Awarua Dairy Factory - Central Southland Vintage Machinery Club

Standing tall and celebrating 100 years next year is the old Awarua Dairy Factory, these days the home of the Central Southland Vintage Machinery Club. This treasure trove is at the corner of State Highway 6 and State Highway 96 just north of Winton.

The historical building has seen many changes over the years, since being opened in 1923 as a dairy factory. The Central Southland Vintage Machinery Club bought the building from Southland District Council in 1995 for $46,500. The building would be worth around $1,000,000 today. Interestingly, the cost of the build was only £5600.

When trying to decipher what the walls would say if they could talk, translating are Brian Croot (ex-treasurer and president) and John Peterson (president) from Central Southland Vintage Machinery Club.

The building was put out for tender to be built in November 1921 and opened in February 1923, taking just one year to build a solid concrete building by hand. The old cheese factory-turned-vintage tractor storage features 15-metre Oregon beams, shipped over from America. No easy feat back then.
This building is now well loved and looked after by the Vintage Machinery Club, who have moved their vast collection of Massey Ferguson, David Brown, Case, Fordson and other tractors into the dairy factory, along with other items of heavy machinery. The factory hosts many other knick-knacks and treasures, including the switchboard from the former Winton telephone exchange.

With a collection like this, it’s hard to choose what piece of machinery is a favourite. John says “I like everything,” while Brian “really enjoyed working on the chaff cutters”.

When used as a dairy factory, the main area had seven large vats which now houses the vintage machinery of the 70 members who have joined the club over the years.

There are some pretty incredible people who belong to this club. One in particular is Colin Davidson, who single-handedly converted Massey Ferguson tractors from two-wheel-drive to four-wheel-drive before Massey themselves created a line of 4WDs. After his lifelong dedication to the club, 2018 saw the unveiling of the Colin Davidson Room, one of the club’s main display areas.
Of all the tales shared by the club, stories about Colin’s wife, the equally incredible Valerie Davidson, stand out. Val would fly around the south in her Cessna, picking up parts for the boys to fix the machinery and tractors of their contracting businesses.

Brian describes one of Valerie’s many memorable moments.
“One day she was getting lunch ready to take out to the hay paddock, to the men, and she walked out the door with all the baskets (of food) and there was no ute and no car, they were all away. So, she thought, ‘what do I do now?’ and she saw the plane. So, she went over and loaded the baskets in the plane and she took off, flew to the paddock and landed between the rows of hay! She was an amazing member for the club. Valerie was always there.”
The Central Southland Vintage Machinery Club is bringing life back into the old dairy factory and etching its story into the building’s history. If you’re willing to join the down-to-earth group of vintage machinery enthusiasts, contact John at petersonscreek23@gmail.com or Brian at bmcroot@xtra.co.nz and keep an eye out for the celebration of 100 years of the dairy factory next year.

Southland District Council is glad to be assisting the Central Southland Vintage Machinery Club with funding. They receive an annual grant from the SDC District Heritage Fund, and are looking to expand their premises.