Rockhampton is known as Australia’s “Beef Capital” thanks to its location in the heart of Queensland’s cattle country in the Fitzroy River basin. It’s estimated that there are around three million head of cattle grazing in the region, along with two large abattoirs. The nearby Central Queensland Livestock Exchange is one of Australia’s largest cattle sale yards. In 1988, the city cemented its credentials as the focus of the nation’s beef industry when it hosted the first Beef Week, a three-yearly event now known as Beef Australia Expo.
The name change distinguishes the event from another Beef Week held in Casino, a rival town in northern New South Wales. The Casino festival preceded the Rockhampton one, with the inaugural event in 1983. It has been held annually since then.
The Rockhampton festival comprises a range of events, including competitions to judge the best stud and commercial animals, the best beef carcases and the best entrepreneurial ideas for the industry. There’s also a week-long exhibition, cooking demonstrations by celebrity chefs, farm tours and a range of social events. My daughter, who attended in 2021, confirmed that the social activities included the consumption of much alcohol, the eating of plenty of steak and mixed success at mechanical bull-riding. The 2024 event attracted more than 125,000 people of whom 62 per cent came from outside the region. As a result, it garnered several Queensland tourism awards.
The celebration of beef extends beyond the festival, however. Visitors to Rockhampton are treated to giant statues of bulls, all, as they say, “intact”. In other words, balls and all. The local restaurants, as you’d expect, lean heavily towards steak in all its forms. At Cocobrew, you can even breakfast on steak and eggs, once thought to be Australia’s national dish. Around town, you’ll find other nostalgic meat dishes that have mostly vanished from big city menus, including savoury mince, the classic steak sandwich, crumbed steak, and surf and turf.
Rockhampton, known as “Rocky” to the locals, is about 600km north of Brisbane and sits on the Tropic of Capricorn, where the sub-tropical climate merges into all-out tropical. It is located on the Fitzroy River, about 45km inland from the river mouth.