When I arrived in Australia there were two large meat packers who gave me a throw one was Andrew Lederer of Presto and the other David Throsby. Strangely they both sold out to Adelaide Steamship’s Metro Meats for an arm and a leg at about the same time.
I recall in the sixties David was killing sheep at Inverell when it was being run by Jimmy Brown, before Smorgon’s bought them out. Davis was sending all his heavy ewes, wethers and rams for the boys at Inverell so he could push his production of clean sheep at Goford.
David Throsby passed away this week and he was regarded as one of the pioneers of the export meat marketing that began in the 1960s “This was a new time requiring men of vision and David Throsby and his brother Joe were part of that era that helped to transform the industry into what it is today.
David Throsby started his business, Charles David Pty Ltd, in the 1950s, soon involving his younger brother, Joe operating out of meatworks at Maitland and Newcastle.
They purchased the domestic plant at Gosford in NSW in 1966, upgrading it to export standard a year later. Gosford was the Flagship of Charles David and there were always 2 or 3,000 sheep in the car park every night still on trucks as all the pens were full.
The Throsby business continued to expand, purchasing the Maitland works from FJ Walker in 1984 and the abatttoir at Wyong. With rationalisation now in full swing, the brothers purchased a further three closed meatworks on one day in 1985: Illawarra Meats at Yallah near Wollongong; the council-owned plant at Wagga; and the AW Anderson plant at Wallangarra on the Queensland border.
The Throsby’s sold Charles David Pty Ltd as a business to Metro Meat in 1987, just six months before the stock market crashed that year, only to re-emerge in the early 1990s when they built a hot boning facility at Singleton, now run by David’s son, Edward.
Long before I arrived in Australia I had heard of David Throsby and after Lord Vestey he was the biggest beef and lamb processor in Australia.
I lived in West Gosford for a number of years and had to pass the Throsby Gosford meat plant every day. I was not unusual to see 2/3000 sheep in the car park as the pens were always full despite them killing 3,500 sheep every day.
The family sold their 8 meat plants to Adelaide Steamships Metro Meats, however the new generation of Throsby’s also enjoy a wonderful reputation in the industry and most of all with the farmers.
David Throsby was a true meat man and great judge of cattle and sheep. He name will be remembered for many years to come and we offer our condolences to his son Edward and his family.
William Hayes
Meat Trade News Daily
Source: Argentine Beef Packers S.A.
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