York Road

Taranaki

12 Jun

York Road branch 1933 - photographer unknown

Dates: 1893-1958
Location: 343 York Road, Midhirst, Taranaki (-39.276762, 174.221642)
Registration No: See Midhirst
Brand name: See Midhirst

The York Road Creamery

The story of dairying at York Road began with ambition and experimentation. Around 1889, Midhirst farmers established a co-operative butter-packing company on Beaconsfield Road in Midhirst village. The venture produced granulated butter, which was salted, worked and packed into boxes for sale. Despite high hopes, the business struggled and ultimately failed.

A more successful chapter began in 1892 when Messrs Honnor and Crocket built a private dairy factory in Midhirst on the south side of the Te Popo Stream. With J.B. Veale appointed manager and secretary, the factory thrived as the surrounding bush was cleared and dairy farming expanded across the district. The operation manufactured butter, lactic casein and roller buttermilk, while a network of creameries was established, including one on York Road in 1893.

By 1895, local suppliers decided the future lay in co-operation. At a meeting on 13 April, farmers voted to purchase the factory and creameries, creating the Midhirst Co-operative Dairy Factory Company Limited. The new company raised £4,000 in capital and paid £2,612 for the existing operation.

The York Road creamery served local farmers by separating cream before it was transported about 4.6 kilometres to the Midhirst butter factory. It became an important community hub, gaining its own post office in 1911 under the name Uia. The creamery manager William Christansen also served as postmaster, a tradition that continued until the post office finally closed in May 1957.

In 1919, the original wooden creamery was replaced with a modern concrete building. Part of the old creamery was re-erected as a hayshed on Denmark Terrace, Midhurst but that was flattened by strong winds in late August 1935.

However, changing times eventually caught up with the dairy industry. Better roads and the introduction of tanker collection made small local creameries obsolete, and the York Road factory closed on 31 May 1958. The buildings survived into the 1980s before disappearing from the landscape, leaving behind memories of a time when horse-drawn carts and cream cans linked farms to factory and community life revolved around the local creamery.

Serious Accident at York Road Creamery

A quiet Saturday morning at the York Road Creamery in Midhirst was shattered by a tragic workplace accident that left 24-year-old acting manager John Dunderson critically injured.

Shortly after 8 a.m., while a small number of suppliers were present at the factory, a cry was suddenly heard from the rear of the premises. At the same moment, witnesses noticed unusual jerking in the machinery belting that powered the creamery’s water wheel. Alarmed, they rushed to investigate the source of the disturbance.

There they made a distressing discovery: Dunderson had become entangled in the water wheel mechanism that drove the factory’s operations. With no one having directly witnessed the incident, the exact circumstances leading to the accident remain unclear. At the time, Dunderson was alone and unable to provide an account of what had occurred.

Emergency assistance was summoned immediately. Dr. Steven attended the scene, administered first aid, and arranged for Dunderson’s urgent transfer to hospital by motor car. His condition was described as extremely critical.

Dunderson had only been acting in the role of manager temporarily, covering for Mr Christiansen, who was away for the day. Thankfull, Dunderson appears to have made a full recovery.

A Dispute Over Wages and a Day in Court

Not all of the creamery’s history was about production and expansion. In 1937, the Midhirst Dairy Company found itself before the courts after a dispute that began with its York Road creamery manager, Henry Whittington.

Whittington, who had managed the creamery for around six years, argued that he had been unfairly dismissed after requesting a wage increase he believed he was legally entitled to under the Finance Act 1936.

When the matter reached the Stratford Court, the judge ruled that Whittington was indeed eligible for the wage increase. The company, however, was unable to convince the court that his dismissal was unrelated to the dispute over pay. They failed to provide Whittington with written reasons for his dismissal which in court were stated to be incompetence, impudence and an abnormal number of complaints from suppliers.

Despite the legal victory, the decision did not restore Whittington to his position with his long service at York Road coming to an abrupt end.

Tame Trout and Eels of York Road

For more than a decade, York Road creamery manager Albert Porter of Midhirst became locally famous for an extraordinary hobby - taming wild trout and eels in a pond behind the factory. What began with feeding young trout using creamery by-products developed into a remarkable relationship with fish that would take food from his hand, allow themselves to be stroked, and even be lifted briefly from the water.

Porter’s patient observations challenged common assumptions about freshwater life. Contrary to popular belief, he found that large eels and trout could live together peacefully when food was plentiful. The fish became so tame that visitors, including distinguished overseas guests, were able to touch and feed them.

Over the years Porter came to know many of the fish individually, naming favourites such as Mussolini, Pedro, Pinocchio, Cleopatra and Bluey. He carefully recorded their growth, behaviour and seasonal movements, noting how both trout and eels disappeared during winter before returning each spring.

The unusual pool attracted widespread public interest and featured in numerous newspaper articles. Visitors were fascinated by the sight of trout competing with ducks for food, eels feeding calmly from Porter’s hands, and fish displaying a level of trust rarely seen in the wild.

It is unclear what happened to the trout and eels when the factory closed in 1958 but the pond is still there today.