25/08/2026
Photos
Cane exhibition showing shin sticks, trip hooks and gauging rods
Two sides of 1893 medal from Maclean Show for locally made sugar samples
One of the strengths of the Maclean Museum is its collection of artefacts relating to the Lower Clarence sugar cane industry. There is a current exhibition of cane industry photographs and a model of past cane festival queens in her regalia.
The permanent exhibitions include examples of the "gauging rods" used on the cane punts to measure how much water was displaced by the cane loaded into the punt. This enabled a calculation of the weight of the cane from which it was determined how much the farmers and cane cutters were paid. This system was used from the 1870s to the 1970s when river transport ceased.
The collection also includes examples of "trip hooks" used on cane derricks. Adam Albert from Tyndale developed the derrick as a means of loading bundles of cane into punts rather than having to carry it in armfuls or with a "shin stick" held against the body. When a bundle of cane was wrapped by wire rope attached to the derrick and lifted from a cart, the derrick was moved to position it over the punt. The trip hook was then released by throwing a stick of cane at it, dropping the cane bundle into the punt.
Mr Albert built a prototype around 1913 and derricks were rolled out across the banks of the Clarence cane fields in the 1920s. He spent much time perfecting the trip mechanism and expert derrickmen got very good at hitting it.
Amongst the many smaller items is one of the earliest medals from the Lower Clarence Agricultural Society - the Maclean Show. It was awarded in 1893 to Alex Anderson for a "collection of raw sugar" from his private mill at Warregah Island.
The Maclean Museum is open Tuesday 9.00am to 12noon, Wednesday 1.00 to 4.00 pm and Saturday 1.00 to 4.00pm
