OLD BUTTER FACTORY
The Busselton Museum is housed in the Old Busselton Butter Factory. It is the only remaining butter factory in Western Australia, retaining most of its original fabric along with some of the original butter making equipment, the Lancaster Boiler (c 1923) and smoke stack.
The gold boom in the 1890s tripled the State’s population, forcing the importation of butter and convincing the 1897 government to commit £1,000 to assist in the establishment of the Vasse Butter and Produce Company. The company was founded on a co-operative basis, with shares of £1 1s each. Richard Gale was the Director of the company and as no available government land was suitable for a butter factory, Gale offered 1½ acres of his own land. The Butter Factory built in 1898, the first in Western Australia, was located south of Fairlawn Road and west of Strelly Street. Later in the year Messrs Spurge and Reid established the first cheese factory in WA at Pigeon Grove, near the Wonnerup train station, which quickly failed due to a lack of a sustainable milk supply. In 1901 the butter factory shut down due to financial difficulties, after which private investors kept the factory open with limited success.
When John Scaddan took office as WA Premier in October 1911, government policy changed towards state-owned enterprises and they acquired the Busselton Butter Factory in February 1916. At this time the number of suppliers increased from five to over thirty. After Scaddan resigned, a Royal Commission into Dairy suggested that the success of the south-west dairy industry depended on increased immigrant settlement and better train lines to connect the factories to the marketplaces. These findings paved the way for the State Government to build the Butter Factory on Peel Terrace in 1918. In 1926 South West Dairy Produce Co-operative became the owners and the name changed to Sunny West.
Development of the Group Settlement Scheme in the area caused a great upsurge in production, as there were 735 farms in the Busselton district by 1926. Then came the Great Depression of the early 1930’s, the 1939-45 World War and the boom period which followed. This boom saw the factory reach peak production of about 30 tons of butter per week. Before the days of refrigeration, the factory also operated an Ice Works, supplying the town of Busselton and local fishermen with much sought-after ice.
High overheads during the off season coupled with more efficient road transport caused closure of this and several other factories. Busselton ceased making butter in 1952. A dried milk plant was installed, but a slump in overseas markets made the process unprofitable and production stopped. The premises served as a depot for trucks and tankers until the factory’s closure in 1973.
The Butter Factory was heritage listed in 2003 and is believed to be the oldest of only seven known examples of early butter factory buildings left in the State.
