Pioneers of the Tully DistrictPrint Page

The statues commemorate the pioneers of the Tully district. 

The Tully area was originally known as Banyan. The river was named in honour of William Alcock Tully, then under-secretary for public lands and chief commissioner of crown lands in Queensland. The first settlers were the nephews of James Tyson who grew sugarcane and raised beef cattle. The town was surveyed in 1883, but it was not until the government constructed a sugar mill in 1925 that the town began to develop.

Crown lands and freehold farms were subdivided throughout 1924-25. The Banyan school was opened in 1924 and renamed Tully in 1925. Pugh's Queensland directory (1927) estimated Tully's population to be 1000, and recorded numerous stores, two garages, three booksellers, a bank, eight refreshment rooms and a hotel. Many of the new cane farmers were Italian, as American restrictions on southern European migration had diverted many of them to Australia. With previous Italian settlement around Ingham, new settlers were drawn to places near their own countrymen. 

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