There comes a Saturday in every South African expat’s life when the supermarket snag simply will not do. You want wors. Proper wors. If you have been wondering where to buy boerewors in Australia, the good news is that the answer is now “in every mainland state, and delivered to the rest”. Boerewors, for the Australians reading along, is South Africa’s coarse, coriander-spiced beef sausage, sold as one long coil and cooked over a fire; it is regulated seriously enough back home that the official South African standards require at least 90 per cent meat. This directory works through the states one by one, then covers the supermarket versions and the online butchers who ship to wherever you are. Stock and opening days change, so ring or check the website before you drive across town.
Table of Contents
- 1. New South Wales: Rouse Hill’s dedicated shop and Sydney’s wors makers
- 2. Victoria: Melbourne is spoilt, from Templestowe to Tony’s
- 3. Queensland: the braai belt runs from Redland Bay to Noosa
- 4. Western Australia: Perth might be the wors capital of Australia
- 5. South Australia: Adelaide’s Holden Hill and friends
- 6. The supermarket shelf: what Coles and Woolworths call boerewors
- 7. Everywhere else: where to buy boerewors in Australia online
- 8. Still stuck? Commission a batch or make your own
- Fire first, questions later
1. New South Wales: Rouse Hill’s dedicated shop and Sydney’s wors makers
Sydney’s South African community is big enough to support specialists rather than just a shelf in a deli. Biltong and Boerewors is the name-says-it-all option, with a physical store at 40 Panmure Street, Rouse Hill, and delivery across Australia if the Hills District is not your district. African Vibe makes boerewors in Sydney with traditional spices and Australian meat, alongside the biltong and droëwors that make up the rest of the homesickness shelf. Droëwors, first-timers, is the dried version of the same sausage; different post, same coriander. If you are in regional NSW, skip ahead to the online entry, because most of these ship.
2. Victoria: Melbourne is spoilt, from Templestowe to Tony’s
Melbourne might have the deepest bench in the country. Bushman Meats makes boerewors, biltong and droëwors and delivers across metro Melbourne plus Ballarat and Bendigo, which is rare regional coverage. The South African Shop in Templestowe sells beef boerewors by the kilogram, Tony’s Quality Meats is a Melbourne butcher with a full South African range, and Protea Foods is a butchery that moved from Johannesburg to Melbourne, which is about as direct a supply line as you can ask for. Between the four of them, a Melburnian has no excuse for a braai without wors.
3. Queensland: the braai belt runs from Redland Bay to Noosa
Queensland is far better served than it first looks. De Beer Meat Co is a family operation with butcher shops in Brisbane and around the state, and a factory in Rocklea turning out boerewors, biltong and the rest of the dried meat canon. Ozrica Foods in Redland Bay makes boerewors, biltong and droëwors in its own factory and stocks the imported grocery staples too. Steyn’s Biltong started in an Aspley butcher shop and now sells its range, boerewors included, from Brendale, Strathpine and Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast. And on the Gold Coast, Springbok Foods at Burleigh Heads makes its own boerewors, delivers across south east Queensland from the Gold Coast up to Noosa, and posts to the rest of the country. Queensland humidity is a biltong problem, not a boerewors problem, so no excuses on this one.
4. Western Australia: Perth might be the wors capital of Australia
Per head of homesick population, Perth is arguably the easiest place in the country to find boerewors. D.Jays Gourmet makes it fresh in its Perth factory in Malaga, in traditional and spicy versions. Impala Foods does South African groceries and homemade foods, with boerewors available to pre-order for Saturday morning pickup, which is exactly the right day for it. Conways Butchery in Welshpool also makes biltong and boerewors. If you live in Perth and still cannot find wors, the problem is not supply.
5. South Australia: Adelaide’s Holden Hill and friends
Adelaide punches above its weight. The South African Place at 670b North East Road, Holden Hill stocks boerewors, biltong, droëwors and the full nostalgia aisle, milk tart included. A Taste of South Africa is another dedicated Adelaide shop for South African food and drinks, and SA in SA (the pun was inevitable and we respect it) rounds out the local options. For a city its size, Adelaide’s expats are well looked after.
6. The supermarket shelf: what Coles and Woolworths call boerewors
Both big supermarkets now sell something called boerewors, which would have been unthinkable a decade ago. Coles has a Coles Finest pork and beef boerewors in natural casing, and Woolworths sells a gourmet beef and pork version, with a couple of other boerewors-styled sausages in the range. Two honest notes. First, these are pork-forward blends cut into links or short sausages, not the beef-led single coil tradition expects, so consider them a weeknight understudy rather than the lead act. Second, they are still a decent gateway wors for your Australian mates. Just do not serve one to your father-in-law from Bloemfontein and call it boerewors.
7. Everywhere else: where to buy boerewors in Australia online
Tasmania, the ACT, the Northern Territory and everyone regional: this is your entry. Several of the shops above ship chilled or frozen boerewors nationwide, with Biltong and Boerewors delivering anywhere in Australia and Springbok Foods running a full online store. Delivery areas and frozen-versus-chilled rules vary by retailer and postcode, so check the shipping page before you fill a cart. Order more than one coil while you are paying for the cold freight; wors freezes well, and future you will be grateful. For the broader shopping list, from Ouma rusks to Mrs Balls, our state by state directory of South African shops covers the grocers around you.
8. Still stuck? Commission a batch or make your own
Two backup plans that both work. A good continental butcher already makes coarse sausage and will often run a batch of boerewors to order if you bring a recipe and promise volume; a rugby club’s worth of expats ordering together focuses a butcher’s mind wonderfully. Or cut out the middleman entirely: our gram-for-gram boerewors spice mix recipe gives you the exact coriander, clove and pepper ratios per kilogram of meat, and any butcher can mince and case it for you if you supply the mix. Making your own is also the only guaranteed route to wors that tastes like your family’s, because, as established, everyone else’s recipe is wrong.
Fire first, questions later
So that is where to buy boerewors in Australia: every mainland capital has at least one dedicated South African butcher, the online shops cover everyone else, and the supermarkets are a serviceable plan C. Start with your state’s entry above, ring ahead, and buy double. And once the wors is in hand, treat it properly: a single coil, medium coals, turned with tongs and never stabbed. But that is the next post.
