Dairying in Proserpine

Gone but not to be forgotten

Travelling around our district, we see hectares of sugar cane and many beef cattle grazing in the paddocks. BUT - Did you know that in the early days of Proserpine, there were many small family dairies?

These farms provided milk and its by-products mainly to customers in the town area as country people usually had their own milking cows.  Jersey and Friesian cows were the most common breeds - the small Jersey cow produced very rich milk; the larger Friesian gave more milk but, it was not as rich. Excess cream was often sent to the Mackay Butter Factory in one to four gallon cans which were taken to the railway station and put on the evening train when the air was cooler.  A plate stamped with the owner’s name and address was soldered onto the can or lid.

Most milk-supplying dairies were fairly close to town. Owners included Frasers (near the Mill), Renwicks (Renwick Road), McCormacks and Clarkes (Glen Isla), Waddingtons (Myrtle Creek), Nielsens (Mt Julian), O'Haras (Hamilton Plains), Nicols (Willowbrook Farm in Faust Street). Further out – Hickeys (Conway), Marchants and Dabblesteins (Conway and later Gregory), Talbots (Kelsey Creek), Mullers (Crystalbrook), Hewsons, Helliers and Worthingtons (Strathdickie).  Over the years, Worthington's dairy passed through many hands.  Bill Jenkins ran a dairy on the Krebbs farm at Gregory and Mr Short’s dairy was at the top of the Gregory.

Renwick’s Dairy: This appears to be one of the earliest dairies.

Mr Renwick started mixed farming, especially dairying, when he came to Proserpine.  He was a great believer in introduced pastures for his dairy herd and planted Paspalum and Rhodes grass with great success.  He used only the best breeds of dairy cattle for his large scale operation. (“The Port Denison Times” October 31, 1908) This business was carried on into the fifties by family members.

Clarke’s Dairy: In about 1920, Hugh and Eliza Clarke purchased a farm at Glen Isla and named it Dunoon.  There they managed a dairy and grew cane until 1949. When Hugh and Eliza sold to their son and grandson, the dairy was discontinued.

Each day, the Clarkes milked about forty cows by hand at 3am and 3pm. At one time, a milking machine was installed but they found it more trouble than it was worth so they returned to hand milking.  Milk and cream were delivered around town using a horse and cart.  There were three or four cans at the front of the cart and there was a step up into the cart.  The horse, named Wallace, knew that when someone stepped up into the cart, it was time to go and he always knew where to stop next.  At the end of the run, Mr Clarke would say, "Alright Wallace! Let's go home,” and off he'd go!

Grandson, Mitch Clarke, (now well into his 90s) recalls his grandmother’s lovely garden and how he looked forward to strawberries from the garden with Grandma's fresh cream. The residual milk (buttermilk) was usually fed to the pigs.  Some of the cream was made into butter for the family and excess cream was sent to the PCD Butter Factory in Mackay.  Out in the yard, there was always a copper full of boiling water ready to sterilise the equipment used for milking, separating and storing. It was a demanding life.

Read more in future editions about our dairies of the past – another rich, yet forgotten part of our district’s history.  

Story and photo courtesy Proserpine Historical Museum and Recollections from Bill Dinnie.

‍