This is from a report, in the South Bourke and |Mornington Journal, 100 years ago this week, of the Berwick Shire Council Meeting held on Saturday, January 11 1913 and refers to applications to make Ice Cream at Garfield and Bunyip.
South Bourke and Mornington Journal January 16, 1913 page 5.
From Trove http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper
In the 1914 Electoral Roll, Catherine Louch was listed as the Newsagent at Garfield. Margaret Bell of Bunyip is listed as a 'Confectioner'. Commercial production of ice cream was relatively new in Australia. According to the book Cream of the Country: a history of Victorian dairying by Norman Godbold (Dairy Industry Association of Australia, 1989) ice cream became popular around 1910 and there were many manufacturers. They originally used custard in the ice cream but this was revoluntionised by Fred Peters, an American, who had arrived in Sydney in 1908 with his mother's ice cream recipe which used only pure dairy products. It took Peters four year to accumulate enough money to go into the ice cream business and when he did in 1912 the demand for his 'American' style ice cream was amazing. Peters Ice Cream is now part of Nestles.
I don't know how successful the new ice cream making ventures of Catherine and Margaret were, however in the 1919 Electoral roll Catherine is still listed as the Newsagent, but in the 1924 Electoral roll there is a Catherine Louch listed in the St Kilda area and her occupation is listed a 'Confectioner', so it seems likely that her career started in Garfield. You can read more about Margaret here.
I don't know how successful the new ice cream making ventures of Catherine and Margaret were, however in the 1919 Electoral roll Catherine is still listed as the Newsagent, but in the 1924 Electoral roll there is a Catherine Louch listed in the St Kilda area and her occupation is listed a 'Confectioner', so it seems likely that her career started in Garfield. You can read more about Margaret here.
