Hello Rae-Anne I was just the other day transcribing some notes on the Yinnar Butter Factory, so I have cut and pasted them here! Notes are taken from "History of Yinnar and District 1874-1974". "The former butter factory was established on this site in 1929 by three men with wide experience in the industry; T.N. Stephenson from Bairnsdale, W.F. Stephenson from Maffra and R.J. Morley from Tyers. The factory was engaged solely in the production of butter produced from cream delivered by private carriers, Teg Chessum, George McFarlane, Harry McLaverty, Ern Guy and Harry Robinson. Some farmers delivered their own supplies, chiefly in horse-drawn vehicles. After a year or two, Bill Stephenson returned to his Maffra factory and the management was taken over by Mr Ted Keat who joined the partnership and it became known as Stephenson, Morley and Keat Pty Ltd. Following the outbreak of WW2, the Nestle organization re-opened its Maffra condensery and being in urgent need of additional supplies of milk to fulfil contracts for the supply of condensed and evaporated milk for the armed services, began negotiations for the purchase of the Yinnar factory. The new company commenced business on 01.11.1940 and was known as the Yinnar Dairy Products Pty Ltd before assuming the Nestle title. The method of supply was changed from cream to whole milk, resulting in the production of butter being phased out as farmers made the change. The milk thus collected in cans was tipped, refrigerated and transported to Maffra for processing, initially in cans and later in tankers. During WW2, when petrol rationing arose, these vehicles were operated with gas producer units. From its humble beginnings when the factory produced 1,100 gallons from 15 milk suppliers, the factory reached a peak output of 37,000 gallons per day from 252 suppliers. The new operations provided quite an amount of additional employment, particularly when the company established a fleet of vehicles for the collection of milk. The staff increased to forty-two in the peak season. Four additional houses were built to accommodate employees and hostel type accommodation was provided for single seasonal workers. The roller drier plant was transferred from Maffra and installed at Yinnar. Once this plant was set up with mechanical beaters and conveyor system, it produced large quantities of mild powders over various periods. In 1959 there was a tremendous trend to bulk milk tanks on farms, so trials were conducted by installing three types of these tanks on supplier farms. After a year's trial period, it was decided, mainly due to capital cost, to move into water cooled bulk milk. This entitled a whole new system of milk collection methods and factory receival. The can trucks were now replaced by stainless steel bulk pickup road tankers and the whole factory had a face lift. The old can stages were removed; the raised floors inside were pulled out and all floors replaces at ground level. New plant with bigger pumps and large milk audit tanks were installed. Extensions to the buildings consisted of a tanker washing station, and a large gantry was erected in the yard for quick change of tankers from one prime mover to another. All petrol trucks were phased out and replaced with diesels. All farms were converted to bulk collection by 1964." The factory building still exists and has been occupied by the Art Resource Collective for the past 20 or so years. Regards Anne Napier

Hello my knowledgeable friends, Anne Napier wrote >I was just the other day transcribing some notes on the Yinnar Butter >Factory, so I have cut and pasted them here! Notes are taken from "History >of Yinnar and District 1874-1974". > >"The former butter factory was established on this site in 1929 >... <snip> After a year or two, <snip> the management was taken over by >Mr Ted Keat who joined the >partnership and it became known as Stephenson, Morley and Keat Pty Ltd. KEAT !! This is not a common name. My mother-in-law was Emily KEAT, born in the 1890s at Gundowring in the Kiewa Valley. Can anyone fill me in on the family? I think Ted (Edward?) may be a brother or a cousin. Two KEAT brothers came in the 1880s and were first (I think) in the Yackandandah area as farmers, their children dispersed in adulthood. I admit I have done very little on my mother-in-law because I found perjured birth certificates as late as 1934, non-existant marriages, etc. It did not make me enthusiastic to follow the family, who, apparently had not spoken to her since about 1918. She was a bit creative with surnames, too, so I wasn't even sure that KEAT applied to her. Of course, now I know that it does apply, I'd be very interested if anyone in the Maffra/Yinnar district has any knowledge. Thank you in anticipation, and thankyou Anne for putting up your notes! regards, Ada Ackerly, Melbourne, Australia formerly Ackerly DocuSearch

Hi Ada Are the KEAT family from Cornwall? Kind regards Viv Viv Martin, PO Box 341, Mentone, Victoria, Australia 3194 Ph.03 9583 5372 ~ Mobile 0419 310 235. Member of Melbourne PC User Group Inc.,CAV (Life),GSV,Martin FHS, various world FHS. Accredited Quicken Trainer of the Year 2002 > -----Original Message----- > From: Ada Ackerly [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Tuesday, 22 February 2005 1:29 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [AVG] family KEAT (was Yinnar butter factory thread) > > > Hello my knowledgeable friends, > > Anne Napier wrote > > >I was just the other day transcribing some notes on the > Yinnar Butter > >Factory, so I have cut and pasted them here! Notes are taken from > >"History of Yinnar and District 1874-1974". > > > >"The former butter factory was established on this site in 1929 > >... <snip> After a year or two, <snip> the management was > taken over by > >Mr Ted Keat who joined the > >partnership and it became known as Stephenson, Morley and > Keat Pty Ltd. > > KEAT !! This is not a common name. My mother-in-law was > Emily KEAT, born > in the 1890s at Gundowring in the Kiewa Valley. > > Can anyone fill me in on the family? I think Ted (Edward?) > may be a brother > or a cousin. Two KEAT brothers came in the 1880s and were > first (I think) > in the Yackandandah area as farmers, their children dispersed > in adulthood. > > I admit I have done very little on my mother-in-law because I found > perjured birth certificates as late as 1934, non-existant > marriages, etc. > It did not make me enthusiastic to follow the family, who, > apparently had > not spoken to her since about 1918. She was a bit creative > with surnames, > too, so I wasn't even sure that KEAT applied to her. > > Of course, now I know that it does apply, I'd be very > interested if anyone > in the Maffra/Yinnar district has any knowledge. > > Thank you in anticipation, and thankyou Anne for putting up > your notes! > > > regards, > Ada Ackerly, Melbourne, Australia > formerly Ackerly DocuSearch > > > > > ==== AUS-VIC-GIPPSLAND Mailing List ==== > To search posts to the list, even back to 1999, go to > http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl > and, when asked, enter the list name as AUS-VIC-GIPPSLAND > >