CSR Refinery, New Farm, Historic sugar refinery site in New Farm, Australia.
The CSR Refinery is a former sugar refinery on a nearly 3-acre site beside the Brisbane River at Lamington Street, New Farm. Its 1892–1893 complex included a refinery building with char house, cistern house, pan house and refined sugar store, plus a raw sugar store, melt house, boiler house, workshop, a two-storey office, laboratory and hessian building, and a wharf.
The Colonial Sugar Refining Company built the refinery in 1892–1893 on nearly 3 acres bought from the subdivided Kingsholme estate beside the Brisbane River. Construction, supervised by John Hall & Sons, was interrupted by the 1893 flood. Manager James Muir, who had designed CSR's other Australian refineries, reputedly modelled it on the Glanville plant in Adelaide. The complex was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
The refinery's name became shorthand for sugar in Australia: CSR, founded in Sydney in 1855, dominated the trade. Its Brisbane plant was the fourth in a chain of capital-city refineries, after Pyrmont (1878), Yarraville and Glanville (1891); Perth followed in 1930. The New Farm site was modelled on the Glanville plant, demolished around 1991.
The site is located at Lamington Street with river access and is now configured as a residential development. Visitors should check ahead about which areas are accessible, as parts may have restricted entry due to the ongoing residential use.
The complex was designed by James Muir, manager of CSR's Pyrmont refinery in Sydney, who had drawn all of the company's Australian refineries and reputedly modelled New Farm on the Glanville plant in Adelaide, demolished around 1991. The original machinery was made in Scotland or brought from the other refineries.
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