LEITCHVILLE business owners are welcoming the potential sale and reopening of the Murray Goulburn dairy products factory, but remain cautious about whether it will come to fruition.
The Gannawarra Times revealed on Tuesday that a consortium of investors was interested in purchasing the factory, updating the plant and producing cheese under licence to Murray Goulburn.
“My reaction was one of cautious optimism I suppose; we’ve heard rumours before but hopefully this is more than a rumour,” said Leitchville IGA owner and former factory worker, Mike Walker.
“This would be wonderful for the town if it came off, whether it be dairy processing or meat processing.”
The investors have also considered processing pre-packaged pork products for the Asian market.
Mr Walker said while there had been a downturn in Leitchville since more than 80 jobs were lost when the factory closed in 2010, the community had not been idle.
“The town has quietened off a little bit but there’s been a lot of work done by the locals in regard to the caravan stopover and other things to ensure the town has survived,” he said.
“If a future investor was looking at the factory, they would certainly get a lot of co-operation and assistance from the local community.”
Roma Dye has lived in Leitchville for 54 years and has operated a clothing store since 1983.
“It’s not the same town it was when the factory was open; several businesses have closed, there were a lot of jobs lost and some of those people retired, some now travel out of town for work and some left town altogether,” Mrs Dye said.
Mrs Dye said the school could be a major beneficiary of a reopened factory.
“When our children went to school here [in the 1970s] there were 120 or 130 students,” she said.
“Hopefully the factory would bring young families to town and they would send their children to our school.”
But Mrs Dye said rumours of the factory’s reopening had abounded for years so she remained cautious.
“We’ve heard so many stories for so long that I’ll only believe it when I see it,” she said.
Christine MacDermid, who came to Leitchville with her husband Shane recently to open Red Gum Bakery, said her customers often spoke about the factory.
“A lot of people who come in here say it’s a shame it hasn’t been running, especially the way the dairy industry is,” she said.
“It certainly would be good for the town and it would benefit everyone if it started up.”
The Hawken family has operated the Leitchville Post Office for 98 years and Jan Hawken took over from her father in 1975.
“It was devastating the day the news came through that the factory was closing down,” Ms Hawken recalled.
“There’s been a loss of people, a loss of employment and business houses have lost a lot of money.
Ms Hawken said locals needed to support any attempt to reopen the factory.
“We’ve got to look forward and give them support in any way we can,” she said.
Leitchville Hotel publican of 13 years, Ryan O’Mahony said the impact of the factory’s closure hadn’t been as great as might be expected, because the majority of its workforce came from the wider district.
“The town’s still strong and viable but if the factory could open obviously it would soak up some of the unemployment in the area which would be good,” he said.
“We would certainly welcome it and it would be great for the town, but we’ll believe it when we see it.”
