By YASEMIN TALAT
THE stories of the families who have dedicated many years to growing quality and fresh produce in Keilor have been told through a new exhibition in Brimbank.
To celebrate and reflect the rich history of farming in the Keilor area since the 1850s, the Brimbank City Council, with the support of Federal Department of Environment and Heritage, has produced ‘Growing Stories’.
‘Growing stories’ tells the story of these families in a booklet, photographic exhibition and short film.
The families tell stories of their passion for growing, their dedication and how business changed over the years for the good and bad.
One story is that of the Koroneos family.
Chris Koroneos, now aged 76, settled in Keilor in 1949 after migrating from Northern Greece.
At the age of 12, he started working the fields with his father and continued to grow vegetables and kept livestock until he retired from farming in 2002.
“I worked on the land with my brother and father,” Mr Koroneos said.
“In the early days, we were growing up to 70,000 plants a year,” he said.
The array of fresh vegies grown over the 64 years included cauliflowers, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, lettuce, pumpkins and tomatoes.
“It was very hard work those days, it was all by hand years ago, no tractors or forklifts,” Mr Koroneos said.
These days Mr Koroneos only grows vegies for his family and visits the farm for maintenance.
‘Growing Stories’ has been produced as a legacy of the Keilor 150 celebrations and a limited number of free copies of the booklet are now available from all Brimbank libraries.
The accompanying short film can be viewed via Council’s Facebook page, YouTube or on loan from Brimbank libraries.
