Carol Carter and Rhonda Voigt’s friendship was forged in a factory that closed down more than a 15 years ago, but they and other former workers are attempting to keep its memory alive.
The pair worked at Berrivale in South Australia’s Riverland from 1971 until the final shift in 2010.
“I remember clocking off [at the cannery] for the last time and walking out in the car park … and I was blubbering because it was the end of an era,” Ms Carter said.
Carol Carter and Rhonda Voigt, who both still live in the Riverland, organised the reunion. (ABC Rural: Eliza Berlage)
The two giggle over a cup of tea as they chat about the long-awaited reunion they organised earlier this year.
They said the event followed the loss of a few friends and former colleagues and that it was high time to get together.
“I laughed that much that my face was sore by the time I got home,” Ms Carter said.
The workers at the reunion in March 2026 posed in front of banners displaying the old Berrivale cannery mural. (Supplied: Our Town Berri)
Cannery camaraderie
Many Australians have probably had Berrivale products in the pantry, from Ezy-sauce to Berri Juices.
Established in 1948 by Berri Fruit Juices Co-op, the cannery and preserving operation at Berri and Monash employed generations of families.
Berrivale was originally a major employer for Greek migrants but as operations expanded it hired more locals. (Supplied: National Archives of Australia )
At its peak, Berrivale was Australia’s largest fruit juice producer, employing more than 1,000 workers and processing one in every five oranges grown in Australia.
It closed because of changing consumer preferences and the improvement of refrigerated road freight transport.
“They’ve done tomato sauce, they canned meat, they did lemon squeeze out there as well as the condiments, and the pickled onions,” Ms Voigt said.
Ms Voigt, who worked in administration and was known as “Rhonda from the office”, said her family was one of many sent over from Ardmona Fruit Products in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley to support operations.
Hostels housed the many migrants from Italy and Greece, while a caravan park out the back hosted itinerant workers from Queensland. (Supplied: National Archives of Australia)
She said the seasonal but secure employment attracted everyone from university students to working mothers.
“That’s where they got their money for the school books and kids’ uniforms,” she said.
“It started their year off with some extra dollars, and they’d come to rely on that.”
Ms Carter, a single mother who had moved from the South East to be closer to family in Loxton, took a job on the factory floor after getting some local advice.
“I finally started to make some good money and be able to give my kids a little bit extra,” she said.
Ms Voigt and Ms Carter say they want a Berrivale reunion to become a more regular event. (ABC Rural: Eliza Berlage)
From poking Spring Gully Cart gherkins into jars, to peeling onions for pickling, cooking Ezy-sauce and getting stuck on the fruit salad line “if you were naughty”, work was made easier with a few jokes.
“When you’ve got a repetitive job, you sometimes need a little bit of a distraction,”
Ms Voigt said.
There was also plenty of buzz at Berrivale when it became the set for the 2004 Australian movie Peaches, starring Hugo Weaving.
“It was on the peach line that I was working on, but they used their own actors and actresses,” Ms Carter said.
“So that was pretty exciting.”
Pioneering spirit
Another generational worker at Berrivale was Steve Smith, who having grown up on a farm at Alawoona, was attracted to a regular pay cheque.
His late mother was also employed there before she passed away one shift following a heart attack.
Steve Smith fondly remembers the two decades he worked at Berrivale. (ABC Rural: Eliza Berlage)
While he left before Berrivale closed, Mr Smith said its decline had a ripple effect leading to other businesses to shutting up shop.
But he remembers fondly the great relationships and pioneering spirit.
“We did soy milk there for a few years, which was a bit of an innovation that not many people were doing at the time,” Mr Smith said.
“They always were willing to have a try and that was what I liked, there was variety.“
Andrew Beer, dean of management at Adelaide University, said the loss of businesses like Berrivale had a “devastating effect” on communities.
Prior to the cannery, locally-grown fruit was transported to Victoria by truck, or Adelaide by rail, resulting in damage to the goods. (Supplied: National Archives of Australia )
“The work tends to be very secure, paid well, and the things that replace it don’t pay as well and don’t have that sense of permanence and stability,” he said.
“I think we often underestimate just how important a platform for the entire regional economy manufacturing can be.“
Back at home in the Riverland, while Mr Smith missed the reunion, he hoped another catch-up would happen again.
“Besides funerals, at my age, that’s about the only place you run into people you haven’t seen for a while,” he said.