The Maria Creek Soldier Settlement started as a dream for returned servicemen, to heal the wounds of World War I and start afresh in a new place.
Now, 101 years from its foundation, the town of El Arish is a monument to that vision and a symbol of one of the few successful soldier settlement schemes.
David Benn, 82, said his father Percy's journey from the battlefields of the Western Front to growing sugarcane at El Arish, 100 kilometres south of Cairns, was one that helped him to recover from the traumatic conflict.
"He got involved with the RSL, which was very well-attended, Anzac Day was a big one, I do think he got a little bit of easing off of what he brought home from France."
Carved from the scrub
Early settlers arrived to a town that was no more than a collection of tents and makeshift buildings.
With the North Coast Railway still yet to reach the area, some trekked 10 kilometres from the nearest railhead at Silkwood to reach their balloted block.
Within a year of foundation, the soldier settlers held a meeting to decide on a name for their town, choosing El Arish, a critical garrison on the Mediterranean, captured by Australian forces from the Ottoman Empire in 1916.
It is believed the name was chosen to honour the war service of Francis Paxton Martin, the settlement's first supervisor, who served in the Middle East.
As land was cleared and sugarcane planted, the town began to take shape and the first six streets were named after prominent Australian generals.
Post-war boom
As the nation recovered from the horrors of war, sugar in particular experienced strong prices, helping soldier settlers to consolidate and pay back their 625 pound government loans.
Marie Carman from the El Arish Diggers' Museum helps preserve the town's history and said there was little doubt good prices for cane sweetened the town's early fortunes.
"The impression we get is they paid their farms off in five or six years and then I think the price must have been good because they progressed and went from horses to tractors," she said.
Small blocks, close links
Other locals point to the sense of community fostered by the shared experiences of the war. With an average farm size of just 50 acres, neighbours were close and tight-knit.
Ian Williams, a descendant of soldier settler Willie Hugh Williams, who arrived in 1921, said his grandfather's generation was committed to helping each other and instilling a sense of pride in El Arish.
"They were always getting together for a barbecue or to build something like the RSL Hall, the cenotaph, or clear the golf course," Mr Williams said.
"The next-door neighbour was only a few hundred metres away, as opposed to out west where people are living on hundreds of thousands of acres or square miles."
The strong community links created in the district continue today, with six families descended from the initial 72 who arrived between 1920 and 1924 still farming locally.
Leader of the Anzac Day parade and retired army sergeant Paul Smith recalls growing up in a town steeped in history from the war, with traditions that continue to shape the town's identity.
"You can't go anywhere without seeing a general's name on a street sign — war history still very much still drives the town."
