Motukaraka Butter Creamery
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| Photo taken in 1910 - Auckland Weekly News, Kura Heritage Collections Online |
In the early 1900s dairy farming became the way to go with the herds being small and the families doing the milking each day. In 1907 a co-operative was formed to establish a dairy factory at Motukaraka on the Hokianga Harbour. Waimamaku farmers who had their cheese factory already operating had to choose between butter or cheese. Whole milk or cream? Big or small cans? Launches collected the cream and was only possible by the tide times.
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| Photo taken in 1908 |
By around the 1920s farmers were experimenting with milking machines and cream separators. Dairying was still a family affair until world war 2 took many of the men away to fight.
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| Man and packhorse taking cream cans to the cream boat destined for Motukaraka. |
The Hokianga did not get electricity until the early 1950s but until then people used kerosene lamps and petrol for the milking machine along with a diesel generator which was shared between the house and shed.
The 2 dairy factories being Motukaraka and Waimamaku were facing demands to upgrade with the latter's cheese now having to be made from pasteurised milk. A merger took place linking the 2 with the larger Bay of Islands Dairy Company.
In 1957 Motukaraka suppliers were told that their cream would now be transported to Moerewa by road and Motukaraka would close with the launch costing too much to run. In Waimamaku it's cheese making carried on until 1972 but it found keeping up with the stringent rules and regulations so sadly it closed.
Information taken from Our Hokianga.
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