The Pastoral Times was there when SunRice opened the Deniliquin Rice Mill in 1970, but it wasn’t until March 6, 1981 that the official opening of the mill took place.
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It was an auspicious occasion that was held on the lawns of the new mill and attracted dignitaries from around the region among more than 1200 people who attended. At the time Ian Davidge was chairman of directors, Clive Holden deputy chairman, W Rutherford foreman, and Gavin Lowe was mill manager.
Rice would be Deniliquin’s future, and the rise, demise due to drought and rebirth of the industry has had a massive effect on the town’s economy.
Deniliquin’s connection with the rice industry has no equal.
Rice growing began in the Murray Valley as a war time (1936-1945) measure to boost production of food in Australia.
In 1942-43, rice growing trials on experimental blocks were conducted by the Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission (WC&IC). The rice was grown on Hunter Landale’s property ‘Mundiwa’, four miles from Deniliquin, W Pyle’s farm at Blighty, ER Hollins’ property in the Wakool area and the estate of T Wragge at Tulla.
Mr Edgar Hollins, involved in the plot trials, harvested a five-acre plot which yielded an average of 2.5 tonnes per acre (6.2 tonnes per hectare). The trials were successful and the industry in the Murray Valley began.
The following year, about 5000 acres (over 2000ha) were prepared for rice on Tulla Estate.
Although the land at Tulla Estate required little or no grading due to its natural gradient for water flow, the WC&IC surveyors and employees worked for six months non-stop designing and constructing the irrigation system.
In addition, men with rice growing experience from the MIA were appointed to manage the growing operation under the operation of the WC&IC.
More than 100 men were employed to prepare the rice fields. Unfortunately it is said that workers supplied by Wartime Manpower Department were not suited to that work. So, in September 1943, 100 Italian Prisoners of War (POWs) were moved to Tullakool.
The Italians were known to be good workers and another 75 followed soon after. They were industrious and worked hard, in 10-hour shifts using horses and an array of machinery to get the crop sown.
A camp was set up to house the workers 14 miles from Wakool and 18 from Barham, with facilities also being provided for Australian Servicemen guarding the POWs.
On October 6 and 7, 1943, the rice channels were filled and the following day irrigation started.
There were many good stories of the POWs at Tullakool. At the camps there were no fences necessary, and they did not require much supervision. One story is that a POW escaped to Barham and after four days he returned. He decided he was better off in than out.
In 1944-45 about 8000 tonnes of rice was harvested in the first season at Tullakool. Fifty-five years later, in 1999, the rice harvest for the rice growing region of NSW was almost 1.4 million tonnes, of which the Murray Valley produced almost half of the total harvest.
The rice industry continued to grow in the 1950s and 1960s with the mechanisation of harvesting and the transition from carting bags to transporting rice paddy in bulk to delivery sites in the region.
The technical advancement of bulk handling throughout the process, from aerated storage through to milling and packaging continued in the 1960s.
However it is said that Clydesdale horses were still being used to harvest grain out of wet paddocks well into the 1960s. By the 1970s the rice industry was booming, with storage facilities throughout the region in full swing.
In 1970 we saw the opening of the Deniliquin Rice Mill, operating 16 hours a day once workers completed training. It grew to eight hour shifts in a 24 hour operation.
Hogan depot and Blighty depot were constructed during the 1970s, with aerial sowing becoming popular in the mid 1970s.
The rice industry in the Murray Valley had come a long way since its birth in the early 1940s.
As the industry grew, so too did the Deni Mill to cater for increasing demands. Two new A-frame storage sheds were started in 1991, with extensions to storage in Moulamein, Finley and the Hogan shed in Jerilderie in the following years, and further Deniliquin Mill extensions in 1994.
These extensions and developments saw the Deniliquin Rice Mill become the largest in the Southern Hemisphere.
After a Riverina rice crop of 1.4 million tonnes in 1999, the severe drought of the noughties saw the mill placed into care and maintenance in late 2007 after a crop of just 19,000 tonnes.
Ninety locals lost their jobs in the closure, however SunRice assured Deniliquin that the mill would re-open when the rice returned.
They kept their word, announcing the re-opening of the mill in 2011 following unprecedented rainfall in 2010.
The 90 jobs were returned to the area, plus another 58 bringing the total to 148, as rice paddies began appearing throughout the countryside once again.
While the town rejoiced at the re-opening of the mill, there was increasing uncertainty over the proposed sale of SunRice to Spanish company Ebro Foods in 2010, which never eventuated due to underwhelming shareholder support.
Since reopening in 2011, SunRice has invested more than $18 million to ensure the Deni Mill has the latest technology and equipment for turning the world’s best paddy into the world’s best rice. Investments have included improving safety and quality standards, replacing old equipment, improving operating efficiencies, and improving mill flexibility and capability.
Since then, as crop sizes have fluctuated in response to water availability, the Deni Mill has had the flexibility to adjust its capacity to suit.
Unfortunately, at the start of 2019 SunRice was forced to start a staged reconfiguration of its Deniliquin mill, due to a severe shortage in general security allocations impacted on the crop size.
A zero per cent general security allocation in the Murray region for all of the 2018/2019 season resulted in Riverina ricegrowers delivering one of the lowest rice crops in their history.
The 54,000 paddy tonnes of rice harvested represents less than 10 per cent of the previous year’s crop of 623,000. And of the 54,000 tonnes delivered, only 25.7 per cent came from the NSW Murray Valley.
SunRice is confident the reconfiguration are only temporary, but only time and water availability will tell when it will have a resurgence.
With a capacity to process 600,000 tonnes of Riverina-grown rice, the mill usually plays an important role in SunRice’s global business.
Despite the challenges, SunRice is still working confidently toward its 2022 Growth Strategy.
New markets have ben opened in Europe, trading has started in Libya and has been re-established in Syria.
The acquisition and development of a world class milling and packing facility in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam will set a new standard for Vietnam rice processing and assure SunRice customers that quality standards applied to Australian products can be replicated internationally.
A significant development for SunRice has been its listing on the Australian Securities Exchange, with support from shareholders. It will build the capital needed to implement the growth strategy.
Among the outcomes in the growth strategy is a $24 million investment in the Deniliquin Rice Mill.