POPULAR Queensland meat processing industry identity Tony Nolan, whose funeral service was held in Gympie this morning, is being remembered as a meat processing industry innovator, technology pioneer and a great local community leader.

Tony, along with his brothers Michael and Terry, formed the management ‘tripod’ that drove the Nolan Meats business to its success over the past 30 years. He passed away on May 20 after a battle with cancer.

There was a quiet, understated dignity about the man, but underneath that exterior there was a high level of confidence, deeply analytical intelligence and a determination to ‘get things done’.

The three Nolan brothers, directors of Nolan meats since 1997, continued the legacy started by their parents, Pat and Marie who opened a retail butcher shop in Gympie in 1958, before buying the local abattoir.

The three boys decided to move away from retailing in the late 1990s, to focus squarely on efficient meat processing.

The Nolan brothers were a formidable team in moving the family business and industry forward. Each had their specific areas of expertise: Michael, ‘the builder’; Tony, ‘the technical expert’; and Terry ‘the livestock expert and the company’s public face.’

Tony’s technical expertise with systems development, computer programming, accounting and general curious nature, helped underpin the business in driving efficiencies. His input was pivotal in innovations pioneered by Nolan Meats.

As a qualified electrical engineer, he joined the family business in 1982. His tertiary discipline taught him an understanding of ‘power and control’ as any good electrical engineer knows.

He applied the thinking of quality inputs into any process, to increase the certainty of outputs through process control. This early innovative thinking was applied to animal nutrition across both the Nolan’s beef feedlots and piggery businesses, in formulating feed rations.

Constant quest for innovation

As early as 1994 Tony initiated some of the first Programable Logic Controllers (PLCs) in refrigeration processes, which most processors in Australia have now adopted.

Early Electronic Identification Devices in livestock for through-chain traceability were in use at Nolan Meats 15 years before NLIS was fully adopted, nationally.

“You can’t control what you can’t measure,” was one of his mantras. Positive identification was a first step to through chain traceability.

Today’s everyday use across the industry of electronic National Vendor Declarations and electronic Meat Transfer Certificates were in developmental and trial stages at Nolan Meats during Tier 1 Export trials from the plant in 2003.

This was largely due to Tony’s curiosity, technical know-how and the Nolan desire to put efficiencies back into the industry.

MSA pioneer

Nolan meats paved an important part in the early development and adoption of Meat Standards Australia grading, through the Brisbane MSA pilot in 1997.

The plant undertook the Meat Safety Enhancement Program trial into the US from 2006-2008, and from that success was eventually recognised in a USDA FSIS Federal Register Notice published March 2011.  This MSEP Trial became the foundation of today’s Australian Meat Industry Export System (AEMIS).

In 2017 the Gympie Plant installed the largest Automated Carton Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) in the Southern Hemisphere up to that time. Tony was the driver of the project with Dematic, to design a system to operate under high velocity airflow, so critical to effective and efficient chilling or freezing of meat products.

This simultaneously improved shelf life and reduced electricity consumption at the plant – another world first.

With the recent business sale announcement to Hewitt Group,  Nolan Meats is now closing Chapter 2 of its history, and should be remembered as a catalyst for change.

Tony will always be remembered as an innovator, technical expert and quiet achiever. His skills, knowledge, passion for accuracy and creative spirit has left a silent and indelible mark on Australia’s meat industry today.

Those he worked with, benefitted from his passion for growth, through his sharing of knowledge. He never missed an opportunity to foster self-development in his colleagues.

The industry should be grateful for the behind-the-scenes innovative and entrepreneurial spirit that Tony displayed, He has fulfilled his father, the business’s founder Pat Nolan’s wishes, when he said, “Make sure you always put back into industry, at least what you have taken out.”

Sense of community

Outside the meat processing and cattle industry communities, Tony Nolan was both loved and valued in the Gympie district where he spent his entire life.

A keen member of the local Apex Club, his tireless efforts are fondly remembered by fellow club member John Sproxton.

Both he and Tony spent lengthy terms chairing the local APEX club, and the annual Gympie Country Music Muster – the city’s largest annual fundraising event attracting crowds of 20,000 or more each year.

“Tony loved his community and loved Gympie,” John said.

“There was an understated, quiet dignity about him, but equally he was a natural leader who found ways to get things done. He was a mentor to us all, and a great bloke with a kind heart, who spoke a lot of common sense on a lot of issues.”

Having finished his term as Country Music Muster chairman, the event years later fell on hard financial times, but Tony was there to put it back on the rails, John said.

“He put a little team around him, engaged with community leaders and the banks, and somehow found the funding to get the event back on track.”

“He was a driving force in so many ways, including playing a leading role in the establishment of the Gympie Credit Union, a community bank that played an important role in providing left-field funding for people down on their luck.”

“But there was nothing that spun Tony’s wheels more than fostering opportunities for youth. His greatest pride was seeing ‘a Gympie kid that had done good’ – whether that was via a start at Nolan Meats before moving on to bigger and better things, or people who progressed through the Nolan operations ranks, learning their trade under Tony,” John said.

“There was nothing he enjoyed more than seeing local kids do well – be it in sports, commerce, or any other field.”

Tony Nolan with the family business’s Queensland Exporter of the Year awards, earned back in 2011

Gifted mentor

Nolan Meats employee Robert George worked alongside Tony at the processing plant for the past 23 years.

“Some of Tony’s greatest assets in the day-to-day were ensuring that all resources where used to their most economical use,” Robert recalls.

“That applied whether it was water use efficiency (Nolan Meats received best practice awards for environmental performance in 2022), ensuring the boiler was running at full efficiency, or ensuring the refrigeration system was running effectively.”

“I remember when I was young, re-building an M8 piston compressor for the refrigeration system. I thought I had done a good job at cleaning it, but how wrong I was,” Robert said.

“Tony would say to me, ‘It is either clean or dirty – there’s nothing in between.’ With this I would continue to clean to attempt to get it right. If he had to look again and it was not right, he would offer a rock for inside my shoe, to remind me that the bearings would be doing the same thing, if I did not get it right.”

“These ‘little’ things help shape the next generation.”

“Tony was a great mentor for the students that were ready to learn. He was cryptic enough to make you think and grow, but still get the job done. Tony would often ‘pretend’ that he would not understand a concept or process just so you thought he was struggling through it with you – only to find out he had it the whole time once you got to the result.”

Robert said one of the last things he and Tony spoke about before he passed was, “Don’t be in it for the accolades – be in it for the real change and outcomes.”

“I am sure Tony took pride in his achievements in life. I am sure he had a special place in his heart for the people onto whom he imparted wisdom over the years.

“Tony would inspire you to learn in areas which you thought were not possible. His knowledge seemed ‘never ending’. You would walk into his office with what you thought was a new concept, a concept being trialed somewhere else, or even an investing insight which he would mostly say, “I did see in an article last week.”

“We would then discuss how it would apply or affect our business and how we could leverage it (good or bad) in our favour. To this day, I still don’t know how Tony managed to keep up to date and relevant with his knowledge base. Hard work and meticulous research is the only way I could see.”