Creditors voted to liquidate the Windsor Farm Foods companies on Tuesday bringing to an end operations at the Cowra cannery and leaving more than 70 local employees without a job.
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Employees - many of whom had worked at the last wholly Australian owned cannery for decades - are now in the process of making an application for federal government assistance through the Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG) but that could take between three to six months to be finalised.
It has been a month of shock and uncertainty for employees after administrators from Grant Thorton walked in late afternoon on March 12 and told them production was to be halted and they were being stood down without pay.
The administrators were called in after concerns were raised that the Windsor Farm Foods group of companies were about to become insolvent.
Some employees were called back into work by the administrators in recent weeks - to which they will be paid - as they worked to fulfil orders for retailers while the cannery was put up for sale in the hope of attracting a buyer.
There was interest from more than 30 buyers but none were willing to continue the cannery's operations, which lead to administrators recommending the companies be liquidated.
While those in attendance at Tuesday's creditors meeting clapped when administrator Trevor Pogroske bought business to a close, many employees are now facing financial strain and the prospect of having to find a new job in town.
"It's a sad day, a big blow for Cowra," employee Carolyn Lye, who worked at the cannery for 17 years, told The Cowra Guardian.
"I hope Cowra can survive, we want the town to survive."
Her fellow employee Pam Marsh said she was now trying to move forward and obtain a new job.
It is the end of an era for products canned in Cowra, which included beetroot, salad dressing, baked apple, potato salad, mushy peas, mushrooms, microwaveable soup and canned meals for companies such as Woolworths, Coles and IGA.
Windsor Farm Foods was the latest reincarnation of the cannery, where on December 22, 1943, during World War II, the one millionth can for Australian and US armed forces rolled off the production line.
The administrators are now in the process of selling the land, plant and equipment at Cowra.