Back to search results » Back to search page »   Print 

LEONGATHA BUTTER & CHEESE FACTORY

Location

1 YARRAGON ROAD, LEONGATHA, SOUTH GIPPSLAND SHIRE

Level

Included in Heritage Overlay

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
The Leongatha Cooperative Butter and Cheese Factory, designed by R. Kerr and constructed in 1905 with later additions, at 1 Yarragon Road, Leongatha.

Why is it significant?
The Leongatha Cooperative Butter and Cheese factory is of local historic, aesthetic and technical significance to South Gippsland Shire.

Historically, it is one of the oldest extant butter factories in the Shire and demonstrates the important development and expansion of the dairy industry during the Federation period. The opening of the Factory in 1905 and its subsequent expansion in 1931 led to significant growth in the town of Leongatha and the surrounding district. (AHC criteria - A.4, B.2 and D.2)

Aesthetically, it is the superior example in the Shire of a Federation butter factory constructed in brick, which demonstrates the importance of the dairying industry. (AHC criterion - E.1)

Technically, it is important as a relatively intact example of an early brick butter factory where the production process is clearly expressed in the form of the building, which can be viewed from all sides. As the original surviving element of what is now one of the largest dairying industry complexes in the Southern Hemisphere, it is highly important for the ability to illustrate the development of the dairying industry over the past 100 years. (AHC criteria - B.2 and F.1)

Group

Farming and Grazing

Category

Cheese House