Boiling down was the term used in Australia for the process of rendering the fat from animal carcasses to produce tallow. It was a common activity on farms and pastoral properties to produce tallow to be made into soap and candles for domestic use.
Boiling down was industrialised in the 1840s, providing the rural sector with a valuable export commodity. It was particularly significant as it came during the 1840s economic depression when the pastoral industry was at a standstill and sheep and cattle otherwise had little value in the colonies.[1]
The export market for Australian wool suffered a severe price slump in the 1840s. Low demand for cattle and sheep to stock new pastoral runs and the small local market for beef, mutton or lamb meant cattle and sheep had little value in the colonies. Boiling-down works provided a vital source of income to the squatters when sheep were selling for as low as sixpence each. Pastoralist George Russell built a boiling works at Golf Hill Station, in the Western District (Victoria), and expressed his belief that, "melting down the Stock has been the salvation of the colonies."[2]
Henry O'Brien of Yass experimented with boiling down sheep in large cauldrons to extract the tallow (fat for soap and candle making). He publicised his experiments in an article that appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald on 19 June 1843. It was reprinted in various other colonial newspapers and is credited with kick-starting the production of tallow as a new export industry in rural Australia. Even when the wool price recovered, boiling down works helped maintain a minimum price for sheep of around five shillings per head.[3]
Langlands and Fulton operated an iron foundry at 131 Flinders St West, Melbourne, Australia, where Fulton developed a technique for boiling-down sheep for tallow around in 1843-44 when squatters slaughtered their otherwise worthless sheep in the thousands due to a rural depression.[4]
In Victoria, Joseph Raleigh is credited with one of the first large scale boiling-down works, when in 1840 he erected a plant near the Stoney Creek Backwash in Yarraville.[5] From a very small quantity of 50 tons of tallow produced in 1843, to 430 in tons in 1844, over 4500 tons, worth £130,000 were produced in 1850 in Victoria alone.[6]
Robert King opened the first boiling down works in the Bremer River area of Ipswich, Queensland in 1847, followed by John Campbell and John Smith, creating a self-contained village of Town Marie.[7]
Windermere (NSW) located in the Hunter Valley was one of the early sites for boiling down. By 1868, Windermere was described as a “Boiling-down establishment capable of boiling down 900 to 1000 sheep daily.” (Maitland Mercury 4 January 1868).[8]
Alligator Creek meatworks was opened in 1877 near Townsville and was important for the early economy. In 1942, the Meatworks processed 5,478,000 cans of preserved meat for the season (62,675 cattle and 23,481 sheep) which was more than the Ross River meatworks (42,000 cattle) and the Merinda meatworks (Bowen), at Bowen (29,000 cattle). [9]
Ross River Meatworks (opened June 1892) in August 1892 was described by industry experts as works as "superior to any in the colony - actively engaged in the meat export trade".[10]
This plant was coal powered. It had six Babcock and Wilcox 96-horsepower tubular boilers supplying steam for the various engines. In the freezing room, the two compound engines could produce 400 horsepower each and each machine could circulate 170,000 cubic feet of air per hour.
Cattle and sheep were separately processed. The carcases were transported around the factory by an overhead tramway. The tramway then transported meat to a cooling room, then to the freezing, canning or preserving rooms as required.
The refrigeration machinery was a combination of Bell-Coleman and Haslam machines, which circulated cold air and removed moisture and impure air at the same time. Electric lighting was installed 31 years prior to the provision of public electric lighting in Townsville. It was powered by a Crompton dynamo and installed by Barton and White electrical engineers.
Workers of the Meatworks came from the local area or nearby towns. Due to the large amount of workers at the factories, there were often industrial disputes with local employees about working hours and other matters including industrial strikes.[11] [12] One worker joined the Alligator Creek meatworks at the age of 13 years old and worked there for 58 years.[13]
Little is said about the environmental impact of boiling down works. The Alligator Creek meatworks effluent (cattle/sheep blood-rich) was pumped into a local creek, affecting fish stocks.