The Majority of Sunday Profiles are about one particular person's life, following their journey from birth to their current status on life's journey. Occasionally, the Lismore App will put together a Sunday Profile on an iconic local business. This is the life story of Lismore's famous Pie Cart.

The Pie Cart has been serving the people of Lismore since 1947. However, it started life as the Caravan Cafe owned by Rose and Jack Hamilton.

After WWII, Jack suffered an injury while building concrete silo’s, and sought less physically strenuous work.  After visiting the ever-popular Cafe de Wheels, Jack could not deny that “everyone needs to eat” and decided to replicate the concept in Lismore.

Jack made Lismore's Caravan Cafe from marine ply and cut a Graham-Paige car down to tow the new mobile business.

Caravan Cafe's first location in 1947 was at the corner of Magellan and Carrington Street for seven years.   

After five successful years, it was replaced by the current truck in approximately 1952. A new truck was purchased from Kempsey, and Jack enlisted help from friends Bob Ingram (carpenter), Cedric Lofts (boilermaker) and Allan Campbell (electrician) to reinvent the caravan that would serve people for the next 73 years.  

The makeover included a hot plate, hot box, two pie heaters, a bain marie, dishwasher, sinks, fridges and a bread cutting machine, as well as a bed, two easy chairs and a glass top table. Jack & Rose's children recall their daytime naps, being all cosy, while their parents worked.

In September 1962, talks were held about the future location of the Caravan Cafe, and Lismore City Council found a new place for it to live.  In October 1963, all was in readiness for the move to Molesworth Street, adjacent to the current Transit Centre.  

Talk about location, location, location!  Business was really busy, and Jack and Rose were selling up to 80 dozen pies (960) on Saturday nights.  The Riviera was a dance hall on the banks of the Wilson River near the old New England Bus Company at the end of Magellan Street. After the dances, Riviera’s patrons filled up on the famous pies.

In the 1960s, they would normally sell 35 dozen pies (420) a day, with sides of mash potato, gravy and peas.  Sandwiches, rissoles, curried sausages and steak & kidney in winter were also on the menu.

In those days, innovation was the key to success, and Council put up a fire hydrant to supply the Caravan Cafe with water, along with special access to a power box, where the rent cost 26 pounds a week.

The Caravan Cafe did not just sit at the Molesworth Street site; quite a few Christmases were generally spent at Evans Head, where the caravan would park up on the south side of the Illawong Hotel and get amongst it with all the other beachgoers.

Rose would cook up steak and eggs to supplement the offering of pies and sausage rolls, saveloys on bread and butter, as well as tea & coffee and Richmond Cordials (by Reg Trantor).  For those with a sweet tooth, Pioneer Ice cream was on offer, which was owned by Newtons in Lismore.

At the time, the pies were being made by Bluey Ball. Rose would get 100 dozen pies (1200) brought down from Lismore, a day. Pies were sixpence each (5 cents), and a meal of pie, veggies and coffee was 2/6 or 25 cents.

There were nine people working to keep up with demand, with lots of family assistance, and the Caravan Cafe would open for breakfast and stay open until midnight.

In 1967, there was a first change of ownership. In September 1967, the creators and founders, Rose and Jack Hamilton, sold the Caravan Cafe to Kevin and Nita Lawrence for $7000.  

(**The above information was supplied by Lois and Warren Palmer, daughter and son-in-law of Jack and Rose Hamilton, and Nigel Palmer and Lynne Heyman, grandchildren of Jack and Rose, and relayed by Sharon Restall, as is most of this information.**)

Nita initially worked with Kevin’s mother, Verna, who was called Loncie, and Daphne Gronin, who worked part-time.  

In 1972, the arrival of Kevin and Nita’s children saw Nita step back, and Kevin spent more time in the caravan, and the rest of his work was driving a school bus.

In the 1970s, the operating hours for the Caravan Cafe were more normal, 9.30am until 5.30pm, and sold pies, curried sausages, homemade rissoles, hot chips, chico rolls, soft drinks, lollies and ice cream. As it was the '70s they were also able to sell cigarettes!

The soft drinks were still supplied by Richmond Cordials - in glass bottles. They would rinse them out and return them to be reused. Another purchase was an “Orchy” machine to sell orange juice – at a cost of 5c a glass. 

A pie with veggies and a glass of juice was $1.60, and two pies were $2.40. Council charged around $8 per week in rent. 

The Evans Head trips at Christmas stopped, and the caravan entered the racing circles!  Every week, Kevin and Nita would attend the Lismore Turf Club and Ballina Races. 

Kevin had been driving the caravan around, but that year (1972), a friendly policeman suggested to him that it was “probably time to get a semi-trailer drivers license”. So he did.

1974 was the year of a big flood. Kevin took the Caravan Cafe to a high and dry location on Orion Street, making it one of the few businesses that were not impacted by that devastating flood. However, the freezers were kept at Kevin’s place on Elliot Street and were destroyed. 

At that time, the pies were made by Bowens Pies, but they had a supply issue when the owner suffered ill health. So, a new supplier was sought, which turned out to be Kings. Kings pies were popular, and the owners ended up making a pie cart of their own - Kings Pie Cart in Casino.

Heading into the 1908s, the Caravan Cafe was ageing, and in 1985, still on Molesworth Street, Council issued a “smarten up or get out” notice. Kevin and Nita had to refresh the caravan within two months or move on from its CBD location.

The council threat rallied the people of Lismore and helped give the caravan a fresh coat of paint and some bunting. While not a huge change, it was enough to keep the Lawrences on Molesworth Street.

In 1992, Council made life difficult once again when they asked for a huge hike in rent. It was to go up 270% over two years…  Completely unmanageable. Kevin and Nita petitioned for a review, and the rent hike was reduced to a manageable sum.  

Kevin & Nita were consistent business partners, and that brought them success. They knew what the people of Lismore liked and so continued to provide it. Over the years, very little changed in terms of the menu. 

In 1995, the Lawrences decided they needed a change of business, so they sold it to two gentlemen from Coffs Harbour. In our research, the names of the two men were not known.

These two men rebranded the business and got involved with Ridgey Didge Pies - they even started calling the caravan the 'Ridgey Didge Pie Van'. That led to signage being changed and a menu change, as out went the cordials and ice cream.  

The Ridgey Didge Pie Van had a refit. They took away the beds and chairs to make space for more ovens.

The menu changed to offer mainly pies, veggies and drinks - gone were the more traditional meals.

2001 saw big changes to the vans location. The levee gates were installed, and everything in the area got shuffled around. The Ridgey Didge Pie Van was moved temporarily across to its current position in Magellan Street. 

Greg Jeromeson got involved and petitioned Council for the space in front of the old post office (its current location). Traders in Magellan Street were given an opportunity to weigh in, and Council discussed the issue of the new site for many months.

Once the dust had settled, Greg fully restored the van to its former glory.  

In 2006, there was drama when a car crossed the footpath and crashed into the dining area, destroying chairs, a table and a large tree.  Thankfully, no one was hurt, and it only took a day to get it all tidied up.

In 2008, Larry and Nardi Endres purchased the business. Owning it until 2014. This is another period in the Pie Cart's history where details have been lost. If anyone can fill them in, we would love to hear from you.

It was in February 2014 that the business changed hands again when Kim Baker and Sharon Restall purchased the beloved pie van. Sharon's husband, Brett, owned the Dalley Street Butchery, and had been supplying the meat. Kim and Sharon paid $280,000 in 2014.

Kim and Sharon set up a commercial kitchen at Kim and Colin’s home. Around 800 pies were being made by Sharon and Kim a day. The pastry making, sausage rolls and cooking were being done by Colin. All existing staff stayed on at the van to serve the community.

The working situation suited Sharon, as she was having her first child in July of that year. Working at Kim and Colin's house, enabled her to have her baby at work and juggle roles. 

The new team installed a cool room at the back of the pie cart so more pies could be stored. It had been great for big events like Eat the Street and the Lantern Parade as storage increased 2 to 3 times the amount of pies in readiness.

In late 2015, the building that housed the Dalley Street Butchery came up for sale. Sharon and Brett bought it and set up a new kitchen and bakery. Pie production increased, and Kim and Sharon went into bulk production. 

In 2017, there were a lot of anxious moments for Sharon and Kim as they watched the river rise after parts of the Wilson River catchment received 700mm in 24 hours. When the river height reached 9 metres, Sharon and Kim made the decision to move the van to higher ground. 

Sharon recalled it was a difficult decision, as the van hadn’t been moved in over ten years.  

Plumbing and electricity were disconnected, everything packed down to the floor, and I was towed out with a tractor by Colin at 10pm in the pouring rain. Sharon said they went the wrong way up a one-way street and up and over the Ballina Street Bridge to a safe high zone in the South Lismore Industrial Estate.

The water breached the levee in the early hours of the morning.

The months after the major flood, saw a mammoth recovery effort, and the Pie Cart wass able to reopen quickly, providing a much-needed place for locals to visit. Sharon felt their service was a duty that they could offer the people of Lismore.

Over the years, new recipes were trialled until there was a great offering by wonderful people to deliver it.  

Another disaster hit in 2020, when COVID-19 came to Australia and Lismore. Sharon said, “We were lucky enough to be allowed to continue to trade for takeaway, which we were already set up to do. 2020 ended up being a very successful year for us as we were able to adapt where some others were not so fortunate.”

Changes to the business were made, and some still endure. Disposable plates and cutlery replaced our tableware, which was a mandatory sanitary requirement. Only two people could be serving, so it freed up that chore. It has become a sanitary expectation.

As was the case for everyone, Sharon and Kim had to adapt and make changes to their business practices. After two years, it became the new norm.

The 2022 floods seemed to put an end to concerns about COVID - in Lismore and the Northern Rivers at least. 

As with the 2017 flood, the Pie Cart was carefully moved, this time over to the Dalley Street hub. The mood was quickly dampened by the unexpected height of the flood and the resulting aftermath.

Sharon towed the van with her Landcruiser but then lost it in the flood. She had stayed in Lismore to be close to work after the flood receded, but she and her three children had to be saved from a rooftop.  

Sharon related some of what happened after the flood: “Tuesday some of my staff went in. We had stock there, and because the Dalley Street shop is on the same line as the hospital, we kept our power for most of the time. 

“Basically what happened from that point is we just worked all of the hours of the day that were available to us, whatever stock we could get from our suppliers. We took, and we just fed as many people as we could.”

COVID and the 2022 flood left Sharon and Kim very tired. They needed to break ties with the weight of a business to recover properly. Late last year, this finally happened.

A good friend of Sharon’s, Mel took over the business as the Lismore Pie Cart started another journey.

Mel is taking her time getting to know the business and is keeping things as they have been under Sharon and Kim’s time.

The 2024 purchase of the Pie Cart keeps the history of one of Lismore's iconic businesses going. The legacy that Rose and Jack Hamilton started in 1947 lives on in Lismore's CBD.

Sharon shows Mel the ropes inside the Lismore Pie Cart.