Golden North, with links to Laura in mid north from 1880s, returns as a South Australian-owned icon

A Golden North stand in the 20th Century at the Royal Adelaide Show, presening its dairy products from Laura in South Australia's mid north.

Golden North – an official South Australian heritage icon of from 2006 – had links to the state’s mid-north town Laura from the 1880s.

In the 1880s, William Bowker, attracted to the mining ventures in Broken Hill, found a shortage of dairy and garden produce and went into business supplying Broken Hill people with scalded cream from the family property at Laura. The cream was delivered to Gladstone rail head by horse and dray and, with no refrigeration, was covered with wet bags for the overnight journey to Broken Hill. The business was handed over in 1903 to William's son Percival Bowker.

In 1923, the first ice tank was installed at Laura, together with two cold rooms. Soon after, Laura Ice Company was formed, primarily to serve the growing local and Broken Hill trade. This signified the real start of Golden North.

In 1925, progress included an extended Laura factory, the private limited Laura Ice and Produce Company, and a glass-lined cream cooking vat imported from the United States of America. Cream sales increased steadily, and ice cream gained popularity. Laura Ice and Produce Company increased its plant and installed its first churn freezer. Ice cream was made by packing the ice cream tub with ice and adding salt to give, in effect, a brine solution. By 1930. electricity allowed more refrigeration.

In 1930-40, Laura Ice and Produce Company was primarily making cream, icecream  – and also butter before a zoning scheme ruled that out. Port Pirie provided a  big demand for Laura fresh milk from locals and visiting ships from 1938. To maintain quality, Laura Ice and Produce Company offered the area’s first pasteurized milk from 1928 in Laura and milk sales developed during World War II, with Woomera and other military bases set up. The company’s advance to bottled milk was made using Moyles soft drink company plant in Port Pirie. It remained there until Tetra Classic milk packs were introduced in the early 1960s.

Golden North Dairies Ltd – and the brand – was formed in 1948 to cater for the increasing trade, and a formal agency set up in Broken Hill. During the 1970s, Golden North expanded to an area from Gawler in the south, north to the Northern Territory’s Tenant Creek – said to be the world’s longest milk run – and from Ceduna in the west to Broken Hill in the east.

The Bowker family sold the Golden North business in 1983 to South Australian Southern Farmers Group (Farmers Union). Southern Farmers decided to launch Golden North icecream into the larger Adelaide market and introduced the slice-n-serve sausage pack. This gave way to the more popular plastic two-litre tubs. In 1991, National Foods was formed, including Southern Farmers and Golden North. Milk production moved to Port Pirie and the Laura site concentrated solely on icecream. National markets were set up.

In 2001, four South Australian businessmen bought the Golden North business from National Foods. The factory remained in Laura, producing icecream for local and national customers. The company continued to grow with new markets and new products, including frozen yogurts and sorbets.

In 2007, its white milk was launched into the Adelaide metropolitan market but Golden North continued to enhance its profile as an icecream producer and exporter. Inducted into the Foods SA hall of fame in 2018, Golden North that year won the first of four in a row national Canstar blue award for Australia’s favourite icecream tub, as well as Adelaide Royal Show and dairy industry awards.