The Chiesa's originated from Northern Italy when Nonno (grandfather), Luigi settled in the township of Ingham in North Queensland after the second world war. Sponsored out by his Zio (uncle) Cerutti, he paid off his debt by working in the Cerutti Bakery. Once this was achieved, he became a Cane Cutter then a Cane Farmer. Their cattle journey started when 4 generations ago with Nonna's family the Palman's, who were also cane farmers, had milking cows running in Palm Creek to keep the rat population down. This reduced the loss of cane and minimised weil's disease which affected the health of the cane cutters.
In 1979 Teitzel's Farm and Butcher Shop was purchased, the name was changed, Chiesa & Sons Butchery and my uncle, Mario started operating the shop. He's still there 40 years later. Veal was the big seller, especially in an Italian based town, so they were crossbreeding Limousine, Charolais, Santa Gertudis etc and producing 150kg carcass calves off mum. Eventually, we needed to start keeping the progeny as the veal trade slowed and realised the Brahman breed was needed for ease of management on the coast.
Nowadays the family uses their own grass-fed Brahman heifers for the shop, processed through our local slaughterhouse, Bingil Bay Beef. My love of cattle has come from watching the family journey with cattle as a young boy and knew that it was something that I would want to continue doing in the future.
-Peter Chiesa
