Welcome
Geo. H. O’Donnell is the only commercial printer and the only commercial and retail office products business in Mareeba. For all your North Queensland printing and Atherton Tableland printing needs call the Mareeba printers that have been operating since 1908.
We are a member of the Office Power group, a national organization giving us access to big business buying power whilst retaining our small business focus on personal service to our customers. Our printing operation, our office products retail shop and our commercial/corporate warehouse are all at the one convenient location, 224 Byrnes Street, Mareeba.
Our team here is very dedicated, with many years experience and are ready to assist you with all your printing and office requirements, so if you are looking for North Queensland printers and Atherton Tableland printers, we are the only Mareeba printing and Mareeba office supplies one stop shop for Far North Queensland office supplies needs.
TO TOPContact Us
Geo. H. O'Donnell
Phone (07) 4092 2303
Fax (07) 4092 1111
sales@odonnellsonline.com.au
printing@odonnellsonline.com.au
admin@odonnellsonline.com.au
224 Byrnes Street, Mareeba
P.O. Box 286, Mareeba Q. 4880
ABN 72 442 060 014
Business Hours:
Monday – Friday 8am – 5pm
Saturday 8am – 12 noon
Closed all public holidays
A long established Mareeba business, O’Donnells Printery has traced the history of the Atherton Tableland’s largest town and has played an important role in supplying its commercial printing needs for over 100 years.
George Henry O’Donnell and his business partner, Ned Martin purchased the Mareeba Herald newspaper from its creator, Octave Lannoy and continued publication until 1907. Ever the newspaper entrepreneur, O’Donnell then produced a bi-weekly newspaper, the “Walsh River & Tinaroo Miner” and was owner of both the newspaper and the Acme Printery. The “Miner” as it was affectionately known was printed at the company’s original premises at the corner of Hort and Byrnes Street until it ceased production in 1935.
The commercial printery business grew and was located at 131 Byrnes Street (near where travelexperience.com now operates) George O’Donnell’s son, William George (also known as George) worked with his brother Jack in their father’s business. George (Jnr) became a very proficient hand compositor, assembling each type piece letter and space in a required frame dimension for printing on the letterpress system presses. He also studied and qualified as an accountant in 1934. Both George (Jnr) and Jack operated their father’s business in partnership and also a busy accountancy practice upon George O’Donnell’s (Snr) retirement. George O’Donnell sold O’Donnell’s Printery to Terry and Pat Duffy in 1966.
Terry Duffy had previously had a banking career and through this had acquired a strong business acumen. Keen to expand the business, the Duffys purchased a linotype casting machine which cast type in long single strips rather than the previously arduous handset type system; a system that served the business and the Tableland community’s clients well ever since it began back in 1908. This was later followed by the addition of a new generation Heidelberg GTO offset printing press, a welcome addition to the long serving Heidelberg Platen and Vertical Miehle letterpress printing presses.
Moving from ‘Hot Metal’ to ‘Cold Type’ in the early 80’s, Geo. H. O’Donnells moved into the digital arena using what is now commonly referred to 
as Desktop Publishing. As technology changed, so too did the equipment used by the long serving printers and stationers. In addition to printing business and personal stationery, glossy pamphlets, booklets and flyers, Geo H. O’Donnells moved to match their large clientele’s growing needs and became a one-stop shop for the area’s stationery and commercial printing needs.
Terry and Pat Duffy relinquished interests in their business in 2002, selling to Gordon and Robyn Shelton who came to the Far North from operating a similar business in Victoria. The Sheltons further developed Geo H. O’Donnell’s long standing reputation for quality workmanship, competitive pricing and above all else, personal service which has seen the company progress well into its 104th year.
March 2011 saw the business change ownership again, for only the third time in its long history, with the Sheltons selling out to a partnership between David Christensen and John Pearsall. John started with the business in 1968 as a printing apprentice and worked for Terry Duffy until 1998, returning in 2011 to again get ‘ink under his fingernails’.
