Julia Child famously said “With enough butter, anything is good”.

It is one of those delicious footnotes in Australian dairy history. While the margarine world rolled out Mrs Jones (see footnote images), the fictional housewife who campaigned against margarine quotas in Australia, the men at the Jamberoo Dairy Factory were quietly proving that rural ingenuity could beat any marketing campaign, no matter how determined her smile.

Mrs Jones objected loudly to restrictions on vegetable oils. Jamberoo’s dairy men responded in the most Jamberoo way possible: they made butter that tasted so good even the margarine companies secretly kept an eye on them. It was a win win born from stubbornness, pride and a deep belief that butter should never apologise for being butter.

They knew the margarine firms wanted to get vegetable oils into every kitchen. So Geoff Boxsell and Kevin Richardson and their Jamberoo Dairy Factory team simply did the unexpected.

Mrs Jones, the fictional housewife claimed Australians deserved choice, Geoff and Kevin quietly made a different kind of choice available

They worked out how to blend cream with safflower and sunflower oils to create the first spreadable butter, long before anyone in a city boardroom saw it coming. They faced threats that their factory licence would be revoked and even received a stern letter  from the NSW Department of Agriculture telling them “to pull their heads in.” The men kept going.

The result was a product so successful that it immediately found a local black market of farmers who refused to hand it back once the Department of Agriculture paused its release. If anything, Mrs Jones proved useful; the louder she complained about margarine quotas, the more the Jamberoo team doubled down on better butter.

In the end, both sides claimed victory. Mrs Jones rallied the nation’s housewives. Jamberoo’s dairy men created a spreadable butter that reshaped breakfasts for ever. A fictional housewife and a group of practical innovators from a small valley accidentally created the same outcome: more choice for everyone at the table.

A win for Mrs Jones, a win for Jamberoo, and a very big win for anyone who has ever tried to spread cold butter on toast.

The Backstory

The long battle between butter and margarine

Timeline of the Mrs Jones campaign, the margarine quotas, and what Jamberoo did differently

Early 1900s to 1950s

Regulation of margarine begins

• State governments introduce strict limits on margarine manufacture to protect the dairy industry.

• Some states impose colour bans so margarine cannot resemble butter.

• Quotas are applied to table margarine production.

• The dairy industry is politically powerful and deeply connected to rural communities.

1950s

The protectionist system tightens

• Margarine producers must apply for manufacturing quotas.

• The dairy industry defends quotas as essential to farm incomes.

• Vegetable oil processors, including peanut, safflower and sunflower growers, begin pushing back.

1962

The Mrs Jones campaign begins

• Marrickville Margarine launches an advertising campaign built around a fictional consumer known as Mrs Jones.

• Mrs Jones is framed as the reasonable Australian housewife who wants freedom of choice and who finds production caps ridiculous.

1963 to 1966

The campaign escalates

• Full page advertisements and pamphlets appear.

• Mrs Jones asks why Australian families should be denied affordable spreads.

• The dairy lobby hits back hard and brands the campaign misleading.

• Hansard records members saying the campaign is “scurrilous”.
  Source: Qld Hansard 1966.

Mid 1960s

Supreme Court cases

• Major litigation unfolds between State regulators and Marrickville Margarine.

• Cases such as Beal v Marrickville Margarine Pty Ltd become landmarks in food regulation.

Late 1960s to early 1970s

Public sympathy grows

• Mrs Jones becomes a household name across Australia.

• The campaign becomes one of the country’s most successful long form consumer advertising efforts.

• Pressure builds for reform as people question why a spread made from Australian-grown oils is so heavily restricted.

1974 to 1977

Quotas begin to collapse

• State by state, restrictions start to fall.

• NSW formally withdraws its quota system in 1977.

• Australia moves into a period of deregulation.

1980s to 1990s

The aftermath

• Margarine becomes mainstream.

• The original Mrs Jones ads are remembered as a turning point in food regulation.

Key players

Marrickville Margarine Pty Ltd

The company behind the campaign. They produced margarine using Australian vegetable oils. Their survival depended on challenging quotas.

Richard Charles (Dick) Crebbin

Managing Director and later Chairman of Marrickville.

• Determined to break the quota system.

• Green-lighted the Mrs Jones campaign.
  Source: Australian Dictionary of Biography.

Ben Dawson

Head of the campaign’s early direction.
Source: Australian Oilseeds Federation history.

Solomon (Sim) Rubensohn

Advertising strategist from Hansen Rubensohn McCann Erickson.

• Designed the tone and personality of Mrs Jones.

• Known as a pioneer of persuasive political and retail advertising.
  Source: ADB biography.

State Agriculture Ministers and Dairy Boards

Defenders of the quota regime.

• Kept strict licensing in place for decades.

• Believed margarine posed an existential threat to dairy incomes.

Vegetable oil farmers

Indirect stakeholders.

• Their industries (safflower, sunflower, peanuts, cottonseed) carried the potential to expand if margarine limits were removed.

And then there was Jamberoo

Where innovators quietly solved the problem in a completely different way

While Mrs Jones and Marrickville Margarine ran a national political battle, the men at the Jamberoo Dairy Factory took a different path.

They did not fight margarine.
They reinvented butter.

1970s, Jamberoo Dairy Factory, staffed by innovators who refused to accept limits

Under the leadership of Geoff Boxsell, Kevin Richardson and team, Jamberoo created the first successful spreadable butter in Australia.

And here is the twist that makes the Jamberoo story a perfect counterpoint to Mrs Jones:

They achieved the win win that Sydney advertisers only dreamed of.

What Jamberoo did

• They blended cultured cream with safflower and sunflower oils, using local farmers’ milk as the anchor ingredient.

• They spent 18 months convincing authorities the product was safe and legal.

• They received a stern warning that their licence could be revoked if they continued.

• They kept going anyway.

• Their early batches developed a black market among local farmers who refused to hand them back once the department pressed pause.

• They created a product so successful that it became the forerunner to modern spreadable butter.

This was innovation delivered not through advertising or political lobbying but through talent, persistence and hands-on dairy science.

The real win win

Mrs Jones argued for choice.
Jamberoo delivered it.

Consumers gained a new kind of butter.
Vegetable oil growers saw demand rise.
The dairy industry kept its identity intact.
Farmers in a small valley became accidental trailblazers.

Jamberoo did not need a fictional housewife.
They had something more powerful.
They had a factory full of people who believed that innovation was part of the job.

And let’s not forget the dairy industry had Julia Childs -if only the Jamberoo factory team had sent their sample to Julia!!!!!

Source 

Footnote:

A little bit of history from The Bulletin

And this from The Australian in 1966

#ButterVsMargarine #MrsJonesCampaign #FoodRegulationHistory #JamberooInnovation #DairyScience #AgriculturalReform #AustralianFoodHistory #SpreadableButterStory #VegetableOils #SafflowerAndSunflower #InnovationInTheValley #RuralIngenuity #DairyIndustryLegacy

Author: Lynne Strong

I am a community advocate, storyteller and lifelong collaborator with a deep commitment to strengthening local democracy and amplifying regional voices. With roots in farming and decades of experience leading national initiatives like Action4Agriculture, I’ve dedicated my life to empowering the next generation and creating platforms where people feel seen, heard and valued. I believe in courage, kindness and the power of communities working together to shape their own future. These days, you’ll find me diving deep into the role of local media and civic engagement to explore how regional communities around the world are reclaiming their voice. View all posts by Lynne Strong