The development of dairying as a staple industry was considered a means of relieving selector poverty and debt, and as encouragement to closer settlement of the land.

The co-operative movement, established in Switzerland in the 1880s, gained worldwide popularity at the Second International Dairy Conference held in 1905, but Queensland farmers were experimenting with the concept from the 1890s.

Supported by graziers and selectors alike, a provisional committee was elected, representing Mount Larcombe, Calliope, Clyde Creek, Boyne River, Gladstone, Bororen, and Miriam Vale.

Tenders for the construction of a dairy factory (a timber structure) at Gladstone were called in June 1905 by Bundaberg architect Frederic Herbert Faircloth, with the contract let in August to J Connors.

A dispute between the contractor and the dairy company delayed completion for several months, but finally the factory commenced butter production in April 1906.

Historian Lorna Macdonald (1988:170) suggests that during the 1920s the combination of Wilson (JL, of Calliope Station) as chairman, Rigby as manager, and RM Hill of Bororen who was elected to the board in 1924 made the PCD one of the largest co-operative organisations in Queensland.

[1] From the mid-1920s the PCD led the way in consolidating the dairying industry in central Queensland, from just south of Bundaberg to Bowen in the north, and inland to Monto, Biloela and Wowan.

[1] Following the opening of the Upper Burnett River to closer settlement in the 1920s, the PCD established a butter factory at Monto in 1929, stimulating a phenomenal expansion of dairying and pig-raising in that district.

[1] The PCD closed its Gladstone factory on 1 July 1929 for re-building purposes, re-opening early in February 1930 to handle cream only, and was fully operational by September 1930.

Pig and calf raising became important adjuncts to the dairying industry, utilising skim milk and later buttermilk from the factories, as stock feed.

By the second half of 1934, the increased quantity of butter available for export necessitated the construction of additional cold stores at Gladstone, on land leased from Queensland Railways adjacent to the PCD factory.

In 1937 a dairy factory and buttermilk stud stock piggery (carrying capacity 500 pigs) were opened at Biloela in the Callide Valley.

At the Gladstone factory a number of new structures were erected, including an ice shed and store to the east of the PCD siding, both of which remain in situ.

It was received at the northern end of the factory, whereupon the cans were weighed, milk was checked for freshness, sample cups were taken from each supplier and daily cream dockets were issued.

The milk was centrifugally tested and pasteurised in the[clarification needed] with the salt hole and pump house on the site providing the water for the vacuum before being bottled and then transported by conveyor to the stores.

In October 1994 the Port Curtis Dairy Co-operative Association Ltd was absorbed by Paul's Ltd (Queensland United Food Industries), which sold the former Gladstone PCD factory in the late 1990s.

The site was advertised for freehold sale in November 2015, noting that "plans [had] been drawn to refurbish the existing [factory] building and create five separate tenancies".

The site is bounded to the north and east by a large vacant freehold property owned by Queensland Rail, to the south by Young Street and to the west by railway reserve.

[1] The administration building is situated on the highest point of the site in the south-western corner adjacent to the railway bridge over Young Street.

Adjacent to Young Street the single storey rendered masonry section has articulated engaged piers to its southern elevation, a hipped corrugated iron roof surmounted by two small ventilators, quad guttering, later sliding aluminium windows and boarded soffits in line with the rafters.

The two storey rendered masonry section attached along its northern also has a hipped corrugated iron roof and quad guttering but has a flat soffit with timber cover strips and no evidence of articulated piers.

This section has a gabled corrugated fibrous cement roof and metal framed double hung windows - larger openings have fixed sidelights.

Two of the bays (to the south) have external wall of concrete frame and infill construction with corrugated fibrous cement gable roofs surmounted by pairs of large ventilators.

Gabled roof clerestoreys running the length of each bay provide natural light and ventilation together with steel framed multipaned centrally pivoting windows in the eastern end elevation.

The tops of the clerestoreys are visible from the west above the large concrete framed facade which faces the city and railway line and prominently displays the Port Curtis Co-Operative Dairy name and insignia.

The infill panels are omitted at ground level on western facade providing access to a platform adjacent to which are remains of part of the railway siding.

[1] The tin shed is located toward the north eastern end of the site and is a single storey building clad in vertical corrugated fibrous cement sheeting.

[1] The former Port Curtis Co-operative Dairy Association Ltd Factory was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 30 March 2001 having satisfied the following criteria.

The place is significant for its association with the work of the PCD in encouraging the expansion of dairying as a commercial activity in Central Queensland through the first half of the 20th century.