stay loyal choose local
Friday, July 29, 2022
$1.50 inc GST
www.wangarattachronicle.com.au
Your regular Chronicle inside >
Choose local 2022
FAMILY: Dean Campagna (left) with sons Luca and Anthony. PHOTO: Belinda Harrison
A family affair at Nu Fruit
WANGARATTA may be a long way from Sicily, however brothers Ernesto and Art Campagna, along with their parents and other families from Ramacca, made the town their new home when they migrated to Australia in 1951. The boys were only seven and five respectively, however, they grew into fine young men with big dreams and plenty of ‘go get ‘em’ spirit and in 1965, Ernesto purchased a fruit shop at 45 Murphy Street called Central Fresh. Seven years later, Ernesto and Art decided they wanted to go into wholesale rather than retail sales and started their own business; it was called Nu Fruit and the original building was situated on the site in Newman Street that the business still occupies 50 years later. “There were only six employees
when my father and Uncle Art started the business,” Nu Fruit director Dean Campagna said. “But they were passionate about fruit and vegetables and worked hard to build the business up, Dad and Art often working around the clock. “I was born a year after they started Nu Fruit and the second and third generations of our families have been proudly born and raised here in Wangaratta.” In the early hours of Monday, May 16, 1988, a faulty petrol pump had leaked fuel in the warehouse unbeknown to Ernesto, Art or John (Fred) Senkic when he arrived to start his night shift. When Fred started up the forklift, the motor ignited the fumes and created an explosion felt up to 10km away.
Fred suffered severe burns to his face, hands and upper body and spent months in hospital recovering. The warehouse and office building were destroyed. “My father and my uncle were shattered by what had happened; the loss of the building was secondary to the fact that their friend and valued staff member’s life hung in the balance,” Dean said. “Fred worked for us until his retirement in 2021, he had been with us for more than 35 years and he is as much a part of our family now as he was back then.” With a can-do attitude and resolve not to let their customers down, the staff at Nu Fruit came together to pack orders locally and in Melbourne and continue the service they were known for.
While their damaged warehouse was re-built, they operated from a warehouse in Sandford Road and when it was ready, the operation returned to Newman Street. “Myself, my brother Jason and our cousin Adrian (Art’s son) joined the business between 1993 and 1995 and in 1997, Dad, Jason and Adrian moved to Melbourne to expand and start our sister company Rainfresh Vic,” Dean said. “Jason and Adrian had already lived in Melbourne while attending university so it made sense for them to relocate back to Melbourne whereas I had attended university in Wodonga and was keen to stay in Wang as I believed (and still believe) it is a great place to raise a family.
continued page 3