Don Roulston Buzzard

2.1.1
David Lindsay Dymock

David Lindsay remained on the family farm at “Linburn” until 1861 and then decided to get an auctioneer’s license. In 1864 he married Grace Menzies (the sister of Mary Alexandria Menzies) and added a wing to his mother’s farm for his new bride. In 1869, he joined the N.S.W. Volunteer Corps and was commissioned as a Lieutenant.

Lieutenant Jamberoo Volunteer Corps [11]

In 1872 he was promoted to the rank of Captain in the Volunteer Corps.

Promoted to Captain of the Jamberoo Volunteer Corps [12]

He became the President of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society and was much sought after as an adviser by farmers in the district and he preached the value of co-operation amongst farmers. He travelled extensively and attended many meetings and wrote many letters to the press on co-operation amongst dairy farmers. In the 1880s Dymock promoted the establishment of a “Herd Book” to tabulate dairy cattle breeding and introduced a new light tin-lined butter keg.

He was elected by 692 votes, to his nearest rivals 396, as one of the first directors of the South Coast and West Camden Co-operative Society and held that office for many years. Concurrently with this role, he was a busy auctioneer, holding two auctions per week. In 1937, in the board room of a company called the Producers’ Co-operative Distributing Society, a tablet was unveiled that stated that “David Lindsay Dymock was the father of co-operation [co-operatives] in Australia”.

David Lindsay Dymock and his beloved Co-operative [13]

Transcript:

In memory of the life and work of
DAVID LINDSAY DYMOCK
Born August 31st 1839 Died August 7th 1937
A stalwart pioneer in the development
of the Illawarra district, the nursery
of the Dairy Industry in N.S.Wales
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Importer of the first Cream Separator
to Australia
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Chairman of the first Co-operative
Selling Company

If that wasn’ t enough, he took a prominent role in the establishment of the butter factories. He also helped to introduce overseas developments in milk processing, and in particular, the separating of milk.

In 1883 he visited England, Denmark, Holland, France and America. When overseas he arranged for Messrs. Waugh and Josephson to become agents for the most modern milk separators used in the making of butter. But before his separators arrived, a rival company had already introduced a Danish one into N.S.W. market.

Co-operative Men Kiama 1899 [14]

However, on 20th October 1900, David Lindsay was in trouble with his creditors and a meeting was called and the outcome was that after selling the farm and all assets, unsecured creditors would likely receive 5 shillings in the pound.

Bankruptcy Proceedings

He moved to Queensland (Qld.) in 1901 and farmed at Harrisville and his wife died in Wooloowia, Qld. on 16th May 1919. He later died on 6th August 1937 (not the 7th as shown on his memorial above) at the age of 98. He was buried in the Lutwyche Cemetery, Brisbane, Qld.

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[11] N.S.W. Blue Book 1872
[12] N.S.W. Blue Book 1872
[13] Land (Sydney, N.S.W. : 1911 - 1954), Wednesday 13 October 1954, page 14
[14] Stuart Richards