Agricultural
22 April, 2026
One family, one farm, 100 years
The Garratt family celebrated a century of continuous dairy farming at their Southbrook property “Argyle” over the weekend, honouring a legacy that spans four generations, which began with the vision of three brothers from Birmingham.
About 150 close family and relatives gathered on Saturday at the farm for a roast meal and to acknowledge the remarkable feat of one family’s dedication to 100 years of dairying.
Ross Garratt, who has spent 60 years operating the dairy, said it was a fantastic weekend.
The property was open to the public on Sunday and farm tours of the dairy were held at 11am and 2pm.
It is estimated that around 300 people visited Argyle on the day, including Federal Member for Groom, Garth Hamilton.
It was Ross’ father, Ken, who was one of three brothers to begin the Garratt legacy at Argyle.
He travelled with his father Frederick, mother Helen and brother Roy, to Australia after being persuaded to join Ken’s older brother John, who had made the arduous journey three years earlier.
The family left from England and arrived at the Fremantle docks in Perth on 25th January 1926.
They made their way to Wyreema, where they were met by uncle Charlie Perry (Helen’s brother).
The final leg of their journey was via goods train to Southbrook, then on horse and cart to the Perry farm “Rocklea”, located two kilometres from Argyle.
The Garratts initially took over the property on a lease arrangement.
After three years, Ross’ grandfather had saved enough money to put down a deposit.
While all three brothers initially worked the dairy, John eventually took up his own farming enterprise in the Linthorpe Valley, and Roy purchased a place between Southbrook and Pittsworth.
Ken continued to work Argyle with his son Ross, who has now passed on much of the daily operation and management to his son, Peter.
When the original dairy was acquired by the Garratt family it was 404 acres (163.5 hectares).
Over the years, Argyle has expanded with further acquisitions of land to keep up with the growth of the business, and now comprises about 1690 acres (684.21 hectares), with 280 Holstein cows currently milking.
Ross said each cow averages about 30 litres of milk production per day, however during peak production that figure can rise to 45-50 litres per day.
About 700 acres of the property is cultivation for crops and silage.
There have been significant changes in the industry over the years with advancements such as artificial breeding and electronic identification tags that have made dairy operations across the nation far more efficient - and yet the number of dairies has decreased.
One hundred years ago, there was nearly a cheese factory in every district - Pittsworth, Yarranlea, Scrubby Mountain, Springside, Brookstead, Linthorpe, Southbrook, Mount Tyson and Irongate.
It was a period in time when the dairy industry was a hive of activity, and Pittsworth’s dominance in specialised cheese production was beginning to be observed.
In the last 20 years, the industry has faced challenges and changes that have seen the number of dairies in Queensland drop below 300.
To put that into perspective, in 2000, there were over 1500 dairy farmers functioning in our state alone.
The Garratts have been supplying to the Australian-owned co-operative Norco since 2023, and all of their milk is transported to the factory at Labrador on the Gold Coast where it is processed.
Over the weekend, Norco donated 500 bottles of flavoured milk for the occasion which were enjoyed by farm visitors.
The original Argyle nameplate, which had been nailed up inside the barn, was placed on display during the weekend with other memorabilia.
With assistance from his family, Ross has written a book, Argyle 100 Years, about the growth and development of the family-operated dairy enterprise.
In the book, Ross admitted there have been periods of immense change throughout his time in the industry, which have been exciting, daunting, disappointing, challenging, but mostly rewarding.
He said it is very satisfying to see his son Peter take over the responsibility of the dairy, and there’s even hope that his grandchildren, who have grown up on the farm, might one day take on the day-to-day operations at Argyle.
This centenary milestone is a representation of the resilience of Queensland dairy farmers, and it’s with confidence we can write that the Garratts are looking forward to another 100 years at Argyle.
