their plantations. The distillery closed after Raff’s death in 1889. The property later became a dairy farm.