Yesterday 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.
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.
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.
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!
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