Sunday, July 1, 2012

Gormandale Co-Op Butter Factory Co Ltd

Butter Factory, GormandaleYesterday we when in search of a factory we had heard about in Gormandale. As we approached the village there was no doubt that the old Gormandale Co-Op Butter Factory Co Ltd was the building we had heard about.

It was raining but I jumped out and started taking photos quickly attracting the attention of the owner. He told us that the factory had been built in 1947 and was the first fully automated butter factory in Australia.

Butter Factory, Gormandale

A quick scan of the many references on the National Library of Australia Trove site to a butter factory in Gormandale indicate that the Crossover Butter Factory was established at Gormandale in the early 1890s and there at least one new butter factories built prior to this one. A list of auctions by Gippsland & Northern Co-Op Co Ltd in The Argus newspaper of 19 Apr 1950 lists 'Gormandale Butter Factory Co. Unused butter factory for removal, large brick & W.B. bldg., iron roof, quantity water piping, sheds, and sundry plant.' seemingly confirms that a new factory was constructed in the late 1940s.

Butter Factory, Gormandale

The buildings are listed by the National Trust as "... a visible reminder of the importance of the dairy industry in small-town Gippsland.'.

The owner showed us around inside but there wasn't really any deco features left and he told us the butter factory had closed in the mid 1970s.

Butter Factory, Gormandale
Butter Factory, Gormandale

As we were leaving the owner, who uses the building as a workshop gave us a lovely souvenir. A unused Gormandale Pure Creamery Butter wrapper!

Gormandale Butter Wrapper

6 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. What a bonus the wrapper was. Certainly didn't expect to come home with that.

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  2. I remember eating Gormandale butter and it tasted like, well butter. The mid seventies closure, supposedly the end of Gormandale butter, is not seeming right for me though.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Andrew. Good to know that it tasted like ... butter. lol.

      I have had two people tell me the factory was closed by the mid 70s. Perhaps they continued production somewhere else under the same name.

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