How a tricky turn on a Queensland highway became known as ‘fruit salad corner’

On a sleepy Sunday afternoon in the tiny central Queensland town of Theodore, a truck driver carrying fruit from farmers in the north to retailers in the south took a bend too quickly and tipped over.

He wasn’t the first, or the last, to misjudge this tricky stretch of the Leichhardt Highway.    

Theodore resident Keith Shoecraft recalls that after that spill, like all the others, most of the produce ended up strewn across the road or down in the ditch beside it.

Bruised and squashed, it was no longer suitable for sale in supermarkets.

But for locals, it was edible gold.    

“There were different sorts of fruit and vegetables, but tomatoes were common, bananas were a specialty for the locals,” he said. 

“They would pick out the good carton, and then it was open slather for what was left.” 

Tomato relishes, bruised bananas and custard, all manner of dinner-time vegetable offerings — the damaged produce was used whenever it could be. 

Locals say the boon for them, and misfortune for out-of-town drivers, continued for years on this bend in the highway, and the legend of “fruit salad corner” was born. 

Mr Shoecraft said that, fortunately, no-one was ever killed or seriously injured when the trucks tipped over.

“Many years ago, the road was pretty narrow and used to be flat around the corner, we’d have transports coming in principally on a Sunday afternoon,” he said.

“They just didn’t realise that the trucks weren’t going to get around it, and they would roll over into the canal or beside the canal.” 

Word spread fast

This took place long before the age of social media, but locals always knew when there had been a spill. 

They used the one thing that could challenge the speed of modern-day technology: small-town gossip. 

“Because they didn’t have Facebook and they didn’t have mobile phones, [but] someone would say a truck rolled over, so you’d poke out and have a look if you’re interested,” he said. 

Ironically, the town of Theodore with its population of about 400, is located in the Banana Shire region. 

“There are no bananas growing in the Banana Shire unfortunately,” Mr Shoecraft said.

“Banana Shire is named after a bullock that died in the creek in [the town of] Banana.”

“Fruit salad corner” became a joke that brought the town together.

Sweet treats, old recipes

People would come together after a truck rollover to share bananas and ice cream, or make tomato relish together. 

“Some of the old cooks would have had their own recipe and they may have shared it,” Liz Shoecraft said. 

And there was always debate and contention about what to do if the produce wasn’t quite ready for an ideal dessert.  

“There was normally a lot of bananas that were as green as you could possibly get. So, everybody used to take them home and give advice on how you ripened them,” Mr Shoecraft said. 

The best ripening tip?

“Wrap them in newspaper and put them under your bed,” he said.

‘You can’t miss it now’ 

Since the days of regular roll-overs, the road has been upgraded. 

“It was probably 12 or 15 years ago. They widened the road and raised the road and cambered it,” Mr Shoecraft said.

“And since then, I’ve only known one truck to roll over.” 

Despite there no longer being any random fruits found on this stretch of road, it’s still fondly known as fruit salad corner by the locals.

“They have put up a lot of signs in the last few years, you can’t miss that there’s a corner coming up now.”