The Roo Works is located
on the edge of out of town.
Fresh diced kangaroo meat
to Sydney, Brisbane,
& Melbourne.
Carcasses are brought in from
kangaroo-shooting boxes
throughout country sites.
500-600 chilled in a box,
emptied once a week &
brought in for
processing:
700 roos a day.
Skin taken off flesh.
Flesh taken off bone.
For further processing
into slippery mince.
Skin: pickled, conditioned, sold.
Bone: crushed to make a fine mince.
Skin is temporarily preserved
by freezing.
Storage of skins in metal cages.
It's so cold.
Flesh & skin comes in hung.
Going to tanner, to mincer,
to leather,
to pets.
Meat weight & bone weight.
That's all it comes down to
when they bring them in.
Most of the carcasses
are left out there
by the roo shooters
deep in the heart
of the Commercial Harvest Zone.
Heads, arms, tails, intestines,
hearts & all other organs taken out.
Left in the scrub
for the crows & hawks.
Where does the life go?
Is it processed into heat?
Is it brought into the factory?
Does it go down through the mincer
or take off in the beaks of crows
or on the legs of a fly swarm?
But this is the flesh & bone of it
& that is the profit motive of it.
Where does the life of the kangaroo go?
Does a little bit of it
stay deposited
with the corpses
in the chiller box
as the doors close?
The kangaroo boning factory was fully functional
& full of big knives & dirty aprons worn by men
& full of smiles of men cutting
to loud rock 'n' roll.
Cutting: one at a time.
Boned out trimming meat
on a boner table.
Bones move up a conveyor belt for mincing.
Freezer. Chiller.
I can't get warm.
Even back outside
in the sun.
Each worker does a row full of carcasses.
They get the shearer's 'piece rate'.
Most nervous manager's son I've ever met. He
travelled 2 ft behind. If I stopped suddenly
he would bump into me.
There are 2 different systems for blood & meat.
Scraps in black boxes.
Start at the gut -
Look out!
Stained blue carcass - can't end up in
the carcass storage room.
Are there any kangaroos in there?
I ask even though it doesn't answer back.
But it's hard to talk to something without a head
or bundles of roos strung up by the legs.
Six to ten of wobbling weight.
Some of the death hung out the back.
Any kangaroos out there?
Hey, don't take any photos of that.
G'day
Welcome to
Australia's Kangaroo
Harvesting Program.
It's pretty much
fait accompli.
All worked out.
Southern Game Meat Pty Ltd.
You'd have to be game to eat it.
