FIRST CENTURY OF DAIRYING IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 



country was destined to become the great feeder of Europe. Before 

 long France and England would look to us almost entirely for their 

 supply of food. How wide is the field of labor may be judged from 

 the fact that the estimated existing yearly deficiency ini the annual 

 food supply of the English metropolis alone amounted to no less 

 than I02,ooo,ooolb.; while, if we take the whole kingdom, it reaches 

 the enormous quantity of 3,544,ooo,ooolb., equal to about 70,880,000 

 sheep. That was the supply o>f London alone, and when they con- 

 sidered the enormous quantities consumed in other parts of Great 

 Britain and France, they might form some idea of the demand there 

 would be for our produce." 



" I feel," said he, " as I have ever felt that there is no work on 

 the world's carpet greater than this in which I have been engaged. 

 Its object and aim may be summed up in these words : ' There shall 

 be no waste.' That is the sentiment that has kept me nerved to the 

 great battle I have beenr fighting, which has induced me, single- 

 handed, to risk so large a portion of my children's heritage, and to 

 follow up to the very end the great truth which my friend Mr. 

 Nicolle showed me in the beginning was to be attained. I knew 

 from the hour of our first experiments that the truth was at the 

 bottom of the well, but I had no idea that the well was so- deep'." 



About 1883 the Fresh Food and Ice Company, in conjunction with 

 Mr. T. S. Mort (who had expended large sums of money in develop- 

 ing the cheese industry at Bodalla, and who had also spent much 

 money trying to develop the milk industry of Sydney during the 

 seventies), imported some Danish separators. This company, as 

 stated, had been working up the milk trade in Sydney. The manage- 

 ment, therefore, in conjunction with their milk trade, established a 

 butter factory in Sydney for the manufacture of fresh butter for the 

 Sydney trade. About this time Mr. D. L. Dymock visited England, 

 and when there obtained the sole agency of the De Laval separators 

 for New South Wales. On his return to the colony in 1884 he 

 handed the agency over to Messrs. Waugh & Josephson, of Sydney. 

 Having proved by their Sydney experiment that the manufacture of 

 butter under this new system was in advance of the old methods of 

 dairying, Messrs. Lock and Pateson, of the Fresh Food and Ice Com- 

 pany, journeyed down to Kiama, and after a few months' exertion 

 they 'succeeded in establishing the Pioneer Dairy Factory at Kiama 

 in 1884 the first of its kind in Australia. It has had as many ups 

 and downs as any other pioneer concern, but it was a great object 

 lesson and an education for those who were to embark afterward- in 

 the same enterprise. 



In 1881 a Mr. Henry Harding, a son of Mr. Henry Harding, of 

 Cheddar cheese fame in England, visited Kiama and established a 

 cheese factory on Mr. T. McCaffrey's farm at Jerrara, near 1 

 Mr. Harding was an expert cheese maker, and his system suited ad- 

 mirably the soil and climate of Kiama. The Bega district cheese, 

 however, had the hold on the Sydney market, being long established, 

 and Mr. Harding had to give place to the southern men not with mt 

 doing much good in the neighbourhood in which he was located, 

 which is no doubt well adapted for cheese-making. 



In 1885 Mr. Dymock succeeded in establishing the Albion 1'ark 

 Co-operative Butter Factory. This gave the dairy farmers between 

 Albion Park and Gerringong a condensed milk factory, a cheese 

 factory, and two butter factories, all established in the course of a 

 very few years. 



So long as natural conditions obtained in Now South Wales, and 

 our leading men followed agricultural and pastoral pursuits, producing 

 most of their own requirements, everything seemed to move along 

 smoothly. But as soon as the Capital City of Australia began 

 develop, and the greater portirn of our population became centn 



78. 



