Tobacco Industry book

Historian Mrs Marjorie Gilmore and her co-author Mr Bob Veness have produced a wonderful study of our local tobacco industry with the recent publication of their 326-page book, 'Smoke and Mirrors; The rise and fall of the North Queensland Tobacco Industry'.  I joined the large crowd of some three hundred people who attended the recent launch of this book at the Mareeba Heritage Centre with Mr Ron Blundell as MC.  Old industry stalwart Mr Remze Mulla, who spent his whole life involved with the tobacco officially launched what he believed to be one of the most comprehensive book ever written on the topic.  This large book covers much of the social history of the industry from its first days in 1929 through to the last crop grown in 2004.  Unfortunately, it concentrates on the Mareeba and Dimbulah districts and scarcely touch on the many other areas where tobacco growing was started such as at Mary Farms and Watsonville.  The staff of the Centre had organized a fantastic event with great catering and the one thousand copies of the book that was printed were almost sold out at the launch, so if you want to buy a copy, you may need to wait for the re-print.  This subject holds a special interest for me as my paternal grand-parents tried to start a tobacco farm on Tinaroo Creek Road in the early 1930's but lost everything due to the hardships of the Great Depression.