Hide Puller

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 24mm · f/8.0 · 25s · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

The mutton kill floor at Blayney Abattoir, Central West NSW. The square opening in the floor is a hide puller chute, sending sheep skins to the skins room below. The main mutton chain processed 3,000 to 4,000 sheep a day at peak operation. The abattoir closed in 1998.

Edition

Open edition

Open edition
Printed to order, no fixed quantity. Each print is hand-signed by the photographer.

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A fixed number of prints exist. Once sold, the edition closes permanently. Each print is individually numbered and signed.

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Colour

Signed, numbered, with COA. Made to order in 10 to 20 business days (framed). Shipped in protective packaging with edition certificate, paper-stock reference and a printed care guide.

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In situ

01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title: Hide Puller
Series: Blayney Abattoir
Catalogue: BAB-012
Process: Giclée
Captured: 1 January 2016
Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter: 25s s
ISO: 100
Focal length: 24 mm
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size: 290 × 200 mm
Location: Blayney, New South Wales, Australia
Authenticity: C2PA verified provenance →
Recognised by: Highly Commended in Multimedia at the 2016 National Trust of Australia (NSW) Heritage Awards

02 LOCATION

Blayney, New South Wales, Australia

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

03 THE STORY

About this print

The mutton kill floor at Blayney Abattoir. A square opening in the concrete floor served as a hide puller chute, sending sheep skins to the skins room on the level below. The concrete ledge to the left of the chute was where workers trimmed kidneys and fat from the carcasses passing along the chain. Overhead rails carried the carcasses through each station. The fittings have been stripped; the working layout of the floor remains.

The main mutton chain at Blayney Abattoir processed 3,000 to 4,000 sheep a day at peak operation, with a smaller chain handling another 1,500. The plant operated from 1957 until ANZCO Foods closed it in March 1998. At peak operation Blayney employed around 1,600 people, making it one of the largest employers in the Central West region of NSW. The closure reduced the workforce to around 100 in the weeks before shutdown.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

A stainless steel bowl sits on crumpled tarpaulin beside an open floor chute. The chute's heavy steel hatch lies propped back on its bolts. Beyond it, concrete plinths and steel columns run deep into the kill floor, where overhead pipe runs and gantry rails disappear into grey light filtering through the corrugated walls. Green staining streaks the rendered surfaces. The air looks thick, cold, close to the ground.

Brett Patman

The series

Blayney Abattoir

2016 · 25 photographs

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.

View all in this series →

05 SIZE GUIDE

Print sizes

The anatomy view shows what this finish is as a physical object: paper margin, mat band, frame depth, acrylic profile. The comparison strip shows how each size sits relative to the others at true scale. Click a size or a finish to update both.