Entertainment
27 June, 2024
Tale of Queensland’s sugar king at base of Bartle Frere
AN exploration of the legacy of the migrant Zammit Maltese family in the Far North – ‘Queensland’s Sugar King: The Zammit Legacy’ – will introduce Cairns’ readers into the world of the pioneers of sugar in Bartle Frere.
‘Queensland’s Sugar King: The Zammit Legacy’ is the debut historical biography by Queensland author Catherine Smith (right) in which, through exploring her family history, she discovered the story of the Zammits, a couple of Maltese migrants who pioneered the sugar industry in the Far North while also confronting the challenges of discrimination and family tragedies.
Ms Smith will be visiting the Cairns City Library on August 30 to discuss the book and the Zammits’ legacy in Cairns.
“I decided to write this book because I met strangers who had met my grandfather, and he died before I was born, so I never met him,” she said.
“In my 20s people would ask me if I was Italian or Greek, and I would tell them that my mother had Maltese heritage and they would say – “I once met this wonderful Maltese man”, and as it transpired, they were referring to my grandfather.
“From then I spent a lot of time researching. It was a 20-year journey, I spent years just finding the right info.”
‘Queensland’s Sugar King’ tells the story of Ms Smith’s grandfather Paul Zammit and his wife Pauline as they revolutionise the sugar industry in the Far North and faced the challenges of their personal lives.
“This is a non-fiction historical book, and it chronicles the lives of Paul and Pauline Zammit who arrived in Australia in the early 1910s,” Ms Smith said.
“Unlike most Maltese migrants they didn’t settle in Sydney or Melbourne and decided to come north. The special aspect of this story is that they were pioneers of the sugar industry at Bartle Frere.
“The Zammits lived on 301 acres of farmland at the base of Mount Bartle Frere, and they grew a family of 10 children, and they were all musical, so the name Zammit was known for quality musical performances and concerts.
“Through this book I would like people to realise that the contributions that one Maltese migrant family made to the heritage of North Queensland was quite remarkable and added to the cultural weave of the region and it’s a story that’s rich and multidimensional but to date their contribution has been unquantified.”
For more information and to purchase the book, visit https://www.qldsugarking.com/
