Chinchilla melon growers plummet from 30 to three ahead of Melon Festival 2025

One of the three remaining Chinchilla melon growers says the Western Downs town that is synonymous with the fruit can no longer able to claim the melon crown. Here’s why.

The Davies family won the Big Melon award at the 2023 Chinchilla Melon Festival. Photo: Supplied.

Driving into Chinchilla it's hard to miss the big melon.

Weighing four tonnes, standing 3m high and 9m wide, this iconic slice of watermelon represents an agricultural industry which once bloomed in the area.

At the height of its power there were 30 Chinchilla watermelon growers, but now with costs of resources, labour issues and industry pressures only three farming families remain.

According to the 2022-23 Horticulture Statistics Handbook, Australia-wide melon production fell to roughly 249,146 US tons in 2023, a 7 per cent drop, while 2022 saw a 8 per cent decrease in production.

Last year the Sturgess family, who had farmed watermelons for 47 years in Chinchilla, closed up shop alongside two dozens other families over the past 20 years.

Davies family win Big Melon award at the 2023 Melon Festival. Costa Georgiadis was on hand to inspect the award-winning melon.

Sandy Davies, who has been growing watermelons for 36 years, said she had seen the steady decline of the industry over the decades.

“There’s only three growers left at the moment, Tom Brett, Terry O’Leary and us and the amount of growers has gone from 30 all the way down to three,” she said.

“It all comes down to cost and lack of labour, labour is always an issue but the input costs are horrendous, everything has gone up in price, your fertilisers, your sprays and your seedlings.

“It is also really hard work, you lose your life from November through to about March, for six months of the year you are working incredibly hard for very long hours.

“It is a lack of stamina, financial issues and labour force.”

Ms Davies said volatile weather was also a concern for growers.

“We are just really concerned about the hail storms, we have had a very nervous couple of weeks this season compared to last, anything with hail will damage fruit and leaves which leaves them susceptible to disease which in turn leads to more input costs,” she said.

“We had a big flood once, but that was more of an every 20 years type thing, that’s just a bit of bad luck.

“Water is also a big issue you can only grow what you have water for, last year we didn’t have enough water so we didn’t put a whole block in.”

Family fun at Chinchilla Melon Fest 2023 on Saturday, February 18. Picture: Peta McEachern

Ms Davies said Chinchilla was synonymous with watermelons and it was sad to see the loss of the industry locally.

“It’s part of Chinchilla’s identity now, the festival over the years has been massive to showcase our industry,” she said.

“We’ve got a next generation of young men and that’s what they know, what they do and what their farms are suitable for.

“The melons have been around for a long time and it’s important for the image of Chinchilla.

“Unfortunately Chinchilla can no longer claim the melon crown, that one went a few years ago, but we are still passionate about our fruit and believe we do have the tastiest melons in Australia.

“Chinchilla melons have a name across Australia and a lot of that is due to the festival, but there are now much bigger areas in Bowen, Burdekin and Bundaberg.”

All the melon madness from the Chinchilla Melon Festival 2023. Picture: Emily Devon

Ms Davies said despite an uncertain future she was not going to be deterred.

“It is going to be an issue going forward, we have a lot of competition with the big firms all the way across the Northern end of Australia,” she said.

“They buy their own properties and bring in labour and harvesting teams.

“We don't whinge at all because we choose to do this, this is our farming enterprise. We wouldn't do it if we didn't enjoy it and same with the other two growers in Chinchilla.

“It's what we know. My husband and son are very good at it, no matter what gets thrown at them they keep going.

“We have that connection to land, there’s nothing better than being out there walking the rows, now we are older it isn’t as fun, but we have the next generation coming along and it's what we love and what we do.

“We just poke along with our own aims and our own gains and we are happy.”