Pembroke Road (location 1)
Dates: 1894-1918*
Location: 517 Pembroke Road West, Pembroke, Taranaki (-39.323853, 174.225801)
Registration No: 344
Brand name: Uncertain but likely PEMBROKE or PEMBROKE ROAD
Google Maps - 2026
From “Pembroke School & District Centennial 1893-1993”
Establishment and early ownership
Before a creamery existed on Pembroke Road, local farmers faced a demanding routine having to cart their milk to the Stratford Dairy Company — a return journey of around 14km that took half a day.
In 1894, after agitation from local farmers, Messrs Honnor & Crockett built a creamery on Pembroke Road to help supply their expanding Midhirst butter factory, established two years earlier in 1892.
Two years later, in 1896, the newly formed Pembroke Road Co‑operative Butter Company Ltd purchased the creamery and operated it as a small butter factory.
Transfer to Midhirst Co‑operative
By 1898–1899, the factory was leased and then sold to the Midhirst Co‑operative Dairy Factory Company Limited for £250 — roughly half of what the settlers had paid Honnor & Crockett only a few years earlier.
A new factory for a new era
In 1917, Pembroke Road suppliers broke away from Midhirst and formed their own co‑operative concern. They built a new concrete factory near the corner of Pembroke and Cardiff Roads, which opened in 1918.
Fate of the original creamery
Negotiations to purchase the old creamery site continued until 1922–1923, though it is unclear whether the Pembroke Co‑op ever operated it after their new factory opened. The most likely scenario is that the original creamery was decommissioned in 1918*.
The building was later demolished, but its concrete foundations remained visible into the early 1970s, before the site was finally built over by a gas plant.
Google Street View - December 2013
Items from the Evening Post (Wellington) related to the establishment of a creamery on Pembroke Road:
21 April 1894: The first meeting of the Pembroke Debating Society commented that it was a wonder that the settlers, instead of carting their milk to Stratford, they should make a strenuous effort to get a butter factory on the road as next season 200 cows were going to be milked.
4 June 1894: Cows are nearly dry. It takes half day to take milk to Stratford and return.
6 June 1894: Debating Society cancelled their regular meeting so that settlers could debate the possibility of a creamery for the Pembroke Road. It was agreed that a deputation of Mr Cuthbert and Mr John Rogers call on Mr Honnor and Crocket of Midhirst to see if they are willing to erect a creamery on the road, and if so, on what terms.
20 June 1894: Mr Honour has agreed to come and select a site for a creamery.
20 July 1894: News has been received that the contract has been let for the building of the creamery on the Pembroke Rd.
29 July 1894: Creamery nearly completed and should be open shortly.
7 September 1894: Creamery opened Friday 7th September 1894. Very little milk at present as cows have not yet started to calf. Calving expected to commence in full swing in a months time. Mr Honour is going to supply groceries for the settlers, this will be deducted for the settlers milk sales.
Managers included: Mr W Turner (1896-1897), Mr Hugh McKenzie (1905) and Mr McKendry (1906-1916)
Thomas Cuthbert: Early Environmental Thinker
Thomas Cuthbert, one of Pembroke Road’s earliest settlers, was known locally for his unconventional ideas. In 1908, he warned fellow creamery suppliers of the environmental dangers of horseless carriages (motor vehicles) and flying machines (aeroplanes) due to their burning of benzine which would harm the atmosphere — an early prediction of modern pollution concerns.
Rejecting artificial fertilisers, Cuthbert developed his own soil‑building method: layering cut branches over pasture until they decomposed into humus, then grazing cattle on the renewed grass. His practices anticipated principles now associated with organic farming, earning him a reputation as a man ahead of his time.
From “Pembroke School & District Centennial 1893-1993”
1894 plan showing creamery site for Messrs Honnor and Crockett
1910 plan confirming that part section 106 was creamery site