Family brand

Morrissey & Co have welcomed their fifth generation into the family blacksmithing business.

Story Kate Newsome  Photo Morrissey & Co

The Morrissey family was at a dinner party together when someone had the thought that probably 95% of all cattle in Australia, especially in Queensland, would have come in contact with Morrissey-made gear at some stage. It’s a wild guess, sure, but it seems to ring true for Australia’s estimated herd of more than 25 million head.

For more than 150 years, a blacksmith called Morrissey has forged on the Western Downs of Queensland, and from its workshop in Jandowae, Morrissey & Co has remained at the global forefront of cattle-handling equipment. Each generation to take to the anvil has bettered the work and welfare of pastoralists and their livestock.

When OUTBACK visited the forge in 2005 (issue 44, p86), Sean and Christine Morrissey were at the helm. The couple were unsure if their children John, Tom and Sally would take an interest in returning to Jandowae and the family business – encouraging them to work and study elsewhere first.

In 2024, after attending university, working on Far North Queensland cattle stations and in corporate agriculture, Sally decided to join her brothers in the family business. Together, they are Morrissey & Co’s fifth generation.“It’s exciting now that we’re all back together. I’m keen to grow and bring on new products and continue down the path of innovation,” Sally says. “It was only working on stations near Mount Isa and the Gulf that you realise how many of our cradles are out there, and how many people use them every day. I don’t think I really realised that when we were younger.”