Minister for Public Works (and local MP) Gordon Coates officially opened the Waitemata Co-operative Dairy Company’s new factory at Station Road, Waimauku, northwest of Auckland. The factory was built to serve a rapidly growing dairying area, where annual butter production had increased from 92 to 351 tons over the previous five years.
Waimauku’s first creamery had been established, with half a dozen suppliers, in 1904. Five years later it was acquired by the Waitemata Co-op and in 1915, by now serving more than 70 suppliers and producing 58 tons of butter a year, a new factory was opened. The much larger 1924 facility was built to serve 350 farmers from Kaukapakapa to Avondale and was capable of producing up to 600 tons a year (rising to 1000 tons with additional plant).
Constructed of reinforced concrete with a corrugated iron roof, the building cost £6600, including a £2000 investment in new machinery. It was designed by English-born architect Arthur Lewitt Ferneyhough, better known for his significant residential work, including the Auckland mansions Florence Court and Trentham.
The Waimauku factory closed in the late 1950s and was subsequently used as a brewery and arts and crafts centre. From the early 1970s it was developed into a popular function and wedding venue, known as Settlers Country Manor. The venue and its arched-roof banquet hall, which features historic interior timber trusses and framing, was used as a set for the 2025 fantasy adventure film, A Minecraft Movie.