School of Geography - Theses
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ItemA geographical study of the dairy manufacturing industry in Gippsland, 1840-1910( 1977)Prior to 1888, dairy manufacture in Gippsland was a predominantly farm-based activity catering for a domestic market. Farmers close to a railway usually produced fresh butter, while those in more inaccessible areas produced potted butter. Concentrations of cheese manufacturers occurred in the Berwick - Cranbourne and the Sale - Maffra areas. This production pattern was strongly influenced by the factors of accessibility to the Melbourne market, product perishability and farmer's available capital. In 1888-89 the Victorian Government initiated a number of measures aimed at promoting the factory system of butter manufacture and the number of butter factories and the amount of butter exported to England rapidly increased. Initially in Gippsland most of the factories were farmers' co-operatives, however late in the 1890s proprietary interests gained control of a great deal of the manufacturing capacity. Co-operative factories were weakened by severe climatic conditions and poor management, while many proprietary selling agents used unfair trading practices to undermine co-operatives whilst these same agents promoted hand separators to create a cream supply for country and Melbourne proprietary factories. Discontent with proprietary factories and the establishment of co-operative selling companies allowed co-operative factories to partly re-establish their position in the later 1900s. The general distribution of butter factories in Gippsland was closely related to the density of milch cows and the location of railways, whilst the siting of factories was influenced by water supply, waste disposal, accessibility to transport, land surface, proximity to towns and availability of land. As hand separators became more widely used, factory supply areas increased and by the late 1890s competition between factories was intense and widespread overlapping of supply occurred. Significant variation between factories occurred in the amount of production,while each factory's output varied during the year and from season to season. A factory's output was influenced by the size of its supply area, the density of milch cows in its supply area, the seasonal conditions and the degree of competition with other factories. Production costs were influenced by the amount of milk/cream intake while the prices paid to farmers for milk/cream were influenced by prices received for butter on the London market. Following the introduction of hand separators, the quality of butter deteriorated but little was done by the government, in terms of export controls or cream grading, to rectify the situation. Cheese production do not show the same growth, after 1888, as butter production. The government showed little interest in promoting cheese exports and few new factories were established. Even by 1910, farm produced cheese was still a significant source of supply.