Tributes flow as the Gympie region loses a local legend
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Pat Nolan, the patriarch of the Nolan family, founder of Nolan Meats and one of the Gympie region business community’s biggest icons, has died.
The Nolan family today confirmed Pat passed away peacefully in his sleep on Monday night at the age of 91.
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Tributes immediately began pouring in for the man who turned a small independent butchery into the region’s biggest private employer, after it was revealed he had passed away this week.
The Rotary Club of Gympie was among the first to pay public tribute to a “true gentleman” who was a member there for 50 years earlier today.
“Vale Pat Nolan. Our club has lost a true gentleman and long term Rotary Club of Gympie member. We send our sincere condolences to club member Michael, Robyn and family and to the whole Nolan family,” a Rotary Club Facebook post said.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with you all at this sad time.”
Little Haven Palliative Care and former Gympie councillor Rae Gate were also among those to share their condolences.
Mr Nolan’s death comes two and a half years after his wife Marie passed away at the age of 92 in September 2018.
In 1945, Mr Nolan entered the meat trade as an apprentice in the Apollonian Vale butcher shop in Gympie, and in the mid-1950s, romance blossomed with Marie.
Pat and Marie founded a small retail butchery business in 1958, with the aim of providing quality meat to the Gympie community.
They soon developed a reputation for high quality meats served with a smile, and in 1964 they expanded with the purchase of a small country slaughterhouse.
Pat and Marie pursued an ongoing interest in animal production, adding cattle production to their business. They later began wholesaling to other butchers in the region.
Along the way they welcomed six children Michael, Clare, Tony, Terry, Mary and Helen, with Michael, Terry and Tony still running the family business today.
Through remarkable dedication Nolan Meats has become arguably Gympie’s most famous export, transforming from the small butchery Pat and Marie started into a global empire.
The Nolans’ top-quality beef products are distributed around Australia and exported overseas to Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Middle East, Africa, Taiwan, USA and other markets.
The Nolan family is preparing to farewell Pat on a date to be confirmed.
