The current factory, of concrete and brick construction, was erected in 1927, extended to the north in 1953, and retains a number of its outbuildings and structures.
[1] The South Burnett district was first settled by Europeans in the early 1840s, as pastoralists worked their way north from the Darling Downs.
Two other sheep stations were established shortly thereafter: Nanango, by William Elliot Oliver, and Tarong, by John Borthwick.
A post office was established at Goode's Inn in 1850, and in 1857 Nanango was gazetted for Courts of Petty Session, with a Courthouse being built in 1859.
Closer settlement began after an 1875 petition, and in 1876 regulations were for drawn up for monthly land courts, the first of which occurred in Nanango in 1877.
The 1884 Agricultural Lands Purchase Act aided in the resumption of part of Nanango Station for selection by farmers, who produced wheat and butter for the local market.
The first commercial dairy farm was started near Nanango in 1865, but this was a small operation that had to cart its cream overland to Gympie.
Closer settlement legislation between 1906 and 1917 also played its part in creating small agricultural service towns, as did the spread of Queensland's railway network.
[1] The Co-operative movement, where producers held shares in the enterprises that processed and sold their product, had been developed in Switzerland during the 1880s, and was transferred from Victoria to Queensland by dairy immigrants during the 1890s and the first decade of the twentieth century.
In December of that year a thrice-weekly cream van run from Kunioon to the railhead was organised by Mr William Selby.
The first Annual General Meeting of the Co-operative was held in February 1906, and 1565 shares were allotted to 152 shareholders, 115 of those being fully paid up.
Nanango butter soon developed a reputation for excellence; in June 1906 the factory's product won first prize at the Maryborough show.
By 1920, there were 5,000 sheep in the South Burnett compared to 230,000 beef and dairy cattle, with 10,000 pigs and 42,000 acres (17,000 ha) of crops.
A cheese factory was established during World War II to feed the troops, but it only operated between January 1942 and November 1943.
[1] By 1950 the South Burnett was carrying 650 sheep, 130,000 dairy cows (ten percent of the Queensland total), 110,000 beef cattle, 70,000 pigs, and 160,000 acres (65,000 ha) of crops.
Irregular seasonal conditions and a lack of profits led many dairy farmers to drop out of the industry, and by 1975 the factory had 66 suppliers left.
A gas fitting business currently occupies the northern extension of the main factory building, and a plumber uses the southern end.
[1] The main factory building is two stories high, rectangular, and runs parallel to George Street, on a north–south axis.
[1] South of the factory, across a large concrete pad, is the old office building of the Nanango Dairy Co-operative Association.
Running south to north these include: a small overgrown shed, related to the factory's cooling system; a rectangular semi-underground covered concrete tank; a brick toilet block; two underground concrete tanks next to the engine room; a small open-topped semi-underground concrete water tank; and an open two-storied twin-gabled loading bay, constructed of steel and timber and clad in galvanised iron.
[1] Nanango Butter Factory Building was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 3 June 2005 having satisfied the following criteria.
The layout of the factory, with its large internal space, loading bays, cold room, engine room, exterior water tanks, office building and other secondary structures demonstrates the principle characteristics of an early twentieth century butter factory.