The Fairfield Freezing Works was opened in style in March 1900. 800 guests were invited from throughout the region and transported via two special trains to appraise the impressive new operation, which had risen from what had previously been considered by European settlers as a ‘waste of tussock’.

In many ways, the venture was a community achievement, with local farmers contributing as shareholders and the County Council’s ingenious system of water races able to supply the more than 3,000 litres of water per minute required to ensure the enterprise could function. A township was also constructed, Fairton, as the company directors correctly foresaw the need for convenient accommodation for their employees.

Central to the achievement was the Freezing Works chairman, Mr John Grigg, who according to former Ashburton Mayor Hugo Friedlander, had been ‘like a bulldog’, determined to establish a supply chain which ensured that the export of frozen meat from Aotearoa New Zealand became profitable. He and others’ determination and expertise ensured that frozen meat exports would go on to provide over £78,000 to the New Zealand economy in 1897 (nearly six million dollars in today’s money).

The works

The Fairfield Works was considered to be the finest in the Southern Hemisphere at the time. The facility processed 500 sheep a day and had storage capacity for 80,000 carcases. A railway siding was constructed at the site, and the company purchased its own engine for haulage.

The Fairton plant was one of the biggest employers in the Ashburton district for 125 years, and at its peak, employed more than 700 staff. Originally owned by the Canterbury Frozen Meat and Dairy Produce Export Company, the co-operative went on to become PPCS (Primary Producers Co-operative Society) and later Silver Fern Farms. As the place name ‘Fairfield’ was often confused with the area of the same name in Dunedin, the name Fairton was adopted by the community and later by the works as well.

In the face of declining sheep numbers, Silver Fern Farms closed the plant in 2019, and it was purchased by Talley’s in 2020 to manufacture seafood, vegetable, dairy and meat products.

The freight hub

The former freezing works site borders the Ashburton Business Estate and features over 1km of Main South Railway frontage, which provided the potential to utilise the siding to put Talley’s’ produce on rail. Coincidentally, on an adjacent site, the Wareing Group were considering the addition of a rail siding at the Rural Transport Yard close to the old freezing works.

A commercial partnership centring around the idea of a freight hub emerged, with Talley’s as the landlord and the Wareing Group’s Fairfield Freight Hub as the tenant, and funding was received from the Government and the Ashburton District Council.

Construction began in 2023 and the hub is now operational. Talley’s’ farming operation and the freight hub have both reverted to the name ‘Fairfield’, a sign of respect to the original developers of the site.  The name may ensure that the ingenuity and co-operation of those involved in the original venture continue to be connected with that of the latest stakeholders, operating in a different industrial context but still of great benefit to the community and local economy.

By Jacqueline Paterson