Queensland Meat Export Company
The Queensland Meat Export Agency Company, which was already operating near Brisbane, opened the Ross River freezing works at Townsville in the 1890s. The works processed between twenty and thirty thousand cattle annually and became a major exporter in the Townsville region. Its economic contribution to Townsville, both as an exporter and a local beef supplier, was considerable. The Ross River works closed in 1995, ending a century of periodic expansion, conflict between producers and processors and between employer and employees, of keeping pace with industry changes, adjusting to variations in export demand, being prey to the weather, and coping with international and national economic restructuring. (JCU Library Company Archives)
Sources:
- G. C. Bolton, A Thousand Miles Away, p. 216
- JCU Library Company Archives
