The town prospered as a port and as a commercial and administrative centre, drawing business from nearby pastoral holdings and the sugar plantations being developed along the river.

Wilson set up a boiling-down works in 1867, and a number of buildings were present by the time Walkerston received a Post Office in 1876.

The presence of seven sugar mills nearby (Alexandra, Pleystowe, Cassada, Branscombe, Lorne, Palms, and Palmyra), built between 1868-1883, also boosted Walkerston's economy during the 1880s.

In 1915 T. J. Ryan's Labor government won office in wartime Queensland on the strength of promises to improve living standards - principally by addressing the problems of high commodity prices, price-fixing and the emergence of monopolies.

The Labor party in general and Ryan and his Treasurer, Ted Theodore, in particular, advocated public ownership of key economic activities, in competition with private enterprise, but at fair prices.

These activities were part of a broader, pragmatic Labor platform, which advocated State intervention in the private sector to protect individuals against capitalist exploitation, not as a means of involving workers in the control of production, or of raising wage levels.

Believing that all Queenslanders should have access to meat at fair prices, and needing to maintain a regular supply of cheap meat to the Allied fighting forces, the Ryan government introduced a State-wide system of State-owned butcher's shops which proved to be among the more successful of the numerous State enterprises.

The first State butcher's shop was opened in Roma Street, Brisbane, on 12 November 1915, and soon other shops were established in Brisbane suburbs and in regional centres such as Rockhampton, Gympie, Townsville, Charters Towers, and Mount Morgan, following the railway lines via which frozen meat was distributed to the State butcheries.

The Mackay (South Side) State Butchery in George Street was also built of timber and fibre cement, and opened during August 1922, with a construction cost of £327.

Some State enterprises had been purchased at an inflated price; others were located in unsuitable areas or were badly managed; others suffered the effects of economic recession, or of the mid-1920s drought.

By 1926, Labor premier William McCormack had declared publicly his intention of disposing of unprofitable State Enterprises, although little action was taken at the time.

[1] In their 14 years of operation, the State butcher's shops sold over £5 million worth of meat and had made an overall profit to the Treasury of £185,000, but when interest and other charges were factored in, they lost about £6,000.

However, this pales by comparison with the combined £2 million loss sustained by the State stations and the State-acquired Chillagoe railway, mines and smelter.

[1] The Walkerston State Butcher shop was built on land previously owned by Annie and William Barwise (publicans at the nearby Duke of Edinburgh Hotel).

The works requested were: a paling fence on the front alignment, with post and wire fencing on other three sides; a stable building of timber with an iron roof, containing two stalls with slip rails in front, a feed room (with wooden floor and door), and open space for one cart; and a hardwood cover for the well.

[2] No equipment related to butchery remains in the shop, although a large fig tree to the rear of the property, near High Street, has metal railings embedded in its branches, possibly used for butchering carcasses.

[1] Internally, the shop has an open area to the front, measuring about 4.8 metres (16 ft) square, with a mansard-profile timber ceiling.

Between the top of the side walls and the ceiling, sheets of perforated material have been set between the timber framing to provide ventilation.

[1] A recent flat-roofed carport structure connects the front of the western side of the shop to the neighbouring building, and is not historically significant.

The highly co-coordinated, statewide system of State butcheries provided cheaper meat to thousands of Queensland families between 1915 and 1929.

The large front window, the street awning, and ventilation at the top of the walls also reflect the design of butcher shops of the period.