Illawarra Cooperative Central Dairy Factory

DESCRIPTION

NameIllawarra Cooperative Central Dairy Factory TypeBuildingBusinessComplexGeolocation^[1] Last edited by: Will Chittick

AddressCreamery Road,Albion Park RailDescriptionThe Illawarra Cooperative Central Dairy (ICCD) Factory site was part of the original grant to D'Arcy Wentworth in 1821.

George Laurence Fuller bought the land in 1865, and in 1898 offered a site for the proposed factory, next to the railway line at Albion Park Rail.

The ICCD Company was registered 5 December 1898, and the factory opened for business 1 September 1899, with C.W. Wood as manager, and Mrs Fraser officially opening the coop 27 September by breaking a bottle of milk, instead of the customary bottle of Champagne.

The factory was built on the western side of the railway line, for the fast transportation of milk to the Sydney markets. Prior to building of the new cooperative factory, each small farming community had its own butter factory. Butter factories existed at Albion Park, Tongarra, Yellow Rock, and Dunmore. None of these factories had refrigeration, so farmers began to take their produce to the modern ICCD for processing. This resulted in the eventual closure of the smaller factories.

The ICCD was built to assist farmers in the butter trade, who were often at a loss with ‘souring’. Entering early into the milk trade enabled the Cooperative to greatly succeed, and is considered a credit to the pioneer farmers of the area.

In 1903, the ICCD was one of the first industries to use electricity by installing the dairy’s own steam driven electricity generator.

From the earliest days of the ICCD, butter making was a profitable by-product of milk production for both farmers, and the factory. Butter was churned at the factory by steam driven churns, and sent in wooden casks by rail to Sydney. The factory had a Swedish machine that cut bulk butter into either half or one pound size weights, and wrapped them using the butter brand wrapper rolls.

The ICCD produced butter for 86 years, first under the factory brand ‘Allowrie’, until 1955, when it changed the brand to ‘Warrilla’. At its peak, the ICCD sent over 200, 56-pound boxes of butter for sale per week.

On ‘block days’, the factory did not accept milk, only cream. Farmers separated milk from cream on the farms, and keep cream cool to get the first grade price. In summer, cream was placed in tanks in water, or in a nearby creek. Calves and pigs were fed with the separated milk. When the Milk Board brought in sediment testing of milk on the factory floor, farmers felt the impact.

‘Keeping the milk free of sediment when hand milking was a problem, with little water in the dairies to keep the dust down. Sitting under a cow on a wooden block with a folded hessian bag on top, plus a two or three-gallon bucket held between one’s knees, every puff or gust of wind would shower the open bucket with fine dust particles. The strainers that farmers used on their milk cans and wads would only collect the odd fly or any other coarse matter… Children were the common source of labour used to separate milk and cream, using a hand separator. If one lagged below 60turns per minute, a loud bell would ring and one had to increase the speed.

‘Milk testers at the factory could tell if there was sour milk built up in the lids, or if the milk had been tainted by carrot or turnip weed. They could tell if cows were fed turnips, ensilage, clover or lucern. Up until 1967, all milk delivered to the factory was in 10-gallon cans. Each can when full, weighed about 120 pounds, and at only two feet high, were heavy to lift from the ground onto the back of a cart or truck. A popular sport with some was to see how many empty cans could be lifted at once (Martin, Jack 2005. Tongarra Tales, Tongarra Heritage Society Inc.)

The factory ceased operations in 1985, though milk manufacturing continued as A.C.F Supply Store until 1994.

External LinkThe New Illawarra Butter Factory at Albion Park 1899A Successful Butter Factory 1903The Confrence of Butter Factory Representatives at Albion Park 1903Butter Factory Conference 1903Confrence of Cooperative Dairy Companies 1904The Farmer in the Albion Park District 1907Rapid Growth Illawarra Society's Thirty-Five Years of Progress 1935

Photograph

Milk Storeroom at the Illawarra Cooperative Central Dairy Factory

Illawarra Cooperative Central Dairy Factory Staff

Illawarra Cooperative Central Dairy Society Board of Directors

Opening of the new Administration Offices at Illawarra Cooperative Central Dairy Factory

Milk Vats at the Illawarra Cooperative Central Dairy Factory