Interview with Brian and Devron Booth [transcript] Interviewer: Rob Linn

Devron Booth was born on 30 August 1941 in Reynella and Brian Booth on 25 April 1943. Both moved to Morphett Vale in 1947. Their father Lindsay Booth was the fourth generation in Reynella. All worked on the land and they started grape carting for Penfolds in 1938. Bought property in 1943 from Stanley Clutterbuck for 2,600 pounds for 160 acres. Planted 95 acres with Grenache. Both went to McLaren Vale primary school, then Urrbrae for three years. Left school at 15 and worked on their father's property. They'd been working on the property from the age of 12. First Grange grapes came from Honeypots vineyard. Father had 220 acres of vineyards. Rented several thousand acres of land from the Housing Trust and used it for sheep and barley. They all worked very hard all year. Father had four trucks and they carted a lot of grapes and crops. Talks about the wine people - Tom Sexton, Bill Luders, Bob Hagley, Ben Chaffey, Max Schubert, Frank Sheppard and many others. Mentions many wineries. Father retired from trucks in 1968. The business was struggling so they cut back on the fleet. Had about 30 trucks including interstate ones. Now they use sub-contractors for driving. Bought their first tanker in 1977 and had 12 by 1982, then 50 tankers and 80% of the business. Then began carting milk from Deniliquin. Now cart for all the major wineries and a large amount for the export market

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