NSW Egg Board Heritage Highlight

Hatching the NSW Egg Industry

 In 1927 a new piece of legislation was introduced into NSW called the ‘Marketing of Primary Products Act’. It was designed ‘to promote primary production by the formation of Marketing Boards representing producers and consumers of certain product’ and eggs, glorious eggs, was one such product in NSW that was in need of some timely regulation.

Since the arrival of roughly 87 chickens as part of the First Fleet contingent in 1788 – NSW was the nation’s oldest and largest egg producing state. In the RAS Annual for 1927 however it was lamented, ‘In the marketing of eggs… there is need, not only for improvement, but for a revolution in our methods, as the present system in vogue is simply deplorable.’

In 1928 the NSW Egg Marketing Board was established. It’s main jobs were to receive and dispose of all eggs produced for sale, improve the quality and output of egg production throughout the state and actively engage in the marketing of eggs and egg products at home and abroad.

As the Great Depression took hold in NSW from 1930, the number of egg producers increased. Some unable to find work in their usual occupations took up poultry farming as a way to survive and the Egg Marketing Board swung into action to market their product.

Space at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney provided the Marketing Board with prime opportunities to raise public awareness of its aims and the product it was promoting. A series of eye-catching posters and other advertising material produced in 1930 and 1931 trumpeted the glorious qualities of the humble egg, with one such proclaiming, ‘Civilisation – pays homage to the Egg. The Strong, The Sick, The Weak’.

At a time when RAS members, rural producers and showgoers alike were all struggling through times of economic hardship – the promotion of primary products through newly created marketing boards like the Egg Board, set the tone for the promotion of those sectors into the future.