Interview with Jack Babidge [transcript] Interviewer: Rob Linn

Jack Babidge, born in 1913, joined the family firm started by his father and uncle, after his father's sudden death in 1936. R. Babidge & Sons was a cooperage firm which made casks, barrels, hogsheads and vats for the wine and beer industries. This interview concentrates upon two separate topics. Jack Babidge opens with a detailed description of the mechanised cooperage factory. The wood used was mainly American oak and Tasmanian oak although the company did make a 50,000 jarrah vat for Hamiltons at Glenelg. The firm made hogsheads for the export trade, and had to complete 150 per day during the season. Jack believes that the introduction of concrete and steel in lieu of wood, and the loss of the export bulk trade were the most significant changes in cooperage in his working life. Because Babidge & Sons was a cooperage firm, Jack did business with all the families in the wine industry. He reminisced about members of the Wynn, Barry, Hamilton, Seppelts, Smith, Tolley, Kay, Angove and Hardy families. Interstate wineries in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia were also customers of Babidge & Sons. Jack Babidge retired in 1983 just when the family owners of wineries were relinquishing control to managers

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