The expansion of dairying as a commercial activity was made possible by a number of advances in technology in the late nineteenth century, including the availability of refrigerated shipping in Queensland from 1883; the introduction of mechanical cream separators to Queensland in the late 1880s (invented in Europe in 1878); and the development of the Babcock butterfat test.

[1] The co-operative movement, in which producers held shares in enterprises that processed and sold their product, evolved 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 1901 an initial attempt to form a Downs Dairy Co-operative was made by a handful of dairymen meeting at Wellcamp, but faltered due to lack of financial support.

The proposal was resurrected in April 1904 at a meeting at Westbrook, at which it was resolved to establish a centrally located butter factory adjacent to the railway at or near Toowoomba.

A prospectus offering shares at £1 each was adopted by June 1904 and received significant local support, on the strength of which a site adjoining the Southern and Western Railway at Brook Street in Toowoomba was acquired and tenders called for the construction of a butter factory.

Construction commenced in 1905 and the single-storey timber structure incorporating butter factory and refrigeration room was opened by Hon.

[1] The co-operative adopted the brand name "Unity" with an accompanying trade mark symbol: a bundle of sticks denoting collective strength.

Following the opening of the Co-operative's Toowoomba factory in 1905 the Darling Downs dairy herd quadrupled in size from just over 20,000 head to almost 90,000, and grew to just under 220,000 by 1945.

[1] The Downs Co-operative Dairy Association soon expanded, constructing or purchasing branch butter factories at Miles (1911), Clifton (1912), Dalby (1915) and Crows Nest (1918).

Purcell played a major role in the formulation of state, federal and empire/commonwealth dairying policies throughout the first half of the twentieth century.

Deregulation of the Queensland dairy industry between 1998 and 2003 ultimately resulted in a 2005 decision by the Co-operative to rationalise production, which effectively ended the future of the Toowoomba factory, which closed in 2006.

[1] The Downs Co-Operative Dairy Association Ltd Factory is a complex of brick, concrete and metal buildings and other structures dating from 1929 through to the 1990s, located on a long, narrow, 1.4 hectare site squeezed between the western rail line and Brook Street, Toowoomba.

It is a single-storey, face-brick building with rendered lintels above the double hung sash windows facing Brook Street.

The front of the main building has the company name and date of establishment in relief on a rendered section of wall directly above the entrance.

[1] The interior of the building is divided into five small rooms that retain many early fittings and fixtures, including fume cupboards, lab benches, sinks and other equipment.

In the centre of the parapets along the eastern and western elevations is a large rendered section of wall with the name of the company and date established in lettering across the top.

[1] The building, which was used principally for the production of butter, cream and cottage cheese, has a concrete floor and minimal internal partition walls.

[1] This structure comprises three connected and adjoining three-storey, face-brick, buildings located in the centre of the complex facing Brook Street, that had been used for bulk milk processing (pasteurising) and cheese manufacture.

[1] Other post-1940s buildings and structures occur across the site, including offices, silos, loading bays, storerooms and power infrastructure.

[1] The former Downs Co-operative Dairy Association Limited Factory was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 18 April 2008 having satisfied the following criteria.

[1] The Downs Co-operative Dairy Association Limited Factory (former) demonstrates aspects of regional and economic development including the opening-up of land to closer settlement of the Darling Downs from 1900, the establishment of industry along rail networks, the rise of the dairy industry in southeast Queensland and its eventual decline in the late twentieth century.

The industry had a significant impact on people's lives in the region through the work of the Darling Downs Dairy Co-operative, through the co-operative's direct connections with the region's farmer suppliers and through the manufacture of products and brands important in people's daily lives (including cream and milk deliveries, school milk programs and the Unity brand).

This collection of buildings and equipment is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of dairy processing typical of dairy factories established from the early 1900s including its location adjacent to a railway line; and structures associated with the expansion of the 1930s and 1940s, a growing focus on road transport from 1940 and that reflect the continuing adaptation to new technology throughout the twentieth century.

The Downs Co-operative had a wide public profile through its key operations including milk distribution and high brand recognition through their Unity products.

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