South Pacific Enterprise. The Colonial Sugar Refining Company Limited

A. G. Lowndes (editor). Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1956. 500 pages. Many illustrations and photos. Issued on the occasion of the 100th birthday of the Colonial Sugar Refining Company Limited. 

The book covers the history of sugar in Australia and of course the company. Particular emphasis is on the the curennt situation and recent developments including the branching out into non-sugar activities. Clearly the book would be written quite differently today. In 1956 the sun had not entirely set on the British empire and colonialism and the perspective of the company was very paternalistic - maybe unsurprising given that it had been dominated by members of one family since its foundation.

The company was for most of 150 years the dominant force in the sugar industry in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji operating cane mills, refineries and agriculture. After WWII it increasingly branched out in other industries (building products and chemicals) and eventually sold out of the sugar business in 2010 to Singaporean Wilmar. Today it is still a major Australian corporation and listed as CSR.