ingham

Between 1842 and 1904, more than 55,000 people from more than 80 South Pacific islands were brought to Australia to work as slaves on sugar and cotton plantations in Queensland and northern NSW. Many had been coerced into fixed-term contracts or even kidnapped; a process known as 'blackbirding'. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people weren't immune either. From the 1860s to the 1970s, men and boys were taken from their homes and forced to work at cattle and sheep stations across Australia. And from the early 1900s, women and girls were forcibly removed from their families, placed in domestic training facilities and then, once they turned 15, dispatched to homes as domestic 'help'. According to NITV, their weekly income "had an approximate buying power at the time of [one] ice-cream cone or two apples." Between 1897 and 1972, Queensland law, for example, saw the wages of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers held in government trust. It's estimated that $500 million has never been repaid. Particularly in the pastoral industry, where some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander laborers were bought and sold along with the land they'd been dispatched to work on. The pearling industry also has a dark past in this regard. Source: www.mamamia.com.au/australia-slavery/

Ingham’s Hospitals In early 1884 plans were underway to build a public hospital in Ingham, in a plain style “surrounded by extensive verandas” reminiscent of “East Indian bungalows” to cope with the climate. While some sources report that the first hospital building was constructed in 1883, the Ingham Hospital wasn’t formally established until August 7, 1885. By late 1885 tenders were invited for additions to this hospital, and in early 1886 a request for Government funding assistance to add an additional ward was met with resistance. In early 1889 Ingham Hospital confirmed it had built the ward out of its own funds, for the “use of Asiatics and other aliens that are employed on the plantations”. In 1929 the private Italian Hospital (known as the Ospedale Cardarelli) was built, to improve healthcare for non-English speaking Italian migrants and ostensibly to promote better relations between Italian and British subjects. Racial tensions were running high at this time, and when Italy joined the war in 1940 many Italians were sent to internment camps, including the Cardarelli Hospital’s Dr Francesco Piscitelli. There were calls for their release in 1942 because of labour shortages on the sugar cane plantations in north Queensland. The hospital continued to operate until 1946 and the building remains to this day. It was widely agreed that Ingham’s public hospital was in dire need of an upgrade as early as 1935, yet funding was a contentious issue. The new building was officially opened on September 3, 1938. In 2009 a new Ingham Hospital was opened and remains on the same block of land that housed the original buildings. Stacey Larner - Librarian, State Library of Queensland www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/queensland-hospitals-pandemic-fro...

Ingham is the town center of the Hinchinbrook Region and a major hub for Australia’s sugar industry. Nestled amongst rugged mountain peaks, giant waterfalls, sugarcane-filled floodplains, wild islands, tropical reefs, and a beckoning coastline; what is there to do in Ingham? The choices are endless! Ingham is known as the “Little Italy” of Tropical North Queensland and is known for the exceptional richness and quality of its Italian culture, which may be enjoyed at any of the local Italian delicatessens. Source: www.hinchinbrookway.com.au/destinations/ingham/

Hotel Central and adjoining buildings flooded in 1946. . Lower parts of the Main street beyond the Hotel Central were significantly affected by the floodwaters. Source: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StateLibQld_1_88500_Hotel...

It could be that this data is related to the Carrs family The Carr Family of Halifax, Queensland Posted by KeithMcPhee, Thursday, 13 July 2017 Four brothers, sons of William Arthur and Sussanah Carr of Halifax via Innisfail, Queensland, all enlisted in the Great War: Source: discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/person/113161