{"id":463550,"date":"2026-02-07T03:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T03:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/463550\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T03:00:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T03:00:13","slug":"fifth-generation-gunnedah-butcher-retires-ending-150-year-etheridge-family-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/463550\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifth-generation Gunnedah butcher retires, ending 150-year Etheridge family legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bernard Etheridge has the butchery trade in his blood.<\/p>\n

Since arriving in Australia in the 1800s, the Etheridge family has built a butchery legacy that spans five generations across three regional towns in New South Wales.<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

Bernard Etheridge’s father Gus in the 1940s delivering meat for Mornington Butchery. (Supplied: Bernard Etheridge)<\/p>\n

Originally from England, the Etheridges started their Australian story in Scone in the Upper Hunter region.<\/p>\n

There, Mr Etheridge’s great-great-grandfather Edward worked as a butcher before moving further north to Barraba in the 1870s to open the family’s first shop.<\/p>\n

In 1946, Mr Etheridge’s grandfather moved to the north west town of Gunnedah, about 75 kilometres west of Tamworth, and purchased the old bootmaker’s shop that soon became Mornington Butchery.<\/p>\n

The butchery was passed down from generation to generation, and in 1997, Mr Etheridge bought the shop from his parents and has run it since.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Bernard Etheridge with his parents Gus and Majella circa 2000. (Supplied: Bernard Etheridge)<\/p>\n

The end of an era<\/p>\n

Mr Etheridge said the shop’s 80-year success story was part people, part product.<\/p>\n

“I enjoy what I do, and also the interaction with the public every day is good,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The quality in a product, quality of service and the staff have been a big part of the success of the business.<\/p>\n

“Without good staff, you won’t have a good business.”<\/p>\n

\"The\"Mornington Mornington Butchery in the early 1980s. \/ The shopfront today.<\/p>\n

Mr Etheridge said his parents would be happy that he’s hanging up the knives.<\/p>\n

“Dad built the business to quite a large size and he’d be quite pleased that we’ve been able to add to that and maintain the business,” he said.<\/p>\n

“They’d be quite pleased that I get to put my feet up.”<\/p>\n

\"Butchers<\/p>\n

Bernard Etheridge says butchery has become less physical in recent years thanks to new machinery. (ABC News: Brigitte Murphy)<\/p>\n

Butchery business changes<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the four decades spent working in the shop Mr Etheridge said he had observed significant changes in the meat and butchery industry.<\/p>\n

“There’s been big changes that you don’t really notice as it happens, but looking back there’s been a lot,” he said.\"old<\/p>\n

The shop in 1997. \u00a0 (Supplied: Bernard Etheridge)<\/p>\n

“I started working here straight out of school at 16 \u2026 it was a lot more physical, hands-on work,<\/p>\n

“[Now] there’s a lot more machinery; better machinery made life a lot easier.”<\/p>\n

He said there has also been change in the public’s eating habits.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

“Back when I first started off the family Sunday roast was a big thing.<\/p>\n

“These days people just don’t do that, if they have a family get together, it’s usually a BBQ, so that’s a big change.”<\/p>\n

While he said it didn’t contribute to his decision to resign, Mr Etheridge said changes in shopping habits and the emergence of fast-food chains had been a challenge for local businesses in the region.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Bernard Etheridge says fast food has been a challenge for local businesses. (ABC News: Brigitte Murphy)<\/p>\n

“The takeaway food industry has taken off,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“When I first started there were 13 butcher shops in town, now there’s only two.”Handing over the reins<\/p>\n

After 46 years working in the shop Mr Etheridge said he was ready to let go.<\/p>\n

“It’s still quite a profitable industry to be in, it’s just that date of birth is catching up; it’s time to hand the reins on to a younger group of people.<\/p>\n

“All of my kids have worked here in various roles, in smaller roles. My daughter still works here on a casual basis, but they’ve all gone off into different areas, so it’s time to sell the business.<\/p>\n

“After five generations, this is the finish of the Etheridge family connection to [the] meat industry.”<\/p>\n

While Mr Etheridge’s retirement marks the end of an era, a new chapter is just beginning for local cattle farmers the James family.<\/p>\n

New owner Kate James says she is looking forward to continuing the legacy of Mornington Butchery.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Kate James’s family will take over the reins in February. (ABC News: Brigitte Murphy)<\/p>\n

“I’m super excited and also a bit nervous,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I believe all the things that everybody loves about Mornington are all the things that I love about Mornington.<\/p>\n

“And those are the things that we’re going to be concentrating on going forward.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bernard Etheridge has the butchery trade in his blood. Since arriving in Australia in the 1800s, the Etheridge…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,237676,99,87384,237674,237675,36509,237677,196828],"class_list":{"0":"post-463550","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-bernard-etheridge","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-butcher","13":"tag-butchery","14":"tag-etheridge-family","15":"tag-gunnedah","16":"tag-mornington-butchery","17":"tag-regional-nsw"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}