page_title: National Lamb Day
section_title: History of New Zealand lamb exports
hierarchical_section_title: National Lamb Day / History of New Zealand lamb exports
caption_attribution_description: English: Gear Meat Preserving Freezing Company labels.
context_page_description: National Lamb Day is an annual observance that occurs in New Zealand on the 24th of May.
context_section_description: The Dunedin’s voyage was organized by William Soltau Davidson, the British-based general manager of the New Zealand and Australian Land Company, whose landholdings in the two countries exceeded 1 million hectares. Davidson had taken an interest in refrigerated experiments, which had proved the concept, if not yet the economic viability, of shipping frozen meat around the globe.
  About 5,000 carcasses were on board the Dunedin when it sailed from New Zealand on 15 February. On arrival in London on 24 May, only one carcass had to be condemned, and the cargo’s superiority over Australian shipments was remarked upon. More than a single successful shipment was needed to create a new industry. The new technology ultimately enabled the owner-operated (family) farm to become the standard economic unit in rural New Zealand for the next century.
caption: Gear Meat Preserving Freezing Company labels.
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