Tag: Kevin Richardson

If Google cannot find you, did you even happen? Putting Jamberoo firmly on the digital map

Source Facebook 

Marketing guru Gaye Steel is a friend and mentor. In passing, she said something that made me smile and then made me act. If you are not on Google, you do not exist.

She was talking about what lasts.

A digital footprint carries a story beyond the last person who remembers it. Beyond the neighbour who knows. Beyond the family who tells it at the table.

Gaye is someone worth listening to because she has spent decades making big organisations move, not talking about it. She understands what cuts through because she has been responsible for ideas that had to work in the real world, at scale, with no room for excuses.

At McDonald’s, Gaye was at the centre of market defining innovation. She led the launch of products that reshaped the brand’s Australian offer, including Flake n Cone, McFlurry, McOz, and the first Family Meal Deal. These initiatives strengthened McDonald’s market leadership and showed her ability to translate consumer insight into large scale commercial success.

Gaye Steel taught me that good advice is meant to be used. So I used it, nudging a few Jamberoo legends onto the internet and leaving enough breadcrumbs that when someone types a name into a search bar, something comes back.

Think of it as historical housekeeping, with a keyboard. A way of making sure the people who shaped this place do not quietly slip out of view.

Geoff Boxsell and Kevin Richardson are a perfect example. Between them, they created the formula for spreadable butter, something that changed how Australians eat at breakfast. For years they were far too quiet about it. Hardly anyone in Jamberoo knew the full story.

Geoff Boxsell gets his first Instagram moment at 86 and somehow makes it look effortless. Read the story in Region Illawarra here 

Now the world does.

There are Google pages. Radio interviews. TV interviews  Podcast stories. A national audience hearing how two local blokes solved a practical problem and changed a national habit. The story has moved from sheds and factory floors into the places people actually look.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

This work also connects back to why I started digging so deeply in the first place. When I spoke with Dr Tony Gilmour, who has been documenting local history for years, I told him I wanted to ground my book in what Jamberoo was like in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He warned me there was not a great deal of Jamberoo history written down.

If the record is thin, what we add now carries weight. Digital footprints are not about promotion. They are about continuity. They give future storytellers somewhere solid to start.

Jamberoo’s residents are proud of our village. Always have been. What has changed is that we are now firmly on the digital map as well. Our stories are there, searchable, linked, and ready to be found.

And that feels like a good thing to leave behind.

Pride, Passion, and “Stuff” Kevin Richardson’s Dairy Story

Kevin’s story isn’t just about career success, it’s about the power of mentorship, the strength of family ties, and the joy of watching a new generation step into an industry he has loved for a lifetime.

Kevin Richardson’s pride in his career and in the people he worked with at Jamberoo Dairy Factory is palpable. Now in his 80s, Kevin reflects on his time at the factory with a deep appreciation for the skilled team he was part of people he calls “the backbone of Jamberoo Dairy.” Kevin’s influence and expertise took him far; when the Jamberoo and Nowra cooperatives merged to form Shoalhaven Dairy Cooperative, Kevin was selected to lead the laboratory and later became head of the control room. Many of Jamberoo’s staff were also chosen to join the newly merged cooperative, and Kevin speaks warmly of how it felt to see his colleagues’ talent recognised in the new venture.

Geoff Boxsell, Kevin’s long-time collaborator and friend, was appointed manager of the Shoalhaven cooperative. Kevin recalls an early conversation with a Nowra employee who hadn’t worked with Geoff before. “He’s smart, that Geoff,” the colleague said admiringly. “They’ll be wanting him up in Sydney soon.” Sure enough, not long after, Geoff was called to Sydney, where he was made joint company secretary of the newly formed Australian Cooperative Foods, which became the second-largest cooperative in Australia. Kevin smiles as he tells this story, taking pride not only in Geoff’s achievements but in the fact that so much talent emerged from their small factory in Jamberoo.

Kevin was also part of one of Jamberoo Dairy’s boldest moves—the creation of “Stuff.” In an era when margarine posed a growing challenge, Kevin and Geoff began experimenting with a new product, blending their premium butter made with cultured cream with sunflower and safflower oil to make it spreadable straight from the fridge. Their cultured butter already had a unique, rich flavour, but “Stuff” was something entirely new. Knowing they couldn’t legally call it butter, they used the affectionate nickname “Stuff” while refining the product. With characteristic mischief, they even sent a tub of “Stuff” to the Minister for Agriculture. The response from the Department of Agriculture was swift: “You pull your bloody head in.” The department head, who controlled factory licensing, warned that continuing production could cost Jamberoo its butter license. Kevin laughs at the memory, recalling the thrill of pushing boundaries in an industry they loved. Eventually, consumer demand for spreadable dairy finally outweighed the restrictions and Jamberoo Dairy was invited to produce it on a larger scale. However, the Jamberoo Factory declined, citing production costs and a commitment to maintaining the quality of their product.

Kevin’s pride in his work doesn’t end with his own generation. His grandson, Billy, is now following in his footsteps, spending weekends on a local dairy farm. Under the guidance of mentors like Michael Cole, Billy is learning the skills of dairy farming, from milking cows to caring for livestock, and Kevin’s face lights up when he talks about it. “Billy loves it,” he says, his pride unmistakable. Kevin knows that with the rising cost of land around Jamberoo, owning a farm here may be out of reach for Billy. But his son has managed to buy a few acres in the Warrumbungles, where they raise beef cattle and nurture Billy’s passion for agriculture, giving him a taste of farm life that, Kevin hopes, will carry on the family tradition.

Looking back, Kevin’s journey in dairy began almost by accident. His father, Bill Richardson, was the foreman at Jamberoo Dairy Factory, but young Kevin initially had other plans. When he decided to leave school at 15, his father arranged an apprenticeship for him at the steelworks, where Kevin was interested in technical drawing. But when he arrived, he learned he was too young to start—16 was the minimum age. “Come back in a year,” they told him. Until then, Bill suggested he speak to Wally Boxsell, Geoff’s father and manager at Jamberoo Dairy. Wally offered him a job, and Kevin soon found himself not just working at the factory but thriving in it. He was mentored, promoted, and eventually drawn into the lab, where he discovered his love for dairy technology.

From those early days in the lab to pioneering products like spreadable dairy, Kevin has always held his work, his team, and his family close to his heart. His pride in the Jamberoo factory and the legacy he leaves behind is matched only by his pride in Billy and the hope that his grandson will carry on the family’s love for dairying in his own way.

Kevin’s story isn’t just about career success—it’s about the power of mentorship, the strength of family ties, and the joy of watching a new generation step into an industry he has loved for a lifetime.

 

#KevinRichardson #DairyHistory #JamberooDairy #SpreadableInnovation #FamilyFarmLegacy #AustralianDairy #DairyPioneers #MentorshipMatters #GenerationalFarming #ProudDairyman #FarmTradition