page_title: Morayfield Plantation
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Morayfield Plantation / History
caption_attribution_description: English: George Raff
context_page_description: Morayfield Plantation is a heritage-listed ruins of a sugarcane plantation at 34 Nolan Drive, Morayfield, Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built in circa 1860s. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 13 May 2011.
context_section_description: In 1866, the Morayfield Plantation was established on the southern bank of the Caboolture River, approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Brisbane. The plantation was owned by George Raff, a former member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, prominent Brisbane businessman and supporter of the use of indentured South Sea Islander labour in the sugar industry. Cane was grown at Morayfield for the production of sugar, rum and molasses between 1866 and 1889. Raff employed many South Sea Islander labourers in the cane fields during this period. Cane cultivation (and all related production) ceased around 1885-6. Raff died in 1889, with the plantation eventually sold for conversion to dairying in 1901.
  In 1861 the Cabulture Cotton Company was formed by a group of settlers including George Raff, William Hobbs, Shepherd Smith, Robert Douglas and John Bramston. Raff was a prominent business identity in mid to late 19th century Queensland and was very active in public affairs. Born in Morayshire, Scotland in 1815, he emigrated to Australia in 1839 arriving in Sydney aboard the Earl Durham. In the 1840s he worked in the pastoral industry and as a merchant before moving to Brisbane in 1851. In Brisbane he soon established George Raff & Co., a shipping company with wharves on the Brisbane River situated adjacent to Customs House. Raff also founded the Queensland Mercantile and Agency Co., and became a director of the Queensland Steam Navigation Company in 1861. He strongly believed in separation from New South Wales and was one of the 26 members of Sir Robert Herbert's first Queensland Parliament. In 1860 Raff was appointed as a member of the Board of Education. He handed in his resignation as Member of the Legislative Assembly to the speaker of parliament in April 1864. He was re-elected and served again from November 1865, including a period as minister without portfolio in the Herbert and later Macalister ministries until November 1866. He again resigned from parliament in June 1867, only to go on and unsuccessfully contest the seat of Moreton in 1870.
  In June 1861, the founders of the Cabulture Cotton Company sailed in the Breadalbane to explore the shores and rivers of Moreton Bay with the intention of selecting land for the purpose of growing cotton. The land selected became Portions 10 and 26, Parish of Caboolture, County of Stanley. After three unsuccessful seasons growing cotton, the Cabulture Cotton Company put the property up for sale. George Raff purchased Portion 10 in 1866 for £1000. Raff purchased additional land immediately adjacent to Portion 10. Portions 24 and 25 to the east were purchased in April 1867, and Portion 26 to the west in May 1868. Raff named his new property "Morayfields", which was later referred to as Morayfield in the early 1870s. Raff switched primary production to sugar cane, but between 1865 and 1868, the plantation continued producing some cotton. In 1868 it was reported that 5 bales of "New Orleans" variety cotton were shipped from Morayfield Plantation to London.
  By 1867 Raff's sugar cultivating, processing and distilling operations were well established. On 19 October of that year, the Brisbane Courier reported in detail the size and scope of his endeavours. Morayfield Plantation then consisted of 2,500 acres (1,000 ha) of land, the soil being described as "pretty deep" black alluvial, with cultivation on "one great plateau". The whole cultivation of sugar took up an area of 150 acres (61 ha) (60 acres (24 ha) more than on the adjacent Oaklands operation of Claudius Whish), and was chiefly of the "Bourbon" variety of cane. Living quarters were described as:
  ...consisting of a large mansion, manager's house, house for married workmen and their families, laborers' [sic] huts, stockyards, stables, sheds, carpenters' shops, blacksmiths' shop, stores, saw mill, and an innumerable number of other buildings 
  Additional housing for workers was also provided a little distance from the homestead complex.
  A substantial sugar processing works is also described at this time. The works was situated a
caption: George Raff
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