1847 First dairy export

Dairying started in New Zealand around 1815, when Samuel Marsden brought the first cows to his Northland mission. However, within 30 years the Pākehā community's appetite for dairy products ensured that the practice had become widespread in both the North and South Islands. By the 1840s, dairy products were produced on a relatively large scale. Herds on Banks Peninsula were milked for the production of butter and cheeses that were shipped to Wellington and various whaling stations around the country. Farming success allowed cheese to be exported to Australia from 1847. Cheese was a durable product, and butter could also be transported reliably in salt water preservative.