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.
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…
