After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

pastoralists Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as "livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands (pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The animal s ...

from the

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

n Kimberley region sought to develop the local

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

export industry by encouraging infrastructure development there. Three brothers, Gordon, Douglas and Keith Blythe who owned and operated several pastoral leases in the east Kimberley devised an Air Beef Scheme (also known as the Glenroy Air Beef Scheme) by which a meatworks including an

abattoir A slaughterhouse, also called abattoir (), is a facility where animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a packaging facility. Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is no ...

, carcase

freezing Freezing is a phase transition where a liquid turns into a solid when its temperature is lowered below its freezing point. In accordance with the internationally established definition, freezing means the solidification phase change of a liquid ...

facilities and an

aerodrome An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

were built at the remote Glenroy Station on the Mount House lease, about east of Imintji Aboriginal Community near

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

. The scheme operated successfully from 1949 to 1965 and was important for the economic development of the towns of Wyndham and Derby as well as the development of the Kimberley pastoral industry generally. Beef cattle were brought in from a radius around the east Kimberley to be slaughtered, quartered, boned and chilled overnight, and the following day air shipments were made to Wyndham, a , 75-minute flight away using

Bristol Freighter The Bristol Type 170 Freighter is a British twin-engine aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company as both a freighter and airliner. Its best known use was as an air ferry to carry cars and their passengers over relatively s ...

and Douglas DC-3 aircraft. The beef was frozen at Wyndham and then shipped to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Gordon Blythe had convinced

MacRobertson Miller Airlines MacRobertson Miller Airlines (MMA) was a Western Australian airline that operated between 1927 and 1993. After being purchased by Ansett Transport Industries in 1968, it was eventually rebranded Ansett WA. History In 1919, Horrie Miller p ...

(MMA) to do a trial air shipment in May 1947 when four carcasses were slaughtered and left at the station at 2am, arriving in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

in good condition at 3pm the same day. The trial being considered a success, a company Air Beef Ltd was established as a joint venture between the Blythes, MMA and

Australian National Airways Australian National Airways (ANA) was Australia's predominant aerial carrier from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s. The Holyman's Airways period On 19 March 1932 Flinders Island Airways began a regular aerial service using the Desoutter Mk.I ...

(ANA), with each party putting up one quarter of the capital and the Western Australian Government (through the North West Development and Advisory Committee, which was headed by Russell Dumas), assisting and providing a loan for the remaining quarter. It was hoped that the scheme would spawn a network of inland abattoirs throughout northern Australia, however this did not eventuate; plans for a similar facility at

Fitzroy Crossing Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: ** FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Bea ...

were shelved. The plant had a capacity of 300 head of cattle per week and in an average season (May to September) would process about 4,000 head per year. In 1949 the

Commonwealth Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...

passed the "State Grants (Encouragement of Beef Production) Act 1949" which allowed funding for the construction of roads and other infrastructure to support the beef industry, as it was accepted by that time that airfreighting was going to be uneconomic in the long term. By 1953 the southern section of the

Gibb River Road The Gibb River Road is a road in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Description The road is a former cattle route that stretches in an east-west direction almost through the Kimberley between the towns of Derby and the Kununurra an ...

to Derby was completed and the first live shipment of cattle by truck from the east Kimberley was made. The Derby Meat Company (DEMCO, "Derby Meats") was established by the Blythes and others in 1959 and from then the airshipments were made to the closer destination of Derby. The construction of the road and the completion of slaughtering facilities at DEMCO in 1965 spelt the demise of the scheme and the abattoir was closed in the same year.

References

Further reading