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Butter Traffic

Each year, the General Superintendent of Transportation, would issue a detailed circular with instructions for the transport of butter in iced trucks. This was usually timed about the end of September and the instructions sought advice from the Officer-in-Charge at every station from which butter was despatched that consultation had taken place with local consignors that the proposed arrangements were satisfactory. The instructions also noted that one truck weekly should be sufficient at such stations provided the weekly output from the station did not exceed the capacity of an iced truck.

Iced trucks were wagons of the T class and were iced in Melbourne at the Victorian Railways North Melbourne ice works one and a half hours before the starting time of a train. Butter was consigned to a number of destinations, but the main traffic appeared to be directed to the Government Cool Stores (Victoria Dock) and Victorian Butter Factories Ltd. (Piggot Street, Melbourne - North Wharf) for export.

Ice is loaded through hatches in the rooves of T Class Vans at the Railway Ice Works, Melbourne Yard, North Melbourne. 1948. Photo: Victorian Railways Neg. No. M-631

On the Mildura line the only stations beyond Maryborough were Mildura and the Pinnaroo line. Empty T trucks were forwarded on Mondays and Thursdays from Melbourne and despatched on Mondays and Wednesdays on No. 130 up fast goods. The ice truck was run to Pinnaroo on Tuesday and Friday and returned on Wednesday and Saturday.

There were a number of dairy farms throughout the Mildura Irrigation Settlement with a number developed in the Merbein area after 1909 and others located at Merbein South, Wargan, Koorlong, Iraak, Red Cliffs, Nichol's Point, Irymple and Mildura. Butter was produced by Sunraysia Dairies in Seventh Street, Mildura, until late 1950's after which cream continued to be regularly despatched to a butter factory at Wallace, near Ballarat for some years afterwards. By 1973 there were at least 16 dairies still producing milk with the last dairy ceasing production in 1982.

In addition to cream, butter and milk, other perishable traffic from Mildura included rabbits, hides, skins and tallow, fruit, and fish.