tobacco

Jonathan Raymond Wright and Elizabeth Jane Daley are my great grandparents.

Brief history Tobacco growing commenced during Australia's early years of settlement. Governor Macquarie experimented with plantings at Emu Plains in New South Wales in 1818, and by the 1820s tobacco was cultivated by farmers in the Hunter Valley. During the 1850s growing extended to Victoria and Queensland. It is likely that some proportion of the early crop was intended to supply the colony with the makings of pesticide for use in ridding sheep of parasites.9 Growing reached its peak in the early 1970s, when nearly 16 000 tonnes of leaf were sold annually,10 but by 2006 the crop yielded under 4000 tonnes.11 Prior to deregulation of the market, most Australian leaf was purchased by local manufacturers.12 Major influences contributing to the downturn in local tobacco growing included declining tobacco consumption in the Australian population, and successive reductions in the protective tariff on Australian leaf during the 1990s, which permitted manufacturers to purchase leaf more cheaply on the international market (see below).12 This led to an increase in diversion of Australian leaf into the illegal tobacco trade12 (see also Chapter 13, Section 13.7). Commercial tobacco farming no longer occurs in Australia. The industry began to wind down during the mid-1990s, with successive announcements at state and federal level for government-financed restructuring grants (exit grants) to tobacco farmers to assist them in leaving the industry. Source: www.tobaccoinaustralia.org.au/chapter-10-tobacco-industry...

SEPTEMBER 16 2017 When the region was rich, from an influx of migrant families by Ian Jones “Old tobacco barns, in various stages of decay, are still able to be seen from the highway and from local roads throughout the Inglewood, Yelarbon and Texas areas. “They are a reminder of what was once a thriving industry in this region.” “The tobacco industry played a fundamental part in the growth and prosperity of Inglewood, Yelarbon and Texas,” “During the peak period approximately 900 growers, mostly share farmers, grew tobacco in the area. Local businesses thrived and there was little or no unemployment. In the late 1950s and early 1960s the town of Inglewood boasted its first electrical retail shop, six local motor vehicle dealers, several machinery franchises and numerous fuel suppliers. “Several factors contributed to the tobacco industry’s initial demise in the area. These included the huge 1956 flood, the increasing demand for a lower nicotine content leaf, shortage of water due to the large area of irrigated tobacco being grown and problems with the salt content in the water. “Growers struggled to produce the quality of leaf demanded by the manufacturers. By the mid-sixties nearly all the share farmers had left the area.” “Tobacco growing was a very tough industry. It involved back breaking physical labour and almost daily use of chemicals most of which are now banned. Source: www.goondiwindiargus.com.au/story/4928410/when-inglewood-...

A swagman (also called a swaggie, sundowner or tussocker) was a transient labourer who travelled by foot from farm to farm carrying his belongings in a swag (bedroll). The term originated in Australia in the 19th century and was later used in New Zealand. Swagmen were particularly common in Australia during times of economic uncertainty, such as the 1890s and the Great Depression of the 1930s. Many unemployed men travelled the rural areas of Australia on foot, their few meagre possessions rolled up and carried in their swag. Their swag was frequently referred to as "Matilda", hence Waltzing Matilda refers to walking with their swag. Typically, they would seek work in farms and towns they travelled through, and in many cases the farmers, if no permanent work was available, would provide food and shelter in return for some menial task. The figure of the "jolly swagman", represented most famously in Banjo Paterson's bush poem "Waltzing Matilda", became a folk hero in 19th-century Australia, and is still seen today as a symbol of anti-authoritarian values that Australians considered to be part of the national character. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swagman