Dairy

A fully fledged dairy industry did not develop in Western Australia until after the establishment of the Group Settlement Scheme in the 1920s.  The scheme was designed as a way of encouraging the migration of British ex-servicemen, who would be helped to clear land and set up farms in the south west of Western Australia.

Prior to the 1920s Western Australia relied on a small local supply of fresh milk, produced by small operations near the State's major population centres.  During the first part of the twentieth century butter was imported to Western Australia.

The Group Settlement Scheme increased the number of milking cows and the area of farm land devoted to dairy production. Even throughout the Depression years of the 1930s the industry experienced growth.  Land for dairy cows was cleared, improved milking technologies were taken up, transportation systems were established and processing plants constructed.