Northeast Business Park welcomes Vanuatu visitors

3 March 2011

Three visitors with strong historic ties to Northeast Business Park travelled from Vanuatu to Caboolture in December for a special visit to the site.

Member of Vanuatu Parliament Abel David and Chief Richard David, a representative of Vanuatu Chiefs, along with local Caboolture resident Chief Daniel Awiyawi inspected the former sugar plantation where their ancestors worked during the mid 1800s.

Northeast Business Park’s Joy Leishman accompanied the tour and said the plantation’s owner, George Raff, pioneered the recruitment of overseas workers and supported them through onsite housing.

“The contribution of Vanuatu and South Sea Islander workers is an integral part of the site’s history and George Raff was a prominent supporter and advocate of Islander jobs,” Ms Leishman said.

Hundreds of people were employed and lived at the Raff Sugar Plantation during the 1800s.

Ms Leishman said the visitors were excited that recent heritage studies identified the remains of the early sugar plantation.

“The remains of the sugar plantation are additionally significant because it took the form of both a settlement and a place of work.”