3CHAPTERThe History of Cotton

WORLD COTTON HISTORYA BRIEF SUMMARY

Arkwork’sSpinningFrame,invented inabout 1767enabling cheapproduction ofcotton cloth

And the modern day version –Australian Cotton being spunin Dongying HongyuanTextile mill (China)photo by John Hamparsum

A contrast in spinningtechnology

Fact Sheet: World Cotton History

Over the next 2,000 years, cotton, wool and silkbecame the preferred fibres for fine fabrics acrossthe developed world. In less developed and warmercountries where cotton farming, home spinning andvillage industry were interlocked – cotton wasdominant, and still is, 2,000 years later.

In more developed countries the surge in cottonconsumption was triggered by the IndustrialRevolution of the late 18th Century. Spinning millssprang up in places like Manchester which led toports like Liverpool becoming major cotton shippingcentres. With access to slave labour and new Uplandtypes of cotton, the American colonies, soon to

become the USA, provided much of the raw cotton.

With lower production costs, cotton became moreaffordable and its popularity soared. During thisperiod, specialty cotton including Egyptian, SeaIsland (Caribbean and South East USA) and Tanguis(Peru) became highly prized for use in very soft andfine fabrics.

However, the American Civil War changed things;European nations were forced to look for othersources of supply and the British looked to theirthen colonies, including Australia.

Archaeologists found cotton fabric 5,000 years oldat Mohenjo Daro, an ancient town in the Indus RiverValley of West Pakistan, and similarly agedexamples have been found in Egypt and Mexico.

Although the cotton plant is thought to have initiallygrown wild in East Africa, it was first cultivated in thecountry now known as Pakistan where its early useswere as a textile for clothing, bindings for sandalsand harnesses for elephants. The Greek historian,Herodotus (484 – 425 BC) wrote about a tree in Asiathat bore cotton ‘exceeding in goodness and beautythe wool of any sheep.’ Cotton was widely used inthe ancient civilisations of Mesopotamia, Egypt andthe Indian sub continent. Early Mediterraneantraders, the Ionians and Phoenicians introducedcotton materials to Europe.

COTTON HAS A VERY LONG ANDINTERESTING HISTORY IN THEWORLD AND IS ONE OF THEOLDEST KNOWN FIBRES. THE WORD COTTON COMESFROM AN ARABIC WORD ‘QUTUN’ OR ‘KUTUN’ USED TODESCRIBE ANY FINE TEXTILEAND SOME OF THE EARLIESTFABRIC RELICS FOUND INEXCAVATIONS OF ANCIENTCIVILISATIONS WERE COTTON.

Cotton has a relatively longhistory in Australia – nativevarieties have grown here formany thousands of years.However, although cotton wasintroduced to Australia with theFirst Fleet, it did not establishitself even as a minorcommercial crop until the1850’s. Then the American CivilWar started.

Gins were built, and relativelylarge areas of cotton weregrown around centres such as Beaudesert, Caboolture,Ipswich and CentralQueensland.

But when international tradereturned to normal, Australiancotton production declined,falling to a total of 15 acres in1886. In the early 1900’s itreappeared and productiongradually rose to 50,000 acres in1924, and after a temporarydecline, to 60,000 acres in 1936.In this pre-war period there werecotton gins at Rockhampton,Wowan, Gladstone, Gayndah,Dalby and Brisbane.

Following World War IIproduction again fell to around2,500 acres. But with theavailability of better mechanicalcotton pickers, and anincreased Commonwealthbounty, production again rose

to reach 20,000 acres in 1960. Up until this period, cotton wasregarded as a low input drylandcrop or as a pioneering crop forrecently cleared land. Irrigationwas rare, yields marginal, andfibre quality poor and variable –then things changed!

The modern era of Australiancotton began.

Despite some opinion to thecontrary, the modern era did nothave a singular origin. Cottonfarmers in various areas ofSouthern and CentralQueensland concurrently beganaddressing cotton as a higherinput, better managed, irrigatedcrop. At the same time what isnow the Australian CottonResearch Institute wasestablished near Narrabrifollowing the completion ofKeepit Dam.

Research quickly focused oncotton as an exciting possibility.In these critical first three years,and before his transfer to wheatresearch, a Hungarian plantbreeder, Nick Derera, providedthe foresight to develop thosepossibilities. In this pioneeringeffort he was assisted by thefarm manager Tom Lawler, anda young agronomist, RalphSchulzé. News of thesepromising early results was

picked up by the media as faraway as California. Two cottonfarmers from near Merced,California, Paul Kahl and FrankHadley, were so impressed thatin early 1961 they came toAustralia to see for themselves!

They were soon to be followedby others and as a result acohort of American cottonfamilies emigrated to the WeeWaa district and other areas. Itwas the unique blend ofAmerican “know how” andpractical Australian innovationthat made these early efforts so successful.

Meanwhile, in Queensland,progressive farmers in theLockyer, Callide-Dawson andCondamine valleys weresuccessfully developingirrigation and sound cropmanagement. New irrigation areas at St. George andEmerald were also providingopportunities for successfulcotton trials and expansion.

AUSTRALIAN COTTON HISTORYA BRIEF SUMMARYBy Cotton Industry Legend, Ralph Schulzé

Fact Sheet: Australian Cotton History

THE EARLY YEARS OFCOTTON PRODUCTION

IN AUSTRALIA

An interactive timeline chronicling the history of Australia’s cotton industry and some of its leading organisations including Cotton Australia

TIMELINEHISTORY OF COTTON GROWING IN AUSTRALIA

FIRST SHIPMENT OF COTTON EXPORTEDTO ENGLAND, WAS IN1830, CONSISTING OF THREE BAGS

1788The FirstFleet bringscottonseedto Australia

1863-1904An estimated62,500 southsea Islanderswere brought toAustralia todevelop thecotton andsugar industries

1857Smallquantities ofdryland cottongrown inQueensland

1861-65American CivilWar causesAmerican cottonproduction tofall. Australiaattempts tofill the gap

1870sAustraliancottonproductionpeaks thenfalls asworld pricesdecline

1926The Queensland Cotton MarketingBoard is established.Government subsidyintroduced to promoteproduction in centralQueensland

1934Cottonproductionreaches17,000 bales

1954Cottonindustryalmost non-existent

1958Keepit Dam iscompleted onthe NamoiRiver in NSW,providingirrigation waterto the NamoiValley

1960Limitedirrigatedcottonproductioncommencesin south-westQueensland

1961Commercialcrop plantedat Wee Waa,using waterfrom KeepitDam

1966Cottonestablished inthe MacquarieValleyfollowingcompletion of theBurrendongDam. Cottonproductionalso begins at Bourke

1968EmeraldIrrigation Areaproduces firstexportablesurplus

1971Raw CottonBountyremoved atthe requestof the cottonindustry.Cottonproductionreaches87,000 bales

1972Australian CottonFoundation (nowCotton Australia)and the AustralianCotton GrowersResearchAssociationestablished

1973Cottonproduction onthe Ord RiverSchemeceases,mainly due to insectresistance topesticides

>1788

186367 SouthPacific Islanderlabourersbrought to QLD to staffthe fledgingcotton industryin Townsvale

1906‘Coloured’labourprohibted

1830First shipmentof cottonexported toEngland,consisting ofthree bags

1908Almost90% ofsouth seaIslandersdeported

2012 Cotton Awards – 40 Years of Cotton Australia Australian Cotton History

A RECORD CROP IN 2011/12 OF 5.3 MILLION BALES,ESTABLISHES INDUSTRY RECOVERY AFTER ALMOST A DECADE OF DROUGHT

2002-04Worst droughtin 100 yearsresults in 60 per centreduction incrop size

20123rd EnvironmentalAssessment ofthe Australiancotton industryfinds significantimprovements innatural resourcemanagement since 2003

2003Cotton industryundertakesSecondEnvironmentalAudit

2003TransgenicBollgard II®varietyintroduced to Australia,replacing Ingard®

2005Australiancrop setsnew worldrecord yield,leading to a 2.9 million bale crop

2005/0695% ofAustralia’scottongrowers planttransgenicvarieties,accounting for 80 per cent of totalcotton crop

2007/08Australiancotton industryseverelyimpacted bydrought,leading tosmallest cropin 30 years

2008/09A new path is set for CottonAustralia as itmerges with a key researchpartner, theAustralian Cotton GrowersResearchAssociation(ACGRA).

2009/10myBMP re-launched as an electronic,internet-basedprogram

2010/11Record crop of 4.1 millionbales, industryin resurgenceafter almost a decade of drought

1996The first transgeniccotton variety(Ingard®) introduced to Australia

1995Drought causesharvest to fall to 1.5 million bales

1997Cottonproductionreaches 2.7 million bales

2001Crop reachesrecord high of 3.4 million bales

2001World cottonprice reacheslowest level innearly 30 years

2002RoundupReady®

cottonintroducedto Australia

1980Cottonproductionreaches435,000bales

1990Cotton industryself-funds FirstEnvironmentalAudit, leading to introduction of BestManagementPractices (BMP)

1992World recordyields in Australialead to record 2.2 million bale crop

1985Cottonproductionreaches1.1 millionbales

2013

2011/12Record crop of 5.3 million balesfrom 566,000hectares planted

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TIMELINEHISTORY OF COTTON GROWING IN AUSTRALIA

1975Cottonproductionreaches110,000bales

1976Cottonestablished inthe GwydirValley at Moreeusing waterfrom the newlyconstructedCopeton Dam

1977Theconstructionof the Pindariand GlenlyonDams allowscotton to begrown in theMacintyreValley inSouthernQueensland

CONTACT COTTON AUSTRALIA FOR A COPY OF THE DOCUMENTARY ‘A LIFE IN COTTON’