Family Super 8 film of the tobacco farming process in the town of Myrtleford in north-eastern Victoria, Australia, circa 1970-1971. Tobacco farming was the prime industry in Myrtleford from the 1920s until the closure of the industry in the mid-2000s, due to the large-scale Italian immigration that took place in the 1920s, and continued well into the 1970s, buying and staffing those farms. Tobacco farming there goes back to the 1850s. The history of tobacco in Myrtleford is their history.
Featured are my grandparents Modesto & Maria Vaccaro, father Vincenzo, aunty Lina and uncle Mario, along with other family members.
The film was taken mainly by my uncle Mario, and my father Vincenzo. Mario wanted to document the entire tobacco process for historic preservation. It has taken over 50 years from filming to it finally being viewed as a documentary by the wider public. His descriptions of the processes are timestamped below:
00:00- Beginning- Kodak Super 8 film leader.
00:09- Planting tobacco seeds. Seeds are covered with a coarse sand, so as to trap the heat to help the seeds grow. The plant beds are covered at night to keep the seeds warm. This was done around September-October in Myrtleford.
02:03- The tobacco plants are growing. Weeds in the plant beds are removed.
03:03- The tips of the tobacco plants are cut off in order to make the plants grow stronger.
03:36- Pouring liquid ‘benzol’ to keep plants warm and prevent diseases from forming. The benzol would evaporate overnight, creating a fume barrier over the plants.
04:18- Pulling out plants that are ready to be planted in the field. At this stage they are typically 20cm in height. The best plants are selected, with the others given more time to ripen. The read plants are placed in an old wooden box for bananas, lined inside with a wet hessian bag.
05:24- Planting the tobacco plants in the field where the tobacco will ultimately grow and be harvested for curing. The tractor that is used to plant the tobacco plants features a digger and small water tank. The digger digs a trench where the plants will be planted, with the water tank delivering a pre-determined amount of water in spaced intervals, where the tobacco plants were to be planted. The digger would cover the plant with soil after this process.
06:07- One month after the tobacco plants were planted (October/November). The weeds are being removed, and the soil is being softened up in order to help the plant grow.
07:05- 2-3 months after planting. (About December).
07:30- Irrigating in rows with a pipe setup. This stage is about 4-5 months after planting.
8:46- Irrigating plants with sprinklers.
10:25- Cutting the ‘flower’ from the top of the plants in order for the plant nutrients to go to the leaves rather than the flower. A knife and stick were used to cut the flower, where the stick dropped the cut flower onto the ground rather than remaining on top of the plant, which would cause problems with the plant.
13:03- Picking tobacco leaves, starting with the ripened ones at the bottom of the plant (colour changing from green to yellow). Leaves would be placed in a hessian bag and tied up. This would occur around about February in Australia.
15:36- The full bags are placed on the tractor to bring back into the shed to bundle the leaves onto sticks to be cured.
15:47- Workers bundle leaves onto sticks to place in the kiln for curing. The workers in the video are my grandparents, father, aunty and uncle.
17:08- Loading bundled leaves into the kiln for curing. There were up to 6-7 layers stacked into the kiln, with workers lifting the sticks up into the different layers in the kiln. (February/March).
18:32- Workers taking a break.
19:00- Unloading the kiln of cured leaves, ready to load the kiln for the next set of leaves to be cured. The curing process takes up to a week to complete. When unloading, the kiln is fed with steam to prevent the dried leaves from breaking. The leaves are then taken to a storage room and pressed down with drums.
20:14- Removing leaves from the sticks they were bundled to, and sorting (grading) leaves based on length, colour, texture, and other characteristics.
23:10- Graded leaves are tied up in bunches with another tobacco leaf, which has been pre-moistened.
24:23- Baling bundled leaved with a presser.
25:35- The leaves are boxed with hessian bags, and are stamped with the farm name. Vaccaro and Nero were the names of the families (my family) who farmed that particular crop.
25:45- Boxes and weighed, ready to go to sales. The weights were limited- boxes above a certain weight would see a fine for the farmers responsible. (March)
26:22- End- Kodak Super 8 film leader.
Vaxfacts: More information can be found at the following web pages:
www.tobaccoinaustralia.org.au/chapter-10-tobacco-industry/10-1-the-tobacco-growing-industry
www.alpinehistory.com.au/timeline-for-tobacco-production-in-the-ne.html
www.instructables.com/Growing-Tobacco/