science · 02 February 1880 · 144 years ago
In 1880, the steamship SS Strathleven arrived in London with first successful shipment of frozen mutton from Australia. It had been chartered, fitted with Bell and Coleman (of Glasgow) air compression/expansion refrigeration equipment, and sent to Australia for a trial shipment of frozen carcases. The meat, and some experimental kegs of butter, were loaded from chill rooms in Sydney and Melbourne and, freezing the consignment on board, Strathleven left Melbourne on 6 Dec 1879. Technical men travelled on the ship to oversee the trials. The meat was in excellent condition on arrival and sold well. In all ways this first shipment of frozen meat from Australia was a success, since exports of meat had previously been in tins.
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