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From farm to factory in the South Australian dairying industry

From the first Australian dairy herd of seven cows milked by Dr John Harris in Ultimo, New South Wales, the dairy industry has waxed and, more recently, waned. In 1957 there were 3 500 000 dairy cows in Australia; by 2005 there were 2 500 000. In South Australia in 1891 there were 80 000 dairy cows. That grew to 174 000 in 1950. In 2006 there were 110 000.

Initially, milk was sent to milk processing factories in cans where it was separated in large milk separators. The advent of the horse-driven cream separator in the late 1800s enabled producers to separate their own milk. One resulting development was the opening up of a pig industry. Milk was separated into cream and milk. The cream was sent to butter factories while the fat-free milk was used as pig food.

In the lower River Murray area cream was transported to the Murray Bridge and Tailem Bend factories by motor launches on the river. The production of cheese, however, required whole milk. From 1919 milk boats transported this to the Murray Bridge cheese factories. The South Australian Farmers Union operated four boats: Loyalty, Progress, Co-operation andUnion. After Amscol took over Beauchamp’s factory, they too ran four boats, including Civic, Hazel and Dawn. Milk and passengers were picked up at landings from Mannum to Wellington.

(Source: Geoff Norman, 2006)