Even in Biblical times dairying was an important product. In the Book of Amos it refers to the Cows of Basham which were very fat and healthy. The Jewish dietary laws of not eating milk and meat together possibly stems from a need to conserve limited protein when they were desert-dwelling people: while there was plenty of milk, it would not have been prudent to kill the stock for meat.
My father was a dairyman as was his father before him. My father Seymour Tronson established a dairy in 1938 on Crediton (Eungella) on the Great Dividing Range west of Mackay, Queensland when he was only 18 years old.
The Queensland Government was opening up dairy land and called for dairy farmer's sons to 'select' land upon which they were expected to establish working dairy farms.
Seymour obtained his 200 acres of selected allotment (Allotment No.33, Plateau Road, Crediton) and his detailed diary from the day he won the selection can be read at:
http://bushorchestra.com/family_logo/life_of/TronsonBiographySeymour.html
When he had cleared some 40 acres by hand (with some help from his brother Davis), his father Walter had allocated 20 heifers from his farm at Ringwood (Tewantin, Queensland) and the story of how he railed them to Finchhatton and then drove them up the mountain to Crediton was published in The Livestock Bulletin in 1939.
http://bushorchestra.com/family_logo/life_of/TronsonBiographySeymour_files/page0001.html
When Darwin was bombed in February 1942 the young dairymen of Crediton signed up into the military in Mackay and those with 'milkers' were sent into a separate room where an USAF officer told them they were return to their dairies; that the milk was essential for the ongoing running of the air force base. The morning milk went to the USAF at the Mackay Aerodrome and the afternoon milk to Mackay.
After WWII, Seymour had his sister Illma and her husband Wally look after his farm while he went on a working holiday, where he studied dairy farming from the Darling Downs in SE Queensland to Sale in Victoria, and the Sapphire Coast (Bega).
He was a thoughtful man and would visit the annual Mackay Dairy Expo where the latest technology was on display and from what he saw, he would think of ways to better increase his milk production.
When in 1951 he bought his second farm at Crediton and relocated to that homestead with an already effective working dairy, he often noted to me that with the improvements he made from his experience, this second farm produced considerably more dairy income that his first farm.
In this article of 1938, it states that the demands for the various dairy produce was growing. It makes the rather obvious statement: "The market is firm".
Australia's dairy industry is still healthy today, 72 years after this article was written. The 2010 Dairy Report – Situation and Outlook paints a bright picture.
"2010, the industry's position has changed significantly for the better. Economic recovery has underpinned renewed demand growth in key markets. Meanwhile reduced supplies have seen dairy commodity prices rise sharply in US dollar terms. This has seen a return to the fundamentals of the dairy marketâ€"without the
overlay of a financial and economic meltdown."
"Improved milk prices, combined with low grain prices and generally favourable seasonal conditions see southern farmers enjoying the best production conditions for several years."
http://www.dairyaustralia.com.au/Our-Dairy-Industry/~/media/Documents/Our%20Dairy%20Industry/Situation%20and%20Outlook/Summary%20Report%20Dairy%20Situation%20and%20Outlook%202010.ashx
Dr Mark Tronson - a 4 min video
Chairman – Well-Being Australia
Baptist Minister 45 years
- 1984 - Australian cricket team chaplain 17 years (Ret)
- 2001 - Life After Cricket (18 years Ret)
- 2009 - Olympic Ministry Medal – presented by Carl Lewis
- 2019 - The Gutenberg - (ARPA Christian Media premier award)
Gutenberg video - 2min 14sec
Married to Delma for 45 years with 4 children and 6 grand children