Information

Meat production was a dominant industry in the Murrarie-Cannon Hill area for many decades, with major meatworks located near the riverfront there. One of the first businesses to open was the Grazier’s Butchering Co. Meatworks, from where the first refrigerated meat was exported from Queensland in 1881. Thomas Borthwick & Sons established their Murrarie works in 1907, and the Swift Australian Co. Ltd built an abattoir in 1914, which was one of the largest industrial operations in Queensland at that time and which replaced several other southside slaughterhouses. This abattoir was acquired by the Metropolitan Public Abattoir Board of the Queensland Government in 1931, the same year that the Cannon Hill Saleyards were established to serve the abattoir. The meatworks were closed and sold during the 1990s.

Citations

Colin Mercer and Robin Trotter, ‘Historical study: Cannon Hill saleyard’, report to Queensland Department of Housing, 1995.

Image Citations

Borthwick’s Meatworks on the Brisbane River at Murarrie, Brisbane. Undated. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Record number: 137216.

Map References

MLMS. 8 chain series 1904–1917—Brisbane. 8 chains to the inch. Cadastral map of Brisbane and Suburbs sheet 3. MLMS 8 Chain