The 125th anniversary of the departure of the first shipment of frozen meat from New Zealand to Britain is being celebrated on Thursday 15 February and the Government has designated it National Lamb Day.
Minister of Agriculture Jim Anderton is hosting a barbecue at Parliament with the support of Retail Meat New Zealand, Meat and Wool New Zealand, the New Zealand Meat Industry Association and the NZ Beef and Lamb Marketing Board.
A key figure in the pioneering export enterprise of 1882 was William Sattau Davidson, Superintendent for the Canterbury and Otago Land Association in New Zealand, who managed The Levels run in South Canterbury.
Today the sheep and beef export industry contributes $5 billion a year to the New Zealand economy.
To take up the Minister’s invitation for New Zealanders to recognise this important meat industry anniversary and mark the day by enjoying lamb in a meal, Lincoln University is making a special feature of lamb in its dining hall and cafeterias.
For National Lamb Day there will be lamb and kumara hot pot, lamb and kumara pies with potato topping, chilli lamb mince with nachos and lamb sandwiches.
Lincoln University’s Professor of Trade and Environmental Economics, Caroline Saunders, will be among those enjoying a lamb lunch.
“The story of New Zealand’s sheepmeat export industry is a marvellous one,” says Professor Saunders. “It contains all the ingredients of personal initiative, enterprise and persistence that are seen in so many commercial successes. It well deserves celebrating.”
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
Ian Collins, Journalist
Lincoln University, Canterbury
Tel: 64 3 325 2811 ext 8549
Email: Ian Collins