THE Old Butter Factory will soon have a display of Busselton’s early milking industry, in the form of a very special milking cow.
And even though it can be milked all day, the cow and machine won’t harm one an-udder.
Made of 3-ply sheeting and fitted with pipes and tubes, the wooden cow will be milked by an historical machine to simulate the process of milking a real cow.
The cow’s creator, Elwyn Harries, has spent a lifetime in the dairy industry, growing up on a dairy farm around 10km out of Busselton, and spent 33 years of his working life fitting and servicing milking machines throughout WA.
This is his fourth bovine creation. Elwyn made his first fiberglass cow after volunteering with the Royal Agricultural Society at the Claremont Showgrounds in 2000.
He had been surprised there was nothing on display about the milking industry except a separator and a milk can, so promptly tracked down someone from the agricultural society who looked after the old machinery.
“And from there, we actually built a 1930s-style dairy, with a 1926 milking machine in it that I refurbished, and there is a fibreglass Friesian cow,” Elwyn said.
“I tubed her up so I could get imitation milk circulating so she looks as though she’s milking all day.”
He has been showing ‘Buttercup’, his “own cow” at country shows ever since, coming to the attention of Dardanup Heritage Park’s Jill Brooks a few years ago.
She asked if Buttercup was pregnant, telling Elwyn, “I want her calf”.
He had a similar response from Old Butter Factory curator Glenice Scott who saw Buttercup when Elwyn was showing her to some school children in Busselton.
He has made two of the cows for the Dardanup Heritage Park since, the second one being painted by Busselton resident Rhonda Bartlett, who will also paint this one as a jersey cow for the Old Butter Factory.
“Most of the group settlement houses had little jersey cows,” Rhonda said.
“The milk was very rich and brought a lot of cream and butter.”
A member of the historical society, Rhonda also creates scenes for the Busselton Repertory Club.
She has done several murals for the historical society, including the jersey cow mural in the shed at the Old Butter Factory where the milking cow will be placed in the coming weeks.
