Fertile history

Daffodils sway in front of The Ewing Phosphate Co building in Clarendon about 10km north of Milton last week.

Phosphate sand was produced in Clarendon from 1902 to 1924.

A new deposit found in 1942 contained only a low percentage of soluble phosphoric acid and was only used when normal supplies from the central Pacific island of Nauru and elsewhere were temporarily cut off during World War 2.

Production ceased in 1944.