Milk Delivery, Thornburg C.1954
Mr R. W. Horne and his horse from Craigie-Lea Dairies in Thornbury, in their splendid custom-built, rubber-tyred milk cart. They are photographed returning from their early morning milk deliveries. Note the old oil (or kerosine) fired lamps on the side of the cart.
Thornbury is a northern suburb of Melbourne, about 7 kms from the city, but this shot could of course, have been taken in any Australian suburb at the time.
While some horse-drawn milk carts and bakers carts hung on for another 15 or so years, the welcoming sound of the milkman’s horse making early morning deliveries began to disappear from our streets within a few years of this photo, along with a welcome feed of fertiliser for the rose bushes. I well remember being sent out to the street with a shovel to collect the horse droppings for the flower bed.
Craigie-Lea Dairies was established in 1888 and operated from Dundas Street in Thornbury. This photo is typical of the times: Note the the rough, broken edge of the street… from a time only the centre of the road was paved.