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

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

Blayney Abattoir ran in the central west of New South Wales from 1957 until its 1998 closure. At peak it employed around sixteen hundred people, one of the largest employers in the region. The site had hosted a butter factory and freezing works since at least 1900.

At full operation the abattoir worked a mutton floor running two chains processing more than three thousand sheep a day, a beef floor at two to four hundred cattle, and a pig floor at around four hundred. ANZCO Foods of New Zealand acquired the works in 1996. Closure was announced in March 1998 under a stock-shortage framing; the Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union cited the Asian financial crisis and broader economic factors instead. The Sydney Morning Herald reported around six hundred workers were given a week's pay. By the final shutdown the workforce was about one hundred. The site has been disused since.

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

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
Washing Area at Blayney Abattoir, a corridor opens into a wider room where the floor sits dark and bare.
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
Dressing Area at Blayney Abattoir, this part of the dressing line once processed carcasses after slaughter, beneath a grid.
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
Pig Kill Floor at Blayney Abattoir, steel I-beams span the ceiling above corrugated metal walls.
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
Beef Boning Room at Blayney Abattoir, light cuts across the boning room floor, once busy with movement and routine.
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
Dead Sheep at Blayney Abattoir, a mass of raw wool and organic matter covers the tiled floor of a small washroom.
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

Paper

Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm. Metallic Gloss 260 gsm for acrylic-mounted prints.

Sizes

Five sizes, XS to XL, from $100. Open editions in XS and S, limited editions in M, L and XL.

Print tiers →

Production

Made to order in 5 to 10 business days.

06 PRESS

In the press

See press coverage

This series has been covered by external publications. The full archive lives on the press page.