Russians in Mourilyan

Mourilyan is a rural town and locality in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia.[3][4] It was established around the Mourilyan sugar mill which provided much of the employment in the area until it was destroyed by Cyclone Larry on 20 March 2006. In the 2021 census, the locality of Mourilyan had a population of 509 people.[2]

The land use is a mixture of crop growing (mostly sugarcane) towards the south and west and grazing on native vegetation to the north and east.[6]

Construction of the Mourilyan sugar mill began in 1882, rendering it among the oldest in Australia. Excavation of the site was undertaken mainly by Kanakas, with assistance from Chinese and Anglo-Saxon labourers. After its completion in 1884, the mill had a processing capacity of 14 tonnes of sugar per 12-hour shift. 

In 1913, the Colonial Sugar Refining Company (now CSR) began purchasing sugar refined at the mill. Mourilyan remained a small settlement, growing only very slowly since.

Below are the Russians registered at Mourilyan between 1916-1921

  • Антошин Федот - Antoshin Fedot 
  • Молдаков Тома - Moldakoff Thomas 
  • Маслов Иван - Masloff John (1916)
  • Чугунов Константин - Chugunoff Konstantine (1916)
  • Смоленинов Владимир? - Smoleninoff William: Nationality (DB 25 December 1890)
  • Сугубов - Soogeoboff Martin (1916)
  • Туитин Владимир Петрович - Tuitene TINTENE William Petrovitch 
  • Сусенко Александр Михайлович -Soosenko Alexander Michel (1916)
  • Патраков Григорий Алексеевич/Александрович - Patracoff Gregory Alex (1916)
  • Тулупов Иван Фомич - Tooloopoff John Fomich 
  • Luhrik William (1917)
  • Tiskeu William 
  • Peter Simonov, a Russian immigrant who arrived in Australia around 1911, worked seasonally on the canefields in Bundaberg and Mourilyan, Queensland.
  • https://russiananzacs.net/Elecoff
  • https://russiananzacs.net/Habaeff
    • Борис Матвеевич Посельников- Alias Robert Boris Nicholson; formerly Boris Poselnikoff; Boris Matias Poselnikov, known as Robert Nicholson (nat. in the UK) https://russiananzacs.net/Nicholson
During the early 1900s many Russian immigrants in Queensland were involved in agricultural labor and often organized politically, with some radical elements active in the region.  Russians often worked as labourers and cane cutters in the North Queensland sugar industry, specifically at the Mourilyan Mill.

Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, a second wave of immigrants (peaking around 1925) arrived in Queensland, many being political exiles fleeing the Bolsheviks.  Many of these individuals came from Russian far eastern regions, sometimes navigating through China (Harbin) or Japan before arriving in Australia.


Daily Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1903; 1916 - 1926), Thursday 16 November 1922, page 8

NORTHERN TRAGEDY. CHINAMAN SHOT.

CAIRNS, Wednesday. — This morning a constable at Mourilyan was proceeding to Liverpool Creek on ordinary business in the cane train. Half way to its destination the tram was stopped by a Russian named Peter Denelchenke (Danilchenko), who stated ha had shot a Chinaman named Fang Yuen. Tho Chinaman was his employer, a wealthy cane farmer and storekeeper. The constable accompanied him to Liverpool Creek, where, at the farm house, he discovered tho dead, body of Fang Yuen on the floor, covered with blood, which was oozing from a bullet wound through his head. The Russian was later arrested on a charge of wilful murder.

NORTHERN TRAGEDY. (1922, November 16). The Daily Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1903; 1916 - 1926), p. 8. Retrieved May 11, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article213117771