The building changed hands in March 2021 and since then the new owners have been looking at different options for the massive landmark building that covers an entire residential street - Railway Street - perched on the edge of the railway line.

Being commercial builders, the owners can see the potential to restore the dilapidated building to once again become a landmark for the town. Their idea is to turn it into an 'interactive precinct' with anchor business like a micro-dairy complimented by things like a brewery, a café or some type of accommodation.

In their quest to breathe new life into the former butter/powder milk factory, a Facebook group has been set up to help gather information about the building's past. Preserving and showcasing the history of the building in some form is important to the owners.

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The group has attracted a lot of banter from the community with old photos being posted and many memories being shared.

While the owners are looking to remain anonymous at this stage, they are happy to hear from the community about business ideas for the building. Contact with the owners can be made via the Gloucester's Old Butter Factory Facebook group.

The current location of the factory was the second in its lifetime, with the very first building constructed on the western side of the Gloucester River bridge in 1905. It was a weatherboard building, not much larger than a barn. At this time, Gloucester was quite isolated and not considered ideal for a factory. The product was shipped 45 miles along a very poorly maintained haulage road to the wharf at Allworth. There were 85 suppliers and the factory produced butter.

By 1917, the company decided to move closer to the railway line and, after much discussion and investigation, a new weatherboard factory was built in the current location. One obstacle about the new location was the lack of access to water, meaning a pipeline was laid to reach the Gloucester River around two miles away. The company continued to pump water from the river until town water supply was eventually extended to reach the new factory.

Butter production did not stop at all during the move.

In 1937, the weatherboard structure was replaced by the current brick building.

Milk production in the district started to rise rapidly in 1948 with annual supplying being 4,195,331 gallons, and continued to increase to 8,909,197 in 1968.

During the increase, the company decided to expand operations to include the production of powered milk, casein and cheese. In 1962, an additional building was constructed for the expansion with dried milk operations starting in 1963.

Before the deregulation of the dairy industry claimed the life of the dairy factory in 2001, it was the pride of the town.

The butter and powdered milk products produced received a great number of accolades from the dairy industry, year upon year. This continued right up until the doors closed permanently.

In fact, the Gloucester Advocate published a story on March 14, 2001 about the factory winning six gold awards for its six entries, plus the most successful exhibitor in the dried milk powder classes, at the Sydney Royal Easter Show just one week before the front page headline on March 21, 2001 announced the closure.

According to the article, the town's biggest private employer at the time was closing down that Easter following news that 88 dairy farmers from Taree to Dungog had left the industry since the start of deregulation in July 2000.

The closure saw 36 employees made redundant just three years after Booral's hardwood timber mill ceased operations, laying off the same number of people.