Bayswater Dairy Farms
Much of Bayswater district was used for farming – right into the 1950s; these farms included dairies, piggeries , poultry farms, nurseries and Chinese market gardens. Bayswater was a significant area for dairy farms and milk produced here was sold outside the district, as well as locally.
Milk was kept cool by lowering milk vats into wells and some dairies had milk coolers which piped cold spring water through the milk vats.
Dairies tended to be located on land which included swamps because the [rovided water and the fertile soil required to grow the green feed.
The smaller dairies, in particular, would take their herds to the river to graze, causing residents to complain about the cattle holding up traffic in the Bayswater subway!
In the early days, dairies came and went – but most of the area’s larger dairies, including Brownes, Meakins and Rychens, were located north of Bayswater.
Brownes had its beginnings in Bayswater, with Edward Browne being the first dairy farmer to use the Friesian breed and try to improve it!
Most of Bayswater district’s dairies and other farming activities were in decline by the 1930s – however Gobba’s dairy, a 50-acre farm located on Beechboro Road, in what is today the industrial area, was one of the last metropolitan dairies to remain in operation, right into the 1970s.
