THE Edgell factory began in a tin shed on the “Bradwardine” property bought by Robert Gordon Edgell and his wife Elsie (nee Keep) from Sir Francis Suttor in 1906.

Edgell produced just 12 tons of product, including asparagus, fruit and some vegetables, in the first year of production in 1926.

Together with his two sons and another boy assistant, Robert Gordon Edgell started preserving asparagus and fruit, using what was considered the best equipment the small output merited. Cans were also made at the factory and sealed with a hand-held soldering iron.

When the organisation started, the population of the Bathurst region was around 10,000 people. It’s now around 40,000. Edgell became a public company in 1930. The factory was expanded in 1932, before a second factory began operation at Cowra in 1943.

Robert Gordon Edgell died on December 2, 1948. His sons carried on the business.

Immediately after World War II, an unprecedented demand for  convenience foods resulted in an unprecedented expansion of the Edgell company. It rapidly extended its plants, new buildings were erected and new processing techniques and equipment introduced.

On entering the frozen food field, which was then in its infancy, the Birds Eye brand was acquired from Unilever UK and great inroads were made into the frozen food market, using a wide range of products and brands.

The company was buying blackberries at sixpence a pound in January 1951, to be delivered at cannery or to agents.

Food canned around 1955 included asparagus spears, beetroot, carrots, cauliflower, mushrooms, green peas, potatoes, sauerkraut, mixed vegetables, green beans, tomatoes, beans in tomato sauce, spaghetti in tomato sauce, sweet corn, scotch broth, soups (asparagus, celery, mushroom, oyster, pea, tomato, vegetable), beefsteak stew, spaghetti bolognese, spaghetti and minced meat, vienna sausages, tongues, vegetables and sausages, honey, sliced peaches, pears and apricots, conserves, and marmalade.

By the mid 1950s, the processing plant provided a central market for growers, containers for the preservation of food made locally, and full-time employment and security to many Bathurst residents.

Throughout the Bathurst district, more than £500,000 was being circulated annually in hard cash through payments for raw materials and for labour in the production of Edgell food products.

The baby food plant was opened by Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies in August 1959. From the outset, it manufactured a full range of dinners, broths and desserts.

A research and development division was operating full-time on improving existing packs and developing new ones to meet the ever-growing, sophisticated trends of this period. Strict quality control measures extended into distribution and storage.

The processing lines throughout the plant were fitted with electronic switch gears to assist in the timing and control of each operation.

Edgell merged with Peters Ice Cream in 1961 to form a production, processing and distribution group of companies. Other companies joined the group, which is now known as Petersville Australia Ltd.

Edgell had become Gordon Edgell Pty Ltd by 1965 and boasted an annual production of 12,000 tons of canned and frozen foods. It was estimated that the Bathurst factory was using around 25 million gallons of water, 25 million labels and prints, 20 million cans, five million packages, one million units of electric power, 5000 tons of fuel and coal, 2000 tons of tinplate, 400 tons of meat and 1000 tons of ancillary products.

At this time, the Edgell cannery in Bathurst employed more than 500 people at the height of the summer season. The company was rapidly expanding its overseas activities.

The presentation of the company products was fashioned to suit the buying habits of the various areas.In Asia, small retailers had a sales policy based upon a range of products with a carefully selected brand franchise.

Adjoining shopkeepers stocked and retailed the same products, but it was a requirement that the brands were different. The Edgell organisation was geared to meet any challenge and kept its trade presentation up-to-date with world marketing trends.

The group brands were on display in many countries, and the export division was constantly  widening the trading sphere of influence.

Export shipments were made to the Middle East, South East Asia, Ceylon, India, Pakistan, Japan, Hong Kong, Europe, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Rhodesia and Canada.

The Edgell “country garden” at Bathurst created far-reaching benefits – not only for the consumers, but also to the region in which production was located.

The food produced by Edgell has many advantages over others, because the processing takes place right where the raw materials are grown.