This week, Rover decided that he would like to spend a day out and about in the beautiful Winter sunshine. He was looking for somewhere where he could enjoy nature in all its glory, but which had an interesting history too. He remembered reading about a wetland area on the Central Coast of NSW which promised both nature and history, so thought it might be just the place.
If you would like to visit the Central Coast Wetlands Pioneer Dairy, it is located near Wyong and Tuggerah on NSW Central Coast. The street address is 1897 South Tacoma Road and to get there, follow the Pacific Highway until you see the turnoff for South Tacoma Road. Follow the road and the Pioneer Dairy will soon appear on the right. The wetlands are only open to visitors on weekends from 10am until 4pm, or arrangement at other times, but they are well worth a visit. When Rover visited, we were almost alone in the beautiful area, and had a wonderful picnic with the birds!
The Pioneer Dairy Wetlands are an amazing and unique site, which combines natural beauty with a fascinating agricultural history. This week, Rover focuses on the history of the dairy itself. The site of the Pioneer Dairy was first granted to Frederick Augustus Hely (principal Superintendent of Convicts in NSW) in 1831 and in 1858 his widow and son, Hovenden, mortgaged a large section of the grant to William Alison. In 1872 the land was formally transferred to Alison who planned to rear cattle on the property. In 1885, after the death of William, Charles Alison (his son) moved to Alison Homestead, which is not far away from the Pioneer Dairy. Charles mortgaged a huge part of the site to the Scottish Widows Fund and Life Assurance Society in 1886, the same year William Chapman moved to Wyong.
By 1897, things weren’t going so well for Charles Alison, and the mortgage was foreclosed on, with the Scottish Widows Fund and Life Assurance Society taking over the Wyong estates. Soon after, William Chapman acquired the land and the Pioneer Dairy as we know it was established. The property was formally transferred to Chapman in 1901. William Chapman and his family established the largest and most successful dairy in the area, and were instrumental in setting up the Wyong Cooperative Dairy Company’s Butter Factory (now the Wyong Milk Factory). The property was in the 1940s taken over by the Hannan family and they operated the largest commercial dairy in the Wyong area until it finally closed in 1986.