The olive grove on the banks of the Muddy Creek
Gerald and Margery Quirk established their olive grove in 1998, on the banks of the Muddy Creek at Arcadia, Gerald said it was a way to diversify and also issued a new challenge to them, there are about 1100 trees on the 11Ha grove, this is worked in conjunction with cereal cropping and sheep production.
The olive grove consists of Nevadillo and Correggiola trees which are grown for oil production and are just coming in to full production, 7 to 10 years after they were planted. Gerald aims to harvest 16kg of fruit per tree that will produce 18% oil following crushing.
The olives are mechanically harvested in early June, the fruit is immediately taken to a crushing plant at Cobram, the oil then returns to the farm at Arcadia where it is left to settle out for a period of time before being bottled and prepared for sale.
The oil is sold under the Sunnyville Olive Oil label and is available in some supermarket stores and small retail outlets or can be obtained direct from the grower.
