No Milk Today

History Week begins this Saturday August 30 and runs through to September 8. I encourage you to stop by HJ Daley Library to look at our display called No Milk Today: Remembering Campbelltown's Forgotten Dairy Farms. We have featured seven dairy farms from the Campbelltown area. Only one of them, named Gowrie, still supplies milk. In fact Gowrie is the only dairy farm left in the Campbelltown area that is still active.

The display has descriptions of each farm, including its history, maps and photographs. There are also interesting quotes from various local people that were connected to these farms.

Did you know that the site of HJ Daley Library was once a dairy farm? Learn more about who owned and operated this farm.

The display is up until September 8.

Gowrie Homestead and Farm (Robert Reeve Collection)

Written by Andrew Allen

"SIX!"

The tale is told of Jack Nash, dairy farmer and sportsman, playing cricket in Mawson Park, and hitting a six all the way to the railway line! The story goes that the ball went all the way to Sydney on the train! Whilst we can't verify this, we can give the following information about Jack.
Jack Gordon Nash was born in 1900 to Florence and Henry Nash, and his early life was spent at the family home in Leumeah -  "Merriwee".

Jack as a boy in the garden at Merriwee, with his father Henry and cousin Olive Roach

Jack married Bess (nee Sedgewick) in 1933, and moved from the home in Leumeah to the dairy farm "Birriwa" which was situated on Camden Road, between the traffic lights at Waterworth Drive and Mount Annan Drive. "Birriwa" was part of the original Smeeton grant.
Jack was variously described as "really robust", "a real character", "a really big man", and "a really wild bloke!". It was clear he loved his sport - photos show him in both football and cricket teams, and sports reports from the day record him as being talented at both games - try scorer, skilled bowler, and evidently a strong batsman as well! Jack would run from Kenny Hill to Campbelltown for his football training.

The Campbelltown Cricket team - Jack is the centre player in the back row.

The family continued to farm at "Birriwa" for many years. Jack 's son Don worked as a milk vendor, but also worked with Jack until the dairy closed in 1969.  They bred Ayrshire cattle with the stud name Birriwa.

Jack Nash with a beautiful Ayrshire cow c1930s

Jack passed away in 1973 - he is remembered in the area through the Jack Nash Reserve at Curran's Hill , and the farm is remembered through Birriwa Reserve, Birriwa Circuit and Birriwa Community Hall at Mount Annan.


Written by Claire Lynch
Sources -
Grist Mills - Vol.28 No.1
"Why Campbelltown? : interviews"
Don Nash  - all images courtesy Don Nash

The Menangle Rotolactor

We have recently had a generous donation of a book to Local Studies from the Belgenny Farm Trust, called "Milk and the Macarthurs - the dairy history of Camden Park" by Brian Walsh. This book details the history of the dairy industry at Camden Park, from the initial land grants to John Macarthur through to the present day. I decided to write a little about the Rotolactor at Camden Park, because, as a kid, like many others, I can remember visiting it on a school excursion! The main memories are of milkshakes and the very strong smell of cow!
The Rotolactor was first developed and built in New Jersey, U.S.A., in the 1920s, and in the 1940s Lieutenant Edward Macarthur-Onslow, a descendant of John and Elizabeth Macarthur, inspected it on a business trip to the United States. Keen to keep abreast of modern trends, Edward returned to Australia and commissioned the building of a rotolactor at Camden Park. Plans were drawn up locally and the foundation stone laid in 1950. The building was completed in 1952, the first of it's kind in Australia.
Effectively, the rotolactor was a circular automated milking machine, with a circular rotating platform, with 50 cow bails. It was built of brick and stainless steel, with walls of glass to let in natural light, and lights for night milking. As the cows circulated on the milking machine they were fed on feed from the neighbouring irrigated Cowpasture Flats. It took 7 minutes to milk each cow, and every hour between 300 and 375 cows could be milked. Cows would complete a full circuit, and left the rotolactor at the same point as they entered via a different race. The cows were split into groups according to their milk production levels. There were three different speeds to accommodate high, average and low milk producers. A small staff of 9 or 10 could operate the process.
During the 50s and 60s up to 2,000 visitors a week travelled to Menangle to see the rotolactor in action!

The Menangle Rotolactor - cows entering and leaving the circular platform.

Operated by the Macarthur family until 1973, the rotolactor was sold and went through a few owners until it finally closed in about 1983.
These days, modern rotary dairies use a simpler platform and fewer staff. The Menangle Rotolactor was the forerunner that pioneered the use of rotary dairies in Australia.

Written by Claire Lynch
Sources:
Milk and the Macarthurs - the dairy history of Camden Park by Brian Walsh, Belgenny Farm Trust 2016
www.camdenparkhouse.com.au/rotolactor.htm
menangle.com.au
A Scrapbook of history: stories of the Macarthur District by Marie Holmes, CAHS 2012

The Milk Depot

In 1922 a new milk depot was proposed for the town of Campbelltown. There were about 68 dairies in the district and 45 of these dairies were interested in taking shares in a cooperative factory built in Badgally Road (then called Broughton Road) adjoining the railway crossing. Dairy Farmers Cooperative Milk Co opened the milk depot in 1923 at a cost of 6000 pounds.

In its hey-day, the depot received milk from 70 suppliers in the Campbelltown, Minto and Appin areas, to be chilled and transported in tankers by the "Milk Pot" train to Sydney. This train started from Moss Vale and picked up the Camden Depot milk freight and Campbelltown Depot milk, leaving Campbelltown at 11.45am.

Farmers delivered their milk to the factory in cans, which were scalded and steam-cleaned before they were returned to farms. The suppliers had to run the gauntlet of the various tests. There was a "blue" test, a sediment test for dirt as well as the butter fat test, all conducted locally. Failure of these tests would result in a "block" for a stipulated period.

The Milk Depot was also used for ice-making. This was an important activity for use in the household ice-chest, before the days of the refrigerator. The rectangular blocks of ice were delivered by the milkman.

On the 16th November, 1967 the Milk Depot closed after 44 years. Local dairying had dwindled with increasing urbanization and the impact of bulk pick-up had drastically reduced the need for the depot. Campbelltown supplier's milk was then taken to the Camden depot until a new depot was built in the industrial area off Rose Street a year later.

The depot building had been deteriorating for some years and was on railway land. The building became unused after the closure and was earmarked for demolition. Then on the 5th April, 1969 a spectacular early morning fire destroyed a portion of the building. The entire building was demolished the next day.

Written by Andrew Allen

Dairying in Campbelltown

Dairying and its related services was the largest employer in the Campbelltown district during the 1900s. By 1939 Campbelltown district was sending 16 000 gallons (72 800 L) of milk each week to the city. There were three main trains direct to Sydney. One of these was the Milk Pot which collected milk from Menangle to Ingleburn and delivered it to Sydney.

In 1922 a new milk depot was proposed for Campbelltown Railway Station. There were about 68 dairies in the district and 45 of these dairies were interested in taking shares in a cooperative factory on the western side of town in Badgally Road (then called Broughton Road). Built at a cost of 6000 pounds, the milk depot was a branch of the Camden Vale Milk Company and opened in mid-1923.

In 1920 the Macarthur family set up the Camden Vale Milk Company and built a milk processing plant in Camden at the eastern end of the main street adjacent to the rail line. Whole milk was railed to Darling Harbour and bottled under its own label until 1926. Between 1920 and 1922 Camden Vale Milk, which became a co-operative in 1921, had 162 milk suppliers and 289 cream suppliers. Milk was delivered to the factory on a daily basis by horse and cart, even up to the 1940s.

Within a year of the Broughton Road factory opening at Campbelltown Railway Station  the district was railing 13 000 gallons (59 150 L) of milk per week to Sydney. In 1924, 220 000 gallons (over 1 million L) were delivered within six months.

In 1929 the Camden Vale Milk Company amalgamated with the Dairy Farmers Milk Company.

Early mornings and long days were a typical day on a dairy farm, workers beginning their days at around 2am, not finishing until 6pm and often in bed by 8pm to be up again for the next day. Many men were given lodging and meals whilst working on the farm. Women folk were kept very busy cooking three meals a day often for 10 or more people.

Workers say that having a social life was difficult due to the early start and long hours. Some say if they did wish to go out on a Saturday night, usually to a dance or the movies, they would have missed going to bed at all.

Milking time at "St. Andrews", Minto in 1935 including Jack Thomson, Arthur Collins and Leo Kelly (Stan Thomson Collection) 

By Cathy Mitford

 

Sources:   Grist Mills Vol.21 No.1 Pg 7  2008

               :   Campbelltown: The Bicentennial History by Carol Liston 1988

               :   Camden   by Ian Willis