This milk factory began milk processing in 1898. Prior to this it had operated as a butter factory since 1893. The building was a converted mill, known as the Border Flour Mill. For a time it traded as the Merrimu Butter and Concentrated Milk Company. Thomas Anderson who had operated the butter and milk factories sold the business at some stage. He then repurchased the building in 1912 and used it as a grain store. In 1933 the building became an apple packing shed and later still a store room. It was demolished in 1962. The location of the building was behind some shops and businesses on the southern side of Main Street, approximately in line with the Post Office and ANA buildings on the northern side of Main Street.Postcard. Image one side. Postage stamp, address and writing space on reverse. The precise date of this postcard is unknown. It is probably between about 1905 and 1910 due to the style of the postcard, this style being introduced in Australia in January 1905, and the known period of time this business was at this location.On the reverse: Top: POST CARD. Left side: FOR INLAND POSTAGE ONLY THIS SPACE MAY NOW BE USED FOR INLAND COMMUNICATION. Right side: THE ADDRESS ONLY TO BE WRITTEN HEREdairy industry bacchus marsh, milk factories, anderson family bacchus marsh

The number of cattle in this photo suggests that it was a small holding, at the beginning of the dairy industry in Bacchus Marsh. This industry became a major source of employment in Bacchus Marsh. By the early twentieth century, the Bacchus Marsh region was a significant contributor to the dairy industry in Australia. Small sepia unframed photograph on card with gold border framing photograph. Housed in the album, 'Photographs of Bacchus Marsh and District in 1883 by Stevenson and McNicoll'. This is a photo of a dairy farm in an unknown location in the Bacchus Marsh district. It has been taken from an elevation looking down at the farm. On the left, the roadside can be seen running alongside a stream or river which is fenced off by a line of trees and a post and rail fence. Parked on the road outside the farmhouse is a wagon which is unhitched. The wagon has a white rooftop and on the side can be seen a professional logo, details unclear. This wagon is most likely the wagon used by the photographers to access outlying properties with their photographic equipment. The farmhouse itself faces the road with side doors giving onto the yard. The roof is partially covered by new slates, possibly slate covering bark. Six milking sheds of post-and-rail construction adjoin the farm yard. In the first and fourth stalls (l to r) the farmer and his wife can be seen seated, miking cows. The rest of the herd are awaiting milking in the yard which also has a post-and-rail fence. A bull of milking shorthorn breed stands outside the fence. The milking herd itself is of various breeds; Herefords, roan shorthorn and roan and white shorthorns can be identified. On the right is a shed of rough-hewn boards and a shingle roof. In the yard at the back of the house stands a cart or dray. On the front: Stevenson & McNicoll. Photo. 108 Elizabeth St. Melbourne. COPIES CAN BE OBTAINED AT ANY TIME. On the back: LIGHT & TRUTH inscribed on a banner surmounted by a representation of the rising sun. Copies of this Portrait can be had at any time by sending the Name and Post Office Money Order or Stamps for the amount of order to STEVENSON & McNICOLL LATE BENSON & STEVENSON, Photographers. 108 Elizabeth Street, MELBOURNE. dairy farms, stevenson and mcnicoll 1883 photographs of bacchus marsh and district, shorthorn dairy cattle