THE BODALLA STORY

1860's

A vision for Bodalla

It all started when Sir Thomas Sutcliffe Mort arrived in Bodalla. Nestled between the sea and the mountains, with a river, lots of rain and sea mist he saw the perfect country for dairy cows. Thomas said on arriving “every morning you wake up with dew on your shoes” which could only mean one thing….. fresh grass all year.

1865

State of the art dairy industry

Within a few years he had built a town, laid imported grasses, grew a herd and built enough milking sheds and cheese factories to start an industry. Bodalla – the milk and cheese town was born. 

1989

Bodalla Dairy was founded

150 years later, we felt the same as Thomas did when we first visited Bodalla. Coming from a 6th generation farming family from arid regions, we were looking for a special farm that could honour the memories of our teenage son Justin. Since moving to Bodalla we have nurtured our farm by planting more than 15,000 trees encouraging the birdlife and wildlife to return and provide shade for the cows. 

2008

Living Milk

It didn’t feel right to see all of Bodalla’s milk being processed by the big manufactures… so we built a micro-dairy in the heart of town – Bodalla Dairy and the Dairy Shed Cafe. Here we bottle milk exactly the way we want – with locals, by hand, in small batches at very low temperatures to keep the milk alive and brimming with fresh grassy goodness, for families like us who care about living milk. 

2012

Bush Tucker Cheddar

After lots of trips inland and experimenting, Bodalla Dairy Bush Tucker cheddar range was born. We have always been inspired by our beautiful country and it’s extraordinary variety of native plants – Saltbush, Quandongs, Eucalyptus and Wattleseed to name a few. We are fascinated by their health benefits which have nourished Indigenous Australians and native wildflife for thousands of years. And as luck would have it, they are a taste sensation when added to cheddar. 

Today

Bush Tucker Cheddar

We think the care has paid off as our unhomoginised full cream ‘living’ milk was recognised as the best in NSW in 2018. So we felt chuffed and proud about that. We now make fresh living yogurt, soft cheeses and ice cream daily in our micro-dairy for visitors and locals to watch and try.