When oranges were grown only as a delicious fruit to be eaten, any off run oranges that didn’t look good enough for the market would be thrown away in the paddock, even if they were perfectly fine!
Back in the day, before diets such as Paleo or low GI existed, when oranges were just a delicious fruit to be eaten, any oranges not perfectly round and shiny and not good enough for the market were left in the paddock for our furry friends to gorge themselves on! But the Morris Brothers, Harrison Brothers and the Davidson family, leaders in the local fruit growing industry, knew these oranges were perfect in their own way and that so much more could be done with these oranges.
Being true Aussie believers, they knew the fruit, although not perfectly pretty, was far too good to be left to waste, so the families came upon the idea to sell their perfectly juicy but “ugly” fruit to local canneries. As with all great Aussie battler stories, they were initially refused, but like all Aussie believers, they persevered.
So, far from being disheartened, the families banded together to sell their fruit as juice!
They noticed that there was a trend in America for fresh Orange juice and believed this was a golden opportunity for Australians to experience this new trend.
With true-blue Aussie passion and determination, the brothers put everything on the line, including using their own farms as equity to bring their venture to life. It shows the Aussie spirit to bet everything you have and that not even the possibility of losing everything was enough to deter their spirits!
In our earlier days, for a wonderful 11 months, the first, and one of many names born for the brand was Quenchy!
Like today Quenchy came in the form of a carton. But unlike today, Quenchy only had ten days shelf life and was delivered by the milk vendors.
The vision of the founding families began to flourish and with time, the next generation took to the reigns.
The general manager was a Morris (John, eldest son), marketing was done by another Morris (Paul, the second eldest son), main production and packaging was run by a Davidson (John, the eldest son of Keith Davidson), the receptionist was a Davidson (Gai, daughter of the Davidsons), and the original logo was devised and drawn by, again, another Morris (second son of Mort Morris).
It became a true family operation with all extended families chipping in over any holidays and weekends.
In 1974 came the news that Quenchy needed to change its name!
Just a few months shy of having the name registered , a registered brand (who shall not be named), claimed their brand was pronounced Quenchy and that they had it first! So having called this wonderful thing Quenchy for 11 months, the name was changed to one that would sound as close to the original as possible, Quelch.
The families breathed a sigh of relief knowing that at least the logo could stay the same.
Little did they know that later on the families would discover that there was a Quelch society in the USA when a bus load of tourist, all with the surname Quelch turned up at the factory asking for the original Quelch family that started the business!!
In 1974 the very first sale was made along with the milk deliveries. This however was no easy feat as originally the milk vendors would not take the juice on, not until actual orders were confirmed.
This meant that the only way to get the Juice out to the public meant the original families, and all the children had to walk around the local towns, door to door and hand out free juice to encourage the households to place an order from their milk vendor.
The families continued to venture out further afield to include shops and supermarkets in the towns around the Riverina, passionately extolling the virtue of supporting the local business.
Finally the hard work paid off, orders came through and sales were made through the milk vendors who supplied milk door to door.
In 1987 the original families all relinquished their directorship of the company so they could go back to concentrating on their original farms to remain core of the fruit supply.
1991 saw a “Fresh” new name and innovative packaging for its time: a cardboard carton with a plastic spout being launched in Australia as an easy open option.
At the time, Australia had no Fresh chilled short shelf life juice, and Australian Fresh set the bar with a premium juice in a premium package. Australian Fresh was made in Mildura to ensure plentiful supply from throughout the Riverina.
From 1995, Australian Fresh’s production was moved to Leeton to be closer to the market, and fresh from the farm. This ensured a premium and consistent product using only the freshest fruit!
...because we know how important it is to get the best quality fruit, to make the best quality juice and to be 100% Australian...
