statebutcheries

Butchers posing in front of their Labor Day float, Brisbane, 1920

from State Library of Queensland

• Vesna Verencevic said:

  Ninety-state butcheries were established in Queensland between 1915 and 1929. The peak number of state butcheries totaled 72 in the years 1922-23. The majority of the state butcheries utilized existing butcher shops that were acquired by the Commissioner for Trade in Queensland. Only seven of ninety state butcheries were purpose-built and to an individual design. Initially, the state butcheries continued to obtain their meat from privately owned meatworks but this changed in 1921 when state meatworks began supplying the butcheries. But the state butcheries, as a whole, were a drain on the state economy, losing £6,000 during the 14 years that they were in operation. Commencing in 1926, the Labor Government began disposing of the majority of the state butcheries and after the 1929 election of the Country, Progressive and Nationalist Parties coalition government, the remaining 39 butcheries throughout Queensland ceased operating as state enterprises on 30 June 1929. Source: heritage.brisbane.qld.gov.au/heritage-places/1146#:~:text...