HOLDEN FANS ARE STILL FANATIC

It was a sad day in October 2017 when General Motors closed their iconic plant in Elizabeth South Australia, where they had manufactured Holdens since the 1960’s. With a group of fellow members of the Great Lakes Historic Automobile Club, I enjoyed a guided tour of the plant in 1916  when it was operating and we were all impressed with the dedication of the workers as they continued to crank out ‘Australia’s own car’! 

But seems these days that nothing lasts forever and the demise of the Holden is an no exception, and the lion’s roar is but a faint echo. In what must be the ultimate transformation, the space is set to become the exotic mushroom capital of Australia with the Epicuren Food Group (EFG) setting up a $110 million growing and processing facility. The former lion’s den  is able to grow and process more than 20,000 tonnes of exotic mushrooms each year and has brought a massive boom to Elizabeth’s employment opportunities, including many ex-Holden staff. The plant is specially designed to grow exotic kinds of mushrooms such as oyster, shitake, enoki, king oyster, and in an acknowledgement to the previous owners, a new variety to be known as the Lion’s Mane! With the specially built growing rooms each with columns up to 13 metres high, EFG says that they are using techniques that others do not, with waste products taken from farms across the state . Once fully operational, EFG expects to employ over 300 workers. Minister for Trade and Investment, Nick Champion, says “Repurposing  one of the states’s most revered manufacturing sites  is proof that the sector remains strong and adaptable. Nothing like this facility exists interstate.”

Brian Payne.