Milk delivery, c.1890s, Image courtesy CCFA.Early dairies in Canberra
In the 1820s the Limestone Plains saw Europeans settle on Indigenous land and farm this, but prior to this the Plains were home to a large Indigenous population who cared for their country using traditional farming techniques. After the land was colonised, several of the region’s early settlers farmed dairy cows.
Duntroon Dairy, c.2017 Image courtesy of Rambling Wombat.
Canberra’s earliest dairy was Duntroon Dairy, owned by Robert Campbell. It was constructed in 1832 and today is Canberra’s oldest surviving building. The dairy was 5 m wide and 15 m long, made of stone, and used innovative engineering including an in-ground cistern to maintain internal temperature and keep dairy produce cool. It was extended several times over the following century, including the addition of a worker’s cottage and additional holding bays.
The dairy produced milk, cheese, and butter, with the process completed by hand, without the aid of modern machinery. There was no refrigeration or easy delivery method either, with milk canisters loaded onto horse-drawn carts and delivered to neighbouring areas.
Horse-drawn cart with milk. Courtesy of CCFA.
After Canberra was chosen as the capital, early farmers were allocated land along the Molonglo River flats, operating under a 25-year lease. Licensing began in 1924, with the first two formal dairies obtaining their lease – the Springbank dairy, which was run by the Kaye family near Acton, and the Riverview Dairy operated by the Corkhill family near Yarralumla.
By 1928 an additional seven dairy leases had been allocated to farmers. Sales were competitive rather than cooperative, with keen competition between vendors.
The milk produced from these early dairies continued to be delivered direct to customers by horse-drawn carts. The milk was not treated in any way but was cooled before delivery. Milking continued to be conducted by hand with families continuing the dairying tradition for generations.
A woman milking a cow in at a Canberra dairy. Date unknown, Courtesy of CCFA.
Other early dairies situated in what was then known as Canberra City District, included Goldenholm Dairy, Cargill’s Big Gun Dairy (near Newcastle Street in the Causeway), George Gouge’s Dairy (near Gladstone and Tennant streets in Fyshwick and extending to the Molonglo River) and Fredrickson’s Dairy which bordered on Goldenholm on the other end of Dairy Flat Road (now the Monaro Highway extension).
By the 1930s there were some complaints about milk quality and availability. Local dairy farmers joined forces to create the Canberra Dairy Society Limited, a move which gave them a monopoly on milk supply in the region. Although they established cool rooms and wash up areas at their dairies, there was apparently no improvement in the quality of milk and its distribution.
Further developments of the industry were constrained by the Depression and it was not until 1937 that a purpose-built milk treatment depot was constructed on Mildura Street in Griffith.
Milk processing plant, Griffith, c.1960s. Courtesy of CCFA.
The original 1938 milk treatment depot built by the Canberra Dairy Society Ltd remains on Mildura Street in Griffith. Designed in the inter-war functionalist style, the original purpose of the depot was to offer storage and cooling facilities.
For many years milk was received in 45 litre (10 gallon) metal cans, brought to the factory by farmers who operated dairy farms at Acton, Fyshwick, and Kambah. The milk was delivered to consumers without bottling or pasteurisation, ladled into their waiting containers.
In 1940, a manager’s residence was built on the same block, followed by a new factory in 1952, attached on the same site. In 1948, the Canberra Dairy Society merged with the NSW firm Dairy Farmers Milk Co-operative Limited, again giving this new organisation a monopoly until 1958. When the two companies merged, Dairy Farmers took control of operations at the Griffith depot and introduced pasteurisation and bottling. During this time, many local dairies ceased operation after the resumption of their land for the filling of Lake Burley Griffin in the early 1960s.
In 1954 the new milk processing plant in Griffith was linked to the nearby railway system by a spur line to facilitate the import of milk from New South Wales by rail tanker. Image courtesy of CCFA.
The original building and later additions have produced and distributed milk to the ACT community for over 80 years, and continues to do so today as the Canberra headquarters of Capitol Chilled Foods Australia. When you next turn down Mildura Street, take a closer look at the building and reflect on how many millions of litres of milk it has provided to the people of the ACT, and the people inside who have helped it happen.
To read more about how your milk gets from cow to carton, click here
Visit the CMAG website