This is a beautiful building that we've been eyeing off for a few years, to do something with.
Maffco was originally the Willsmere Milk factory. It was built in 1922 with some backing by the Fosters, which were a large settlement family from Boisdale, with some big investors from down in Kew, the Wills family. And it's set up and ran and operated as Willsmere for three years, before transitioning to the Commonwealth Milk Company.
Went through a couple more hands, eventually became Maffco, a rural supplies store.
Maffra's been reliant on this sort of milk factory employment for over 100 years. We've had people come in with pictures and saying, "Oh, dad used to work here," or, "My mum, my nanna, you know, worked here," and so many people have a tie to this building in the community.
It's great that we can repurpose this, and give people that sense of community and somewhere to come with that Milk Factory story.
