A meeting was held in Gardner's Hall, Beech Forest, for the purposes of considering the advisability of having butter factory established in the Beech Forest district. It was eventually agreed that a butter factory should be established, that provisional directors should be appointed, and upwards of 400 shares were taken up immediately. A second meeting was held on 20 May 1902 of about 40 dairymen. The meeting became a meeting of shareholders resolving to expedite the registration of the company and other preliminary matters. The election of directors then took place. Another meeting of shareholders held on the 15 July 1902 resolved to purchase a property and have the by-laws accepted. An Extraordinary General Meeting was held on 6 August 1902 to confirm all the resolutions passed by the Board.A ledger containing the records of the Beech Forest Butter Factory Minute Book from 18 March, 1902, the date the Butter Factory starts, until 6 February, 1905.Beech Forest Butter Factory Minutes Book Donated to the Otway District Historical Society Inc. by the Colac & District Family History Group Inc. 1st May 2013beech forest; butter, factory, 1902, 1905, minute book,

The 55 km narrow-gauge railway line ran for 60 years from 1902 from Colac in south-western Victoria into Beech Forest in the Otway Ranges. Newspaper cuttings from March to June, 1962, from The Age, Sun, Herald and Colac Herald outlining the closure have been collected by Frank McCabe from Lake Boga, Victoria.Beech Forest Line. Various cuttings, 1962.colac; beech forest; railways; frank mccabe;

At the beginning of February 1903 a few men covered the district to see whether the time was ripe to form a Beech Forest branch of the Australian Natives Association. They were surprised at the response from intending members so they contacted the Colac branch who sent up some members as a follow-up. 51 said they would become benefit members and 5 would become honorary members. As a result on the 26 February 1903 a branch of the Australian Natives Association was established in Beech Forest. At a meeting where 40 people were present, Mr. T.M. Burke, the Victorian President, spoke to the meeting, outlining the aims, objects and benefits of the ANA and saying that the Victorian membership was 22,000. He then installed the several officers of the newly constituted Beech Forest branch. By August 1906 the Beech Forest branch membership was moving ahead with sixteen new members being proposed. Mr Fred Cookson was one of them, and he and the other new members were given their Certificates of Membership on the 14 November, 1906.Australian Natives Association, Certificate of Membership, certifying that Mr Fred Cookson of Beech Forest was elected a member of the Beech Forest Branch No.211 on the 14th day of November 1906. Signed by Arthur D. Freeman, President of the Association, and F.C. Wainwright, General Secretary.australian natives association; ana; beech forest;