1871: First Commercial Diarying
August 26, 2019
By AHNZ
New Zealand history has been intermingled with dairy products almost since the start. Captain Cook probably had goat milk and introduced pigs and chickens to New Zealand. However, not until 1814 did Samuel Marsden first introduce cows. Auckland Fencibles formed The Howick Pensioners’ Co-operative Cow Company in 1848 but it didn’t take.¹
New Zealand’s first commercial diary venture was on Springfield estate in Otago. Otago Peninsula Cheese Factory Company formed in 1871….
“At a historic meeting at Springfield on 22 August 1871, eight men formed the Otago Peninsula Co-operative Cheese Factory Company Limited; it was the first such venture in New Zealand. Mathieson offered the use of his home to make the cheese, saying that his wife would heat the whey in her kitchen and teach the manager the methods she had used for years. Cheese making began within a fortnight; but the new factory did not make a large profit. In 1874, as John admitted later, ‘the notion seized him that sheep farming would pay better than dairying’ and he withdrew from the project.”²
If this little concern were up to it perhaps they could have been the first to claim the State’s prize of £500 for being the first to export 50 tons of cheese or 25 tons of butter. It was Edendale that claimed the prize.
This ‘bonus’/subsidy seems to have been offered by John Hall’s Ministry. It would have encouraged more taxable activity as well as rewarding South Island businessmen who were no doubt good friends of Hall. (These were the days of South Islanders running New Zealand.)
Edendale Goes Dairy
Eventually, the sheep that proved the best use of Mathieson’s time turned sour. It was then that farmers started looking to dairy once more as an alternative and Edendale led the way…
It’s true that Edendale scored a Government subsidy of £500 but the innovation was also due to changing economic conditions. Very poor domestic prices for mutton drove The Company to institute the famous frozen shipping of meat as well as the creation of the New Zealand dairy industry.
Naturally, The State would like to take the credit. Anarchists love the free market though and know that this is the true mother of creativity. New Zealand is now ranked 4th in the world for butter production by tonnage. Of course this doesn’t stop dairy farmers being attacked by politicians on the make as we keep seeing in the headlines…
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1 Ref. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections
2 Ref. John Mathieson in The advance guard; 1; Angus, J. C.; Ed. G. J. Griffiths. Dunedin, 1973; Cemetaries.org.nz
Image ref. Edendale Dairy Factory 1895; Te Ara
Image ref. Springfield; Gary Blackman; Upright! Exploring Dunedin’s Built Heritage; Facebook
Image ref. Monument to 1871; AHNZ Archive (2018)
Ref. Antipodean Empire: the New Zealand and Australian Land Company; Crawford (2018)
See also: North Canterbury Irrigators Attacked Again; NZB3
See also: Should farmers pay for water?
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