Community & Business
19 August, 2024
Local butchers notch 100 years in the industry
Local butchers Rob Ashton and Darryl O’Sullivan recently celebrated a massive 100 years of butchering experience between them - what an accomplishment!
Darryl O’Sullivan first started at Ashton’s Butchery as a butcher apprentice when he was 16 years old.
Forty-seven years later, Mr O’Sullivan stills slips on his butcher’s apron every weekday, and is a familiar face to many customers who walk through the door at 66 Yandilla Street.
“It’s the only job I’ve ever had,” he said.
Throughout those years, Mr O’Sullivan has worked under Rob Ashton, proprietor of Ashton’s Butchery alongside his wife Rhonda.
Mr Ashton has been in the industry for 53 years.
In 1977, he bought the butcher shop in Pittsworth from his employer Tom Aldridge.
Seven months later he took on Mr O’Sullivan as his first apprentice.
In 2006, the business expanded and an additional shop was opened in Dalby.
Since Ashton’s Butchery first opened its doors, Mr Ashton estimates the business has produced a conservative 20 million sausages.
Employee, Katie Hegarty baked the butchery boys a chocolate cake on Monday to celebrate their achievement.
Looking to the future, Mr O’Sullivan said he intends to continue working for at least another three years before he retires, which will see him mark 50 years of butchering at Ashtons.
