Created 23-Sep-12
0 photos

New Zealand is one of the major international traders of dairy products. However, the industry had small commercial prospects until the advent of refrigerated shipping enabled substantial exports to be made the hemisphere’s distance to England. Exports from NZ had commenced in 1862. However, the first experimental shipment of refrigerated exports to England did not occur until 1882 (DCANZ). The Mercury Bay Historical Society Museum is located on Mercury Bay, a relatively remote part of north-east New Zealand on the Coromandel Peninsula. One of the museum’s key exhibits illustrates many elements of the early transition from dairy products produced on the farm for home use to those products manufactured in an export-oriented industrial plant. Furthermore, the society’s museum is housed in a factory operated by the former Mercury Bay Dairy Company. The Mercury Bay Dairy Company’s first factory was built in 1911. The factory has since been demolished. The later factory - now the museum site - was built in 1934 on a site purchased in 1926. The outstanding exhibit of the Mercury Bay Museum pertaining to the history of the dairy industry is the Anderson 65 Box Butter churn and associated dairy processing equipment. The churn was built by Andersons Ltd in Christchurch and installed in 1945. The churn produced 14,000 ton (imperial) of butter between 1947 and 1972. The album here includes 70 images of: • Anderson 65 box churn including historical photos illustrating the practical manufacture of butter • Manual butter-churning equipment • Butter rolling equipment • Manual cream centrifugal separators • Two-cow electric milking machine and milking cups • Laboratory equipment for cream quality testing • Glass milk bottles and household milk crate • The Lady Jocelyn and other historical photographs • Prize cups for awards the butter achieved for its quality
This gallery is empty.

Categories & Keywords
Category:
Subcategory:
Subcategory Detail:
Keywords: