Country View at Blayney Abattoir, long shadows stretch across the cool room hall, where broken windows reveal glimpses.

01 Blayney AbattoirBlayney2016

ISO 1001/100f/8.024mm

Series · 25 prints

Blayney Abattoir

Photographed 2016
Frames 25
Camera NIKON D7000
Location New South Wales, Australia
Status Disused since 1998/1999
Years 1957 to 1998
01 ABOUT THIS SERIES

Series story

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

At peak the Blayney Abattoir employed about 1,600 people, one of the largest workforces in Central West New South Wales. The site had been a butter factory and freezing works from at least 1900, converted to an abattoir in 1957. ANZCO Foods, the New Zealand owner since 1996, announced closure in March 1998 with about 600 workers given a week's pay.

The plant ran on multiple floors, one per species. The mutton floor carried two chains, the larger processing 3,000 to 4,000 sheep a day and the smaller around 1,500. Beef ran at 250 to 400 cattle a day and pig at around 400; cold stores, holding pens, boning rooms and packing rooms filled out the rest of the building.

At full daily capacity the plant could handle around 5,500 sheep, 350 cattle and 400 pigs, sent into domestic and export markets. ANZCO's purchase fit a trans-Tasman meat industry consolidation pattern through the 1990s. The company cited stock shortage as the reason for closure; the Australian Meat Industry Employees' Union named economic factors, with the Asian financial crisis sitting in the trade-press background.

In the weeks before final shutdown the workforce had fallen from 1,600 to about 100. The plant has stood disused since 1999. A major project listing on the NSW Planning Portal records that redevelopment of the site has been formally considered through the state planning system; current status is unconfirmed.

Australian Abattoirs (Blayney), NSW Department of Planning (Blayney Abattoir) and Wikipedia (Blayney, New South Wales)

02 TIMELINE

Chronology

1900
1957
1996
1998
1999
03 PRINTS

Prints in this series

Hand-signed and numbered, printed from the original RAW file. Open editions in the two smallest sizes; limited editions of 100, 50 and 25 in the three larger, never reissued once they sell through.

Country View at Blayney Abattoir, long shadows stretch across the cool room hall, where broken windows reveal glimpses.
Country View
Main Loading Yard at Blayney Abattoir, red brick buildings line both sides of the main loading yard at Blayney Abattoir.
Main Loading Yard
Cool Room Hall at Blayney Abattoir, this corridor once linked the kill floor to the chillers, lined with workers stamping.
Cool Room Hall
Cold Storage at Blayney Abattoir, steel rails run in parallel lines across the ceiling, fixed to a grid of metal.
Cold Storage
Kill Floor at Blayney Abattoir, steel columns rise from a concrete floor divided into shallow bays and drainage channels.
Kill Floor
Yard Facing Southeast at Blayney Abattoir, this wide concrete yard once pulsed with daily movement, now overtaken.
Yard Facing Southeast
Wash Room at Blayney Abattoir, a shaft of light falls through an open window onto cracked floor tiles.
Wash Room
Bottom Holding Area at Blayney Abattoir, a grid of steel uprights stretches into the distance, framing the remains.
Bottom Holding Area
The washing area at Blayney Abattoir. Concrete floors slope toward drains. Workers cleaned gumboots and knife kits here to comply with the plant's hygiene and inspection standards.
Washing Area
Showers at Blayney Abattoir, granite-faced partitions run in a long row down the left side, stepping back toward a tiled.
Showers
Dark Hallway at Blayney Abattoir, a narrow concrete corridor runs deep into shadow.
Dark Hallway
Toilet Block at Blayney Abattoir, stalls line both sides of this abandoned toilet block, their doors still mostly in place.
Toilet Block
Rendering Plant Machinery at Blayney Abattoir, disassembled equipment from the former rendering plant lies scattered.
Rendering Plant Machinery
Rendering Plant at Blayney Abattoir, this former blood pit at the rear of the rendering plant is now filled with rainwater.
Rendering Plant
The carcass dressing line at Blayney Abattoir. Overhead rails, cables, and pipework run parallel with the metal ceiling. Small red lights above each station were connected to the emergency stop system on the chain.
Dressing Area
Top Holding Area at Blayney Abattoir, steel columns support a wide corrugated roof over a dirt floor thick with dried mud.
Top Holding Area
Downstairs Exit at Blayney Abattoir, a concrete corridor narrows toward a mesh gate at the far end, where grey light spills.
Downstairs Exit
The pig kill floor at Blayney Abattoir. Overhead rails moved carcasses through each stage. The raised concrete drain on the right was part of the wash-down system. A critical control point sign marks the wall.
Pig Kill Floor
Train Line at Blayney Abattoir, corrugated iron roofing stretches over a timber-framed open bay.
Train Line
Pig Kill Floor South at Blayney Abattoir, this view across the pig kill floor leads toward the chillers, where the line.
Pig Kill Floor South
Hide Puller at Blayney Abattoir, a stainless steel bowl sits on crumpled tarpaulin beside an open floor chute.
Hide Puller
The beef boning room at Blayney Abattoir. Concrete columns, corrugated steel ceiling, exposed pipework. Overhead stainless-steel rails once moved sides of beef along the processing line.
Beef Boning Room
Skin Shed at Blayney Abattoir, steel columns run in rows across a wide timber floor, supporting a corrugated iron roof held.
Skin Shed
A dead sheep lies on the tiled floor of the abandoned Blayney Abattoir. Its matted wool and still form present a stark image of decay within the derelict industrial site.
Dead Sheep
Office at Blayney Abattoir, this narrow hallway in the former office building is now scattered with ceiling panels.
Office
04 ABOUT THE PRINTS

How they’re made

Made to order by Brett in Sydney, from the original RAW file. Each print is hand-signed and numbered before it ships.

Paper

Ilford Galerie cotton rag, 310 gsm. Acrylic on metallic gloss, 260 gsm.

Editions

Open in XS and S. Limited in M (100), L (50), XL (25). From $100.

Print tiers →

Lead time

Unframed: 5 to 10 business days. Framed and acrylic: 10 to 20.

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