William Soltau Davidson - Refrigeration

Refrigeration

At the time, sheep were farmed only for wool. With the success of the Antipodean farmers, international wool markets suffered from supply outpacing demand, and between 1873 and 1888 wool prices fell by a third. Davidson had been looking to the United Kingdom's increasing population and fixed food supply to provide a solution. He converted some land to dairying in southland, helping establish a cheese making industry in Edendale. However his real hopes were to find a use other than wool for the company's vast herds of sheep. New Zealand had attempted to export meat in cans in the 1870s, however while popular in the South Pacific islands to this day, canned meat did not sell well in Europe. Live shipment was prohibitively expensive. Assorted experiments in refrigerated shipping had been attempted in the mid-1870s - sometimes successful on a small scale, but generally not successful on a larger scale. The first attempt to ship refrigerated sheep meat from Australia had resulted in the loss of the whole cargo.

Working with his successor as Superintendent, Thomas Brydone, Davidson inspected refrigerated ships, and researched different methods of refrigeration. In 1881 he arranged for the Dunedin to be refitted with a compression refrigeration unit, and supervised the establishment of a slaughter works at Totara Estate, Oamaru. Despite the loss of 650 carcases when the crankshaft of the compressor broke, on February 15 1882, the Dunedin sailed for London with what was to be the first commercially successful refrigerated shipping voyage, and the foundation of both this industry and New Zealand's early lead in it.