The impacts of coral mining - The Great Barrier Reef: An Environmental History - page 171

'They bought lime from other sources after the bloke on Snapper Island. They
started using lime from Chillagoe, which is [inland]' . 15 The evidence presented
above suggests that, by that time, a considerable amount of coral had been
removed from Snapper Island reef.
In contrast to the scarcity of documentary evidence for the earlier period,
more extensive evidence of coral mining exists for the 1920s, by which time soil
analysis had revealed the need for agricultural lime in sugar cane farming. In
addition, coral mining operations had become more organised, being based on
a system of coral licences. Several individuals were granted licences to remove
coral for the production of agricultural lime; the survival of some of those licences
makes a more substantial reconstruction of the coral mining industry possible.
The existence of the licences also indicates that, by the 1920s, coral mining was
taking place with the support of the Queensland Government. In 1922, Mineral
Leases were issued for the removal of coral and coral sand from Green Island
and from Oyster and Upolu Cays. The operations were reported to have been
significant: one account claims that thousands of tons of material were removed
from Upolu Cay. The licence for coral mining at Upolu Cay was re-issued in
1926, and the removal of material from those locations appears to have continued
throughout the 1920s until the mid-1930s (Loch, 1991, p5; Bowen and Bowen,
2002, p291) . 16 One oral history informant suggested that Upolu Cay had been
mined for coral sand by the company Koppins, although the quantity of coral
sand taken was unknown . 17
Another of the pioneers of coral mining in the Great Barrier Reef was
Albert Diehm of Innisfail. In 1927, Diehm was granted a Quarry Licence by the
Atherton office of the Queensland Sub-Department of Forestry to remove coral
from Hutchinson and Jessie Islands in the Barnard Group. During the following
year, he produced lime at Maria Creek, near Innisfail, using coral from those
islands. A QDHM memorandum about Diehm's operation stated that:
The crushing works operated by [Albert] Diehm are situated on the Northern
end of Hutchinson Island, North Barnard Group, above high-water mark.
The plant consists of a Fordson tractor and a disintegrator. The estimated
capacity is sixteen tons per day but the estimated daily output is six tons per
da y. 18
At the end of 1928, Diehm applied for a Mineral Lease over half an acre of coral
on the western side of Hutchinson Island and one-fifth of an acre of coral on the
western side of Jessie Island in order to continue his operation . 19
The initial success of coral mining in northern Queensland attracted the
interest of capital investors in southern Australia. In 1928, an article in the
Melbourne Herald described the industry in the following terms:
There are splendid prospects of a profitable industry in crushing the coral
of the Great Barrier Reef for fertiliser. The pioneer of the industry is Mr