Australian Abattoirs

Closed Export accredited abattoir that processed beef.

It was intended to be upgraded in 1996 but closed in 1999 due to costs of processing.

Operation

• Aus-Meat accreditation
  • Facility #736⁸.
  • Export Abattoir. Beef⁸.
• Closed 1999¹.

Location

• 13km N of Mussellbrook, 110 NW of Newcastle

Location relative to other abattoirs across Australia

Go to this link to view Australian Abattoir Locations

Owner

•  Aberdeen Beef Company
• Australian Meat Holdings

 History

 1891 

• 361acres purchased. Australian Chilling and Freezing Co established¹.

1892

• First cargo of sheep and lambs processed¹

1894 – 96 

• Shut down due to drought and typhoid epidemic¹

1904 

• Reopened after many more years of drought¹
• Closed 5 months latter due to low supply¹

1914

• Began to process beef, rabbits and pigs, new areas of business also – butter¹

1923-24 

• F.J Walker¹
• Modernisation in CO² to transport chilled produce

1939-40 

• New mutton slaughter house, plus tallow processing¹

1981

• “In NSW 20 abattoirs have ceased operations and 4,000 jobs lost” Mr John Barry Mildren (ALP) Ballarat⁷
  • 27 meatworks has closed or forfeited export licences across Australia – loss of jobs of 10,571 people. Mr John Charles Kerin (ALP) Warriwa, Leader of opposition at the time⁷

1983  

• Elders IXL Group¹

1984    

• Up to 1984 all livestock processed for export and domestic¹
• From 1984 on only cattle processed, graded, weighed, sliced, vacuum packed, blast frozen and stored for distribution¹

1986 

• Elders traded under name Aberdeen Beef Company¹

1994

• AMH purchase the facility¹⁰

1996

• AMH now own Aberdeen
  • Closed down Guyra Abattoir (NSW)

• AMH controlled by big US rural commodities trader – ConAgra, a major exporter from North America⁵
• AMH accounts for 16.5% of Australia’s beef kill.⁵
• currently owns another 8 facilities but will be consolidating to 5 and closing
  • Beaudesert (QLD),
  • Guyra. NSW and
  • Portland (Vic)⁶
• AMH continued to own
  • Dinmore,
  • Townsville,
  • Rockhampton
  • and Aberdeen⁵
    • Author note – not sure of 8th.
• • Intended that 300 jobs would be replaced at Dinmore when expansion completed there¹⁰

• AMH undertaking a detailed study of redeveloping  the Aberdeen plant, would require an additional $50M upgrade to become internationally competitive

1999

• March 16. Six weeks prior to official closure meatworks had a temporary closure¹⁰
• April 16. Facility officially closes¹⁰
• 400 employees received no income for 6 weeks¹⁰
  • Employees weren’t terminated, therefore didn’t qualify for social security¹⁰.
• Chief executive of AMH departs for an overseas trip the day of the Aberdeen abattoir closure¹⁰
• AMH weren’t interested in re-opening the works¹⁰
  • More interested in bolstering other sites they owned at the time¹⁰
• AMH didn’t want to offer the facility to be leased but rather it be ‘mothballed’¹⁰
• AMH didn’t act in good faith of workers¹⁰.
• Aberdeen had a population of 1,700¹⁰
  • 1 in 4 people in the town had been employed at the facility¹⁰.
• Closed¹
  • 109 year old landmark, 400 local jobs²
• More abattoirs could be threatened in meat industry shake-up.²
  • Other abattoirs in Scone/Hunter area future may not be stable²
• NSW Opposition called on state government to push for further negotiations with AMH to persuade company to re-open.²
• Closure reason – cited as stock shortages.³
• AMH closed Aberdeen to send all cattle to Dinmore abattoir (QLD) – Even with added cost of cartage costs of processing were still $14 per head/cattle cheaper processed in QLD than NSW⁴

2000

• November. Hon bob Carr MP, Premier of NSW announces a $12M NSW Meat processing Industry restructuring program to operate over a 3 year period⁹.
• Evident that the NSW Meat processing industry has and is likely to experience structural change. Rationalisation within the industry will most likely lead to a net reduction in the number of abattoirs and employee’s required⁹.

Sources