The following article first appeared in the December 1956 issue of MIMAG.

“Ice and Christmas go well together at Mount Isa.

That’s the reason the ice-works at King’s Cross goes into top gear on the eve of Santa’s big day.

It’s nothing to do with breakdowns in the town’s electricity supplies.

The fact is that everybody is celebrating and, to celebrate under Isa’s Christmas sun, a bottle of cheer takes pride of place beside the mistletoe and the Christmas tree.

Refrigerators don’t come big enough to handle the supplies needed to cope with the festivities.

Neighbors, relatives and work-mates are likely to show up at each and every household which means that the only way to cater for them is to buy ice and fill junior’s tub, the garden bucket or the bath with ice and bottled supplies.

That’s why the ice-works is the focal point of Christmas Eve. Early that day a continuous procession of callers lines up to buy their holiday ice. The team which operates the Company’s ice-works goes into three shifts early in December.

Their objective is to fill the two storage freezers to their limit of 3000 blocks.

Normally only one freezer is used for ice storage – the rest might hold butter, lamb or pork from Winton, and other supplies for the Community Store.

But, over 4000 blocks of ice will be sold to Mount Isans over the two-day Christmas period. This must be the only ice-works where customers buy ice with vouchers.

Customers, Mineside or Town Side included, must go to the Mines Club house to buy them. Two colours are available, one to be used Christmas Eve, the other on Christmas Day.

As there is a limit of three blocks per person this system keeps everyone strictly to their daily quota. The tickets are then presented at the ice-works in return for 14lb (7kg) blocks of ice.

Because ice doesn’t grow on Christmas trees the three-shift team of men works around the clock getting a bank of supplies ready for the Christmas rush.

The shifts are divided into two-man teams under foreman Bert Graves, Jack Fogarty, Max Kuhn and Ted Starr, certificated engine drivers, are the men who produce the ice.

Their job is to keep the plant in operation from the big refrigeration compressors right down to filling the ice moulds with water.

Jack Fogarty was on duty when we called in to see what kind of black magic produced a block of ice.

He showed us tanks of brine, a lot of galvanised ice moulds capable of producing four blocks of ice apiece, two compressors, a mass of steel coils and a cylinder of ammonia, the best refrigerant used in ice making.

“We first fill the moulds with water from a hose,” Jack explained, as he removed the planks which formed a loose floor above the two brine tanks.

“But we don’t fill them right to the top. Water expands when it freezes so we have to allow for a three-inch rise in the level as the water turns to ice.”

In his leisurely confident manner, Jack explained how the water was transformed into solid slabs of crystal.

“Contrary to what many people think, ammonia never comes into contact with the water used for ice making.”

“Liquid ammonia simply absorbs water heat as it becomes gas in the brine-submerged coils.

“It then reduces the brine temperature to approximately 10 degrees F.  The water in the cans which are submerged in the brine, freezes. “It’s as simple as that.”

He continued, “After the gas takes the heat out of the water we turn the ammonia gas back into a liquid by means of the compressor which is the main-stay of the plant.

The compressor builds the gas up to a high pressure and temperature until it is cooled by the outside water tower which turns it back into a liquid. The liquid ammonia is then used over and over again in a continuous liquid to gas cycle.”

Every 24 hours the moulds are taken out of the brine tanks, and tipped out of the moulds. Truck driver Ray Prideaux then cuts the ice into four-piece sections with a three-bladed saw.

His assistant, George Catsacas, follows up and loads the ice from a ramp into the delivery truck. The ice truck deliveries range as far afield as the new dam site and Mineside points from South End to Soldier’s Hill.

All ice-works engine drivers must have Government certificates. Ammonia is a deadly gas, and the men who deal with it have to know their stuff.

They have no complaints and they, themselves, readily admit: “We like our Father Christmas role and we know that for every block of ice that leaves the plant on December 24-25, there’ll be a lot of Christmas cheer wherever it goes.”

These 14lb (1 stone or 7kg) blocks of ice were also carved into various shapes to sit upright as the focal point for the Christmas Dinner table in the Mount Isa Mine’s dining halls where the company’s single men enjoyed a feast which reflected the spirit of a family Christmas.

And in the spirit of good cheer from Christmas past and for Christmas future … Happy Christmas!

Researched by Kim-Maree Burton

Information sourced from the Mount Isa Mines colour magazine, MIMAG

Photographs supplied by MIMAG