Believed to be the oldest standing building in ACT Duntroon Dairy has an interesting farming history.
Duntroon Dairy is a remarkable survivor of farming days. Many families lived and worked in simple stone or timber buildings near the Molonglo River, but Canberra’s construction destroyed most of them. The dairy is the oldest building on Duntroon Estate and Canberra’s oldest European building still standing. Around 1832, soon after Robert Campbell settled Duntroon, the dairy was built above the fertile floodplain to provide milk and butter for the many people living on his estate. The building, 5 m wide by 15 m long, is made is made of local stone and is set into the lower slopes overlooking the flood plain of the Molonglo River. A well is dug into a natural spring to provide water and cooling for the interior of the building.
