Teamwork makes the dream work, right? This photo proves it. Everything the Jamberoo Co-operative Dairy Society achieved came from people working together, sharing responsibility, and holding the same high standard. The awards tell part of the story, the teamwork tells the rest.
This post is part of a series honouring the people behind the extraordinary innovation at Jamberoo Dairy Factory in the 1960’s and 70’s You can find the series here
Back row: Ron Oke, Keith Trapp, Mick Tate, Carol McIntrye, Betty Chttick, Marea Walsh, John Parker, Dennis Brennan, Sid Reeves. Middle Row Joe Smith, Bill Ryan, Kevin Richardson, Geoff Boxsell, Wal Boxsell, Steve Dare, Vaughn Fleming, Bill Fredericks, Sandy Rutledge. Front Row: Bruce Oke, Darky Hogan, Ron Parker, Paul Brennan
In 1976 Jamberoo Dairy Factory won the Supreme Champion Dairy product in Australia with a box of their butter. In these pictures are Geoff Boxsell now aged 86 with the trophy, the box 25 kgs of Jamberoo Butter was packed in for transport and Steve Dare and Russell Fredericks unloading the butter
That standard came from people who understood milk, machinery, and risk, and who trusted one another to keep improving the system they were part of. Today’s story shares how that happened, through condensed milk, skim milk powder, and the network of innovators whose judgement and care delivered premium product as the baseline, never the exception.
Kevin Richardson is clear about why these processes mattered. Fresh milk is mostly water, around 87 per cent. The challenge for dairy factories was simple to describe and not so easy to master: how do you remove water without losing food value or quality?
Condensed milk was a high value option. By carefully evaporating water and, in the case of sweetened condensed milk, adding sugar as a preservative, Jamberoo could turn roughly 4.7 kilograms of milk into about 1.76 kilograms of condensed milk. The benefit was obvious. Condensed milk could be stored without refrigeration and transported long distances. It stabilised production, protected quality, and reduced risk during warm periods.
Ron Parker worked in condensed operations
Getting that process right depended on control. Kevin explains that consistency was everything. Heat, vacuum, and timing had to be managed precisely, or a batch would be lost.
That is why Dennis Brennan’s innovation mattered so much. By working out how to run condensed milk production as a continuous process, rather than stopping and starting in batches, Dennis kept product moving and quality reliable.
Later, Dennis worked with Kevin Richardson and Ian Boxsell on something that still makes Kevin smile when he tells it. Instead of operators standing around doing long calculations by hand, they created a simple computer program. Push a button, and it told you exactly how much sugar, fat, and solids were needed for that batch. No guesswork. No crossed fingers. Just consistency, locked in, years before computerised batching became standard practice. (BTW the program was developed on a Commodore 64)
Skim milk powder solved a different but equally important problem. When whole milk was separated, cream went to butter making and skim milk remained. By evaporating water and drying it, Jamberoo could turn about 4.8 kilograms of skim milk into 450 grams of powder.
Ron Oak was the skim milk power guru
As skim powder could be stored for long periods and surplus milk stopped being a liability and became security against seasonal swings and market shocks. It also meant the factory could absorb milk when others could not.
This is where connections mattered. One of those connections was Bruce Parker, a Jamberoo local who went on to manage the Dairy Farmers Wollongong factory. Dairy Farmers was the largest cooperative in New South Wales and one of the biggest in Australia. When its Wollongong plant was directed to handle all Christmas cream production, it was left with a skim milk problem it could not manage.
Bruce knew Jamberoo’s capacity. He reached out, and Jamberoo absorbed the surplus skim because it already had the evaporators, powder plant, storage, and people to keep everything moving. A small cooperative solved a big problem simply by being prepared.
None of this worked unless milk arrived cleanly and efficiently. Kevin explains why intake systems were critical. Milk arrived in ten-gallon cans, each weighing around fifty to sixty kilograms when full. Repeated lifting was slow, exhausting, and risky.
Wally Boxsell, working with boiler engineer Sandy Rutledge, redesigned the intake system entirely. Conveyors delivered full cans straight to the vat. Empty cans moved automatically through washing, hot rinse, and steam before returning clean to farmers. The system reduced physical strain, lifted hygiene standards, and allowed the factory to handle peak volumes without bottlenecks.
Quality was protected at every stage. Ron Oak and Bill Fredericks kept the powder room running through long shifts and Christmas peaks. Ned Roach, Kevin’s mentor, worked in the test room. Ned taught him to trust his judgement, to hold the line on standards, and to stand his ground when someone interfered with a process they did not fully understand. Ron Parker worked in condensed milk operations. Paul Brennan supported butter and processing work alongside Kevin. Geoff Boxsell backed practical innovation when it made sense on the floor, trusting experience over theory.
Kevin’s message stays consistent throughout. Each process existed for a reason. Remove water, keep nutrition, protect quality, and keep milk moving. What looks technical today was, at the time, sound judgement shaped by people who did the work.
Jamberoo’s success rested on systems, skills, and relationships. Local knowledge travelled. Trust mattered. Networks carried solutions faster than bureaucracy ever could.
Together, these processes created a closed loop system,
A closed loop system means every output has a purpose. Nothing useful is discarded. Materials either stay within the system, are reused in another process, or move to a partner who can use them as input.
At Jamberoo, milk entered the factory and left in multiple forms, butter, condensed milk, skim milk powder, and buttermilk. Water was removed to reduce bulk. Buttermilk flowed to Streets Ice Cream for premium products. Skim milk became powder. Cream became butter. Value circulated rather than leaking away.
Nothing went out as waste. What left the factory did so because it had a use.
In the next post, Kevin explains why what many people think of as “left over” milk was never waste at all, and why those by products were the engine room of the entire dairy system.
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