Coward & Co. Butcher

Butchery is one of humankind's oldest occupations. Before refrigeration - long before domestic freezers - visits to the butcher were frequent, perhaps daily, and in the mid-twentieth century, small family butcher shops dotted the Ipswich CBD and surrounding suburbs. Among those who had butcher shops in North Ipswich were the Rossiter, Zeibarth, Taylor, Bauer, Campbell, Fisher, Muckert, and Coward families.

Richard (Dick) and Lucy Coward and their daughters Edith, Hilda and Freda emigrated to Australia from the town of Wigan in England. They arrived in Charters Towers, a goldmining town in north Queensland, where Dick operated the meatworks and slaughterhouse on what was later named Cowards Road. The family welcomed two sons, Richard Clifford (Cliff) in 1915 and George Cyril (Cyril) in 1918. The next move was to Ayr where Dick established the Ayr Co-op Butchery.

When the Cowards came to Ipswich, Dick bought a house and small shop on the corner of Downs and Ferguson Streets in North Ipswich. To support the family until the business was established, Lucy made pies. The shop was not far from the Ipswich Railway Workshops, which employed thousands of men, and railway workers bought Lucy's pies as they passed on their way to work. The shop thrived. During the Depression, Dick gave meat to families who couldn't afford it, such was the family's commitment to their Christian beliefs. When the boys were old enough, they joined their father in the shop.

In due time, Cliff bought a car. Cyril bought a Tiger Moth biplane. When war broke out in 1939, Cyril became a fighter pilot, leader of NO. 3 Squadron, mostly flying Kitty Hawks in the Middle east. After being shot down and making numerous crash landings, he was the first Queenslander awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. His commendation cities dive bombing and machine gun attacks, described as gallantry in the desert. Cyril was invested by Governor General Lord Gowrie at Government House, Melbourne, 20 November 1943.

Cliff and Cyril ran the butcher shop after Dick retired, with Cliff being the very last individual butcher to bid at the Brisbane Cannon Hill saleyards, a practice overtaken by bulk buyers from major chain stores and meat processors. later, Cyril's son, Jeffrey, joined Cliff in the butcher shop.

Around 1952-53, the Cowards built a new butcher shop on the lefthand property boundary - 86 Downs Street - and moved the family home to the rear of the allotment. They pulled the old shop down, and later built three more shops alongside the new one, thus occupying the full property up to the Downs/Ferguson Street corner. The block of four shops is still in use on Downs Street.

For baby-boomers, a visit to the butcher's with Mum was a rich sensory experience. The butcher in his navy and white striped apron, rhythmically stroking a knife along the honing steel hanging from his belt. Fatty carcasses swinging from massive steel hooks, and the thwack of a cleaver coming down on a wooden chopping block. Sawdust covering the floor to absorb blood, fat and odours, and a sign that read, NO SPITTING. Best of all was the red cocktail sausage handed over the counter to a well-behaved child. Some butchers cured their own hams, produced their own brawn, made their own sausages, making the aroma that filled the chilly air of a family butcher shop unforgettable. Butcher shops began to disappear as the postwar period saw the rise of supermarkets and the prevalence of family cars. Coward & Co Butchers closed in 1994, following the deaths of Cliff in 1986 and Cyril in 1993.