Elizabeth Harris and her husband Rupert with two of their six children, Dennis and Julie, measuring large chicory roots in 1948
Early memories of chicory farming
Fourth generation islander and keen historian Julie Box recalls growing up on her family’s Ventnor property, where her parents Rupert and Elizabeth Harris were chicory farmers:
“I remember drinking tea from a young age, but when I drank coffee, the chicory was used as an additive to give it bight and cut down on the caffeine. I remember to drink it I had to have a lot of milk in it.
My dad’s grandfather, Joseph Richardson, was one of the first settlers and started growing chicory around the island. Baron Von Mueller (renowned German-Australian botanist) had bought some Kyneton farmers to the island because he believed the sea climate was good for growing chicory.
It turns out it was difficult and only two families stuck with it – the Richardsons and the Forrests.
Dad grew up on a chicory farm but started farming his own land, about 100 acres, growing chicory from 1928 to 1968. He had enough water to grow the chicory well because he was a water diviner.
He was instrumental in setting up the Chicory Marketing Board. At the time growers were flooding the market with too much chicory and it pushed the price down, so farmers weren’t making a living.
So the idea to regulate the industry came in. Dad knew farmers had to have a fair share so helped set up the board.
In April 1936 the Chicory Marketing Board was constituted with two representatives from the growers and one government nominee appointed.
All chicory grown in Victoria had to be vested in the Board.
The scheme proved so successful that the SA growers also used the services of the Victorian Marketing Board.
Rupe Harris was elected Chairman of the Board at the first meeting and held that office for more than 34 years which spoke well for his ability and honesty of purpose.
Between 1870 and 1968 it was a wonderful cash crop for the island.
There were six children in my family and dad had only two incomes: the yearly chicory cheque, which would have been in the $100s and the monthly cream cheques, because we had dairy cows too.”
