Gerringong and Kiama Butter Factories

On the 2nd January 1903, the Gerringong Crown Factory received an order for a 150 boxes of butter to be shipped from Gerringong to South Africa.

The Crown Factory was one of a number of successful butter producers in the district at the turn of last century that thrived on the never-ending supply of milk from the rich local pastures. Gerringong's butter was considered to be among the best and attracted top price. In 1905, there was a shipment of Gerringong Crown Factory butter to London, and the reports received back were that the butter had good flavour, texture, colour and packaging, and that it was a very good butter.

Butter was originally produced on dairy farms from cream skimmed from milk in broad flat dishes. When commercial separators came to the Illawarra in the 1880s, first to Mr T A Hindmarsh's property at Gerringong, in 1883, and second to the Kiama Pioneer Factory, in 1884, the production of butter moved to these commercial factories. Refrigeration technology was also taking off at this time, and in 1901 a refrigeration plant was installed at the Gerringong Crown Factory.

The Kiama Pioneer Butter Factory, which opened in 1884, was the first cooperative butter factory in Australia, and was followed by the Gerringong Co-operative Dairy Society in 1889. The Kiama Pioneer Butter Factory was built of weatherboard with an oak shingled roof. The building was taken over by the Fresh Food and Ice company as a milk depot in 1897/98 and was then closed in the early 1900s. The memorial in the image gallery was erected by Bruce Tidmarsh around 1910, and the factory building was demolished in 1936. The memorial is located on the right-hand side of the Jamberoo Road as you leave Spring Creek (not far past the bus stop).

Kiama Pioneer Butter Factory. Date unknown

The Kiama Pioneer Butter Factory Memorial on Jamberoo Road, just past Spring Creek

Ships with refrigeration plants were used to transport kegs of butter from Gerringong to Sydney and beyond. The 'Dairy Maid' was the first ship to use the newly built jetty in Boat Harbour, Gerringong, in 1884.

Gerringong Dairy Co-operative