MERV Williamson is the last of his “tribe” in Whittlesea. His clan once numbered in the hundreds and roamed the paddocks in the foothills of the Kinglake ranges.
Now, at 76, Mr Williamson is the last dairy cattle farmer in Whittlesea.
“My wife Mary’s family, the Cockrofts, settled the area 100 years ago,” he said.
“When we took over their farm in 1959, there were hundreds and hundreds of dairy farmers from Epping all the way up to Whittlesea and through places like Donnybrook and Arthurs Creek.
“There used to be a dairy farm where La Trobe University is [in Bundoora], but they are all gone now.”
He said dairy farming got tough and many closed their farms and sold to developers.
Mr Williamson, the animal nursery superintendent at the Whittlesea Agricultural Society’s Show in November, said the changing face of the area was evident in the show’s dairy section. “There’d be a hundred head of dairy cows, trailer loads of Friesian and jerseys; now we’d be lucky to get half a dozen.”
Mr Williamson said he had no plans of retiring, milking morning and night to supply milk used by a cheese factory in Thomastown.
“I don’t do it by hand. I couldn’t. One cow produces 40 litres of milk a day,” he said.
He said his son would not take over the family property because he had moved almost 200km north to farm in Waaia near Nathalia, and his daughter was a teacher in Shepparton.
Although dairy farming had almost disappeared from Whittlesea, the agricultural show is still strong, he said.
It was a way to show the “city folk” who had moved to new housing estates in Whittlesea about the area’s rural communities.
“Most kids don’t know where milk comes from – and their parents aren’t that much better.”
The Whittlesea Show is on November 3-4 from 9am to 5pm at the Whittlesea Showgrounds, Yea Road, Whittlesea.
