Oolbun
Oolbun, 14 kilometres southeast of Townsville, was the township that housed some (at least) of the workforce for the Alligator Creek meatworks. Local graziers and businesspeople established the original works in 1879 as the North Queensland Boiling Down and Meat Processing Company, but it lasted only five seasons because of the devastating 1884 drought.
Limited capital — the company could raise only £4,500 — restricted operations to boiling down. Nevertheless, the plant processed 20 162 head of cattle drawn from an eight-hundred-kilometre radius, proving more profitable than walking the cattle south for sale. The drought lasted until 1887.
Local and inland graziers and business interests reopened the works in 1890 as a meat extract company on the site of the boiling-down operation. When the overseas market for Australian frozen beef improved, Swifts bought out the previous owners in 1914, updated the works with a prefabricated structure, and added a freezing plant as World War I boosted demand for frozen meat. At that time, 1200 people lived under canvas in a seasonal settlement that closed for the wet season.
The Alligator Creek meatworks and the local post office closed in 1966.
