From 1876, farmers around Bowral and Moss Vale supplied FF&I with up to 1000 gallons per day, delivered by horse-drawn cart to the stations in 10-gallon cans, for consignment to Sydney in rail trucks packed with ice. Moss Vale was the furthest point from which milk could be transported and remain fresh on the journey. 

According to “A History of the Berrima District” by James Jervis, demand for fresh milk in the city had so increased by the 1880s that nearly all in-between districts on the Great Southern Railway, including Camden and Picton, provided a quota. Three specially designed trucks were sent along the line, five days a week. Two of them contained 24 tanks each of 40 gallon capacity, which were filled at Moss Vale and Bowral. Farmers of the other districts sent their milk in 10-gallon cans. FF&I paid not less than eight pence a gallon from May to end of August. 

The volume of milk sent from the local district soon increased to 2000 gallons per day. When supply exceeded demand, the surplus was sent to FF&I’s butter factory, opened at Mittagong in 1882 and equipped with an imported Danish separator, where cream was churned into butter. In 1884 one ton of this butter was shipped by FF&I to England, being the first export of Australian factory-made butter and selling for a higher price than butter made on the farm (known as dairy butter).

Prior to railing milk to Sydney and  introduction of the separator, the district’s farmers survived by selling milk locally and by sending dairy butter to agents in Sydney, by rail from 1867. Because of poor roads, the district’s eastern side farmers were unable to join the fresh milk trade and so remained reliant on dairy butter until collectively building, from 1887, their own butter factories with separators, as the next article will outline.

Illawarra and Shoalhaven farmers also supplied Sydney with dairy butter, it having gone by coastal steam-ship from early days. City commission agents took 5 percent and often made more by manipulating the market. These farmers decided to cut out the middlemen by establishing a co-operative similar to ones formed in Europe, owned jointly by producers, who would receive the profits and exercise some control of the market. The South Coast & West Camden Co-operative was formed in October 1880, with inaugural members including farmers around Picton and the Southern Highlands. 

In ‘Illawarra Co-operatives: the First One Hundred Years’ (Thirroul, 2014) researchers Donaldson and Southall state that the farmers “by the instinct of self-preservation” created Australia’s first successful attempt at co-operative marketing. Once the Co-op opened its own selling floors in Sussex Street, Sydney and established a city depot, its members withdrew their consignments from ‘the system’ and sent all farm produce, including bacon, eggs, butter and cheese, to the fledgling co-op. 

In 1887 the South Coast railway opened to Kiama, providing a direct, rapid link to Sydney and coastal farmers were soon railing their produce daily. Faced with increased competition, the FF&I Company in Sydney was quick to adapt, encouraging Kiama farmers to supply it with fresh milk. The Southern Highlands’ milk suppliers were directly impacted, with reduced payments and threats to discontinue the milk train.

At this time Mittagong townspeople were involved in an ongoing dispute with FF&I about the unsuitable location of the piggery associated with its milk business at the butter factory. In November 1887 the Bowral Free Press reported that the issue was resolved “by the purchase of 53 acres at a considerable distance from any dwelling, although embracing some of the favourite bathing holes and prettiest spots on the Nattai Creek.” FF&I assured the public that no pollution would occur.

Would the disgruntled local milk suppliers also resolve their problems with FF&I?