When Lui Populin and his brother, Peter, who were second generation cane farmers developed the Populin Automatic Cane Planter, it forever changed the cane industry worldwide. Fast forward some 50 years, and their popular invention is now on display at the Lions Diorama in Home Hill, to commemorate this once revolutionary machine.
“We had an ordinary planter with a chute, where we would sit at the back and the bin was in the front and we'd get the billets and throw them down like that. I said, there's got to be a better way to do this. And so we had the massive Ferguson Harvester. And I said, if the elevator can carry the cane up, it should be able to carry it down. And that's how it started,” Lui Populin says.
The planter was later sold to contractors and by the time the 80s rolled around, it would eventually be replaced by more efficient machinery. However, there’s no denying, the Populin Automatic Cane Planter made its mark.
“It’s the only one that’s been invented here in Australia in the world and it comes from the Burdekin,” Lui states.
“Lyn McLaughlin who was the mayor at the time, she was friends with me and played netball with my wife. She said to me, ‘Why don’t you put the damn thing on display near the bridge. We’ll put it there for you.’ And so we have.”
Recently it was donated back to Lui, by Nicky Pitiris and Robert Stockdale, who had no qualms donating the planter so that it can be displayed and share its rightful place in cane farming history.
“We used it right up until about the mid 80s. Then it was in the shed for about 20-30 years, which helped preserve it before Lui said he’d buy it off us. I saw Nicky and we just said we’d give it to him. And now here it is on display,” Robert Stockdale says.
The planter's impact on the industry and its innovative design at the time, cannot be underestimated. Check out its new home at the Lions Home Hill Diorama, which highlights its importance to the industry and the region, while providing an historical background.
The industry changing, Populin Automatic Cane Planter. Photo credit: Mark T. Rasmussen
Caption 2: L-R: Michael Populin (son of Peter), Lui Populin, Mayor Pierina Dalle Cort, Nicky Pitiris and Robert Stockdale who donated it.
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