The Eastern and African Cold Storage Supply Co. Ltd. was an Anglo-Australian consortium that existed in the early 1900s which was involved in the commercial business of mass production and cold storage of beef. It was based in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, with much of its cattle-raising operations being located on the massive ''Arafura''

cattle station In Australia and New Zealand, a cattle station is a large farm ( station is equivalent to the American ranch), the main activity of which is the rearing of cattle. The owner of a cattle station is called a '' grazier''. The largest cattle stati ...

in the

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territorial capital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compa ...

region of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

. The Company remains known today due to its ruthless policy of employing armed gangs to patrol the company's land and shoot on sight any of the resident

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...

that they encountered.

Formation

The Company was formed in 1903 with a starting market capitalisation of £75,000 and a 42 year lease from the

Government of South Australia The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government or the SA Government, is the executive branch of the state government, state of South Australia. It is modelled on the Westminster system, meaning that the h ...

on a parcel of land 20,000 square miles in size. This was the ''Arafura'' property which was a consolidation of two previous pastoral leases known as the ''Florida'' and ''Wongalara'' stations. The company also purchased the adjoining ''Elsey'', ''Hodgson Downs'' and ''Wollogorang'' cattle stations. This land was exempt from normal rental fees and stock regulations. There was a board of directors both in London and in South Australia which included prominent colonists such as Sir John Cockburn and William Acton Adams.

Patrols to shoot Aboriginal people

During its existence, the Company employed two gangs of up to fourteen people each to patrol and shoot resident Aboriginal people living on the Company's property. George Conway, was hired to head one of these patrols in 1905-06 where he and his group shot dozens of Aboriginal people.

Collapse of the Company

In 1906 the Company suffered significant financial burdens and sold off

Elsey Station Elsey Station is a pastoral lease that once operated as a cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia. Its traditional owners are the Mangarrayi people, whose rights were upheld by the Elsey Land Claim granted in 1997. The property i ...

. In 1908 the Company terminated all its operations and went into liquidation the following year.

References

{{reflist Australian companies established in 1903 Agriculture companies established in 1903 Agriculture companies of Australia