In 1864, a group including
Andrew Ball, Mark Reid and two persons of Aboriginal descent set out to find a suitable location for shipping and discovered Alligator Creek for the first time which would later become the site of the meatworks. Andrew Ball may have named the Creek, but it is unknown exactly when and by who. Some of the equipment for boiling down was acquired by the North Queensland Meat Export Company for the Alligator Creek meatworks operation. In 1889, Mr. H. H. Cordingley bought out the meatworks. Cordingley's location was reported in the newspaper to be
Patagonia in 1904. In 1914, Swift Co. Pty Ltd purchased the meatworks and expanded it including the most modern technology. In 1914 while the old establishment continued to operate, a prefabricated meatworks was sent from America to
Townsville. He would walk from Townsville to Alligator Creek for work. In 1930, the government purchased the Swift Meat Co. A record meat pack was recorded in 1942, 5,478,000 cans of preserved meat for the season. The Meatworks was the largest in the area at the time. 62,675 cattle and 23,481 sheep were processed at the factory for the season of 1942 which was more than the Ross River meatworks (42,000 cattle) And the Merinda works at Bowen, (29,000 cattle). The business continued until 1946 under the management of the Swift Meat Co. when 340 workers threatened to be were laid off because of leaving work early to catch the train which would taken them back to the city. == Impact on the environment ==