Possibly the most isolated farm that we visited on the field trip – isolated in terms of its distance from where other fruit cartons are located on the Cartonograph – was Topaz Gold, Cloudforest Organic Ginger and Tumeric. It was a grey and drizzly day up on the Atherton tablelands turning to mist as Ciara and I snaked our way through the rainforest towards Topaz, becoming more cloudforest-like the closer we got to the farm.
Prior to the 2018 Field Trip I was contacted by Craig Darveniza by phone after he had seen an article in a horticultural magazine about the project. En route to Innisfail from Cairns I called him and asked to come and visit, but it was unfortunate timing as the Great Wheelbarrow Race – a three day event involving teams of runners pushing a wheelbarrow 140kms between Chillagoe and Mareeba – was about to commence and he was going up to the tablelands for pre-race preparations. His brother, Hayden was around though and so I arranged to meet him shortly after our phone call.
On the penultimate day of the Field Trip we travelled south from Cairns towards Cardwell and stopped into Peter’s Organic Bananas, located in Upper Murray, near Murray Falls. I was in contact with the farm about a year ago prior to the presentation of a selection of cartons at the Museum of Brisbane (September 2017). They enthusiastically responded, to the extent that I received an unused carton for the installation, which was posted directly to the Museum to replace the beaten up version I had.
Above: Audio interview of Tim and Beryl from Peter’s Organic Bananas.
Dear Madam / Sir,
I’m writing to let you know about an exhibition at Cairns Art Gallery, opening in late November 2018. The exhibition will be an installation of current, local fruit and vegetable cartons from Far North Queensland, as a way to tell stories of this region through one of its main industry’s artwork.
In May of this year I will be conducting a field trip to Far North Queensland, the main purpose of which will be to gather fruit and vegetable cartons and stories in preparation for an exhibition at Cairns Art Gallery in November 2018. There are 104 days between now and then, and so (almost) every day a carton from the collection will be posted on my Instagram from that region.
Trove is The National Libray of Australia’s digital collection resource, and we are very happy to say that the Cartonography collection is now available on it!
The Dicky Bill carton is one that I have had since I started collecting fruit cartons. It is an atypical carton, with a simple, cute echidna giving the thumbs up. I had always thought that Dicky Bill was the echidna’s name, however it is the abbreviated nickname of the late Richard William Barnard, a 3rd generation lettuce farmer whose farming legacy lives on through his son, Ryan McLeod and business partner Hugh Reardon. Dicky Bill now specialises in salad (mesclun, spinach and wild rocket).
Recently I had the opportunity to visit the art department at Orora Fibre Packaging (previously Amcor) in Brisbane, which is responsible for some of the most recognisable fruit carton designs in the industry. I was the guest of Camille Giacca who had seen an article in Smith Journal about Cartonography some months before and recognised some very familiar cartons and it wasn’t long before we were communicating. Interestingly enough I had been in touch with the art department at Orora about 18 months prior to ask them questions about fruit cartons. Perhaps it was my odd inquisitive enthusiasm, or perhaps it was because nobody else had asked, but Camille admitted that at the time they had wondered whether I was pulling their legs…
This entry begins with a quote from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, a story that resonates with the graphic themes of fruit cartons, as well as the themes of Cartonography more broadly, which I will elucidate:
Continue reading “Down the Rabbit Hole – The Fruit Carton Wonderland.”
