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Emu Ridge turns 30
12 March 2021
EMU RIDGE 30th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS were celebrated on the 10th April 2021
It seems like only yesterday when we founded Emu Ridge on the 8th April in 1991!
We had a great night celebrating our 30th Birthday on Saturday the 10th with family, friends and business associates. If it wasnt for you all, we wouldnt be here! Hon Vicki Chapman the Deputy Premier of South Australia and Attorney-General came to help celebrate our milestone and launch the official speeches. After speeches we enjoyed the nights entertainment from local band “36 South” See the full Album of the nights Celebrations here
CELEBRATION NIGHT
Larry talked about the beginnings and how the process has changed, and that sustainable farming of our natural resources was and still is very important to him. A few old mates and workers Brian and Steve both worked for many years hand cutting the leaf with Larry.
Some local talents that have been a part of Emu Ridge since its inception: Maggie Patterson, Babs Wiadrowski, Ros Stoldt & Pam Kent, and of course our beautiful shop wouldn’t be the same without all the producers, local arts and crafts people that have supplied their lovely products for our shop over the years.
Our wonderful staff past and present, have all helped us to achieve our goals, by delivering exceptional customer service that all helped in making Emu Ridge what it is today.
A special mention to Jan Hawes who originally came to them as a volunteer 28 years ago, still working for us today making gift packs, and laundry liquid.
Tiffany our daughter did a heart felt speech on how Emu Ridge has molded her into the person she is today and talked about some funny memories like, long drop toilets and busking for money when she was a kid.
We have employed many local school kids over the years, 11 of them completing traineeships and its always great to see them learn lifelong skills when the spread their wings.
“It’s exciting to have our kids Melissa, Tristan and Tiffany now Directors in our Company and doing their part in the business. Melissa, our loyal daughter started learning the art of business at the age of 5, Tristan has worked hard since moving back to the island and I’m sure people have noticed the improvements around Emu Ridge in the last few years since he has been back to help.
Tiffany will be handling the wholesale side of the business.
I’m so proud of Larry who has built our venue from the ground up, it is amazing and proud of all of the achievments that we have built together. I won’t say it’s been easy!! We have certainly had ups and downs over the last 30 years, but we are still here and that’s because we love what we do”. ~ Bev ~
Don Burke officially opened Emu Ridge on the 10th of April 1992 after we had bought down the old MacGillivray Post Office from the farm house. Our 3 kids used to have a ball at the distillery, it was their playground! Wow how things have changed, they now have children of their own and its there playground! We are not really sure when we really started Emu Ridge, sometime after Tiffany was born which was the 3rd of January 1991. To begin with Larry built the still and then we had a caravan and used to sell our oils from there and when we weren’t open there was a sign directing people to our house and we sold visitors eucalyptus oil and souvenirs that I had made from our china cabinet in the lounge room!
Our 3 children back in the beginning 🙂 Playing on Larrys crane, this used to pull out the old cooks
It’s funny how Day by Day nothing changes, but when you look back everything is different!
We can all go through life working hard and keeping busy. It’s so important to look back and reflect on how life has changed. Businesses grow, the kids get older, grandchildren come along. Certainly for us since we opened in April 1991 a lot has changed, and we are proud of where we are today 🙂
Our children are all now Directors of our company which is nice, and Choppa our Kelpie is the meeter and greeter!
Our family and our grandkids
THANKYOU
Thanks to everyone that has supported us in any way over the past 30 years. We couldn’t have done it without you, we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you 
Special thanks to Patto for always being there for us 
Special thanks to Kathy Ricketts for the beautiful cake made as a gift. 
Lisa and Pete Kangaroo Island Coffee Roasters for their beautiful gift of their awesome coffee beans that we proudly use at Emu Ridge. 
My sister Coralie who was disappointed not to be here and did a congratulation fun voice recorded speech of her time working at Emu Ridge and the celebrities that she had met 
Thanks to Julie-Anne from SeaLink Kangaroo Island for her kind words of support (read by Jacqui Wright) 
Pierre Greggor for his encouraging words from the Kangaroo Island Tourism Alliance (read by Megan Harvie) 
“36 South” you did an awesome job, we had so much fun 
See the full Album of the nights Celebrations here
Hon Vicki Chapman the Deputy Premier of South Australia and Attorney-General officially launched the celebrations
