THE WINE INDUSTRY IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA. - The Inquirer and Commercial News (Perth, WA : 1855 - 1901) - 10 Aug 1894 (original) (raw)

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Fri 10 Aug 1894 - The Inquirer and Commercial News (Perth, WA : 1855 - 1901)
Page 6 - THE WINE INDUSTRY IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

Mr. Harold G. Parsons, of Perth, thus

writes to the National Observer, an

Wine-growing in Western Australia

is, of course, in its infancy. Vineyards

there have been in the colony for many

years ; but the industry remained in

embryo, with the rest, till the other

day. Now, whether the awakening was

caused by Coolgardie or by the railways,

by Responsible Government or by ' new

blood,' we know not; but 'tis certain

that, a while ago, Mr. Hardy, the great

grower from South Australia, visited

the Toodyay District, and that he said

(were life Mb to begin again) his cel

lars should be there. Ten years since,

it is true, there were 400 acres

of vineyard in the colony ; and even

now, out of 5,000 square miles known to

be suitable, not more than 1500 acres

are planted. But the difference lies

herein : that the Toodyay Vine and

Fruit Growers' Association has been

founded, and that the industry has be

The Association was founded in Feb

ruary 1893. It is happily compounded

of farmers and civil servants, of old

settlers who have unlearned their mis

lakes, and new chums who are planting

every acre they can afford to win from

the bush ; all of whom contrive to

agree to push their common interests

in Parliament and the market, and to

make that rare thing in Australia — a

pleasant country side, to which an

Englishman may take his wife. Their

district is among the metamorphic

hills round the headwater of the

Avon — roughly speaking, one-fifth

of the way between Perth and Coolgar

die ; and its centre is the town of New

castle. We arrived at Coorinja (the

vineyard in which the President of the

Association is interested) one day in

Noveinber'of last year. The train stopped

at a little wooden platform in a long

valley, some miles short of Newcastle,

and left us at the bottom of a clearing

o about 40 acres, covered with vines —

spread, for the most part, on trellises.

We made our way up the hill to the

homestead, a small weather-board

cottage, with a tent, the ordinary guest

chamber, beside it. Away to the right,

as we looked down the slope, was the

valley of the Avon, in which stands

Newcastle, round the corner, out of

eight. The hills in every direction are

covered with interminable melancholy

bush ; the railway winds through

the valley bottom ; the fore

ground is comfortable with green

vines, which stretch also for some dis

tance to the left ; and the cellar and

the outbuildings are beside the railway

below. There are 32 acres of vines at

Coorinja., not to mention 800 fruit

trees ; and they were planted in 1889.

In the fourth year, or the first of pro

duction, they are giving near 1000

gallons. The grape is the Pineav- Noir,

known to Toodyay as the Burgundy,

and common to the district. At Avon

dale (Messrs. Bull and Stevens), which

we saw next day, they have ' 85 acres,

some of them planted seventeen years

ago ; they make, very profitably, a few

tons of raisins from the Gordo Blanco

grape : and they make, also, the great

mistake of fermenting a light wine,

which matures rapidly and will not

keep, from the Aramon grape, known

locally as the Fontainbleau. Yet

is the mass of their produce al

so a sound Burgundy; and for

their seven-year-old whn\ 13 it not

known to them that here is the key of

their private cellar ? On thu whole, in

three days or so, at this time, I visited

six or seven vineyards, from Katrine to

Mount Baker, and from Avondale to

Mahogany Creek. These I saw and

their produce I drank. The wine of

the district, then, is what an English

man would call Burgundy — white or

red. Nearly all of it is new, and most

of it is nasty, though here and there I

tasted some that, had been carefully

made ; 'and notably at Coorinja, where

they have, in particular, a subtle white

wine, which may some day win the re

gard of persons of better palates than

are yet known in Western Australia.

But the point, for the present, is this :

that, new or old, sound or villainous, the

wine sells. Not an octave has, as yet,

been exported from the colony, nor is

likely to be, for many years. The local

demand for it is arrowing faster than

the vinaiTcan be planted — or taster, at

may-rate, than they are being planted;

and the manager of one of the largest

vineyards assured me tliat, throughout

the district, their whole stock was al

ways sold within six mouths of the

vintage, and tit live shillings a gallon.

Now, in the first place, the population

of Western Australia is growing, as

all the world knows, by leaps and

bounds; and, in the second place, in

1892 the 12] 8 pcres of vineyard then

planted in the colony, gave accord

ing to the Government Yetr Book,

132 gallons of wine to the acre, or

-aa may easily be calculated) £33.

Some years ago, before the average

was lowered by the new plantings at

Toodyay, the returu was nearer £50.

The land, the best of it, may be had

from the Government at ten shillings

or a pound the acre ; or you may take

your pick of private territory for (say)

£2. - To clear and bring an acre into

bearing may cost you perhaps JE20, and

fche full returns begin in the sixth year.

On the whole, then, there is no better

investment open to the Englishman of

small capital ; and it is, moreover, the

worst folly for him to pay large sums

for the vineyards in California, when

here w land, in the most rising commu

nity in the world, to be had still for the

asking.and a ready-made market to boot.

Here is no question of ' creepers ;' nor

of new-chum investors to be plundered.

The land is to be had at first cost, and

(practically) at no cost at all, from the

Government: and at present — till in

fact the market begins to be stocked —

every ne-w-comer,of the right sort, will

be welcomed in the wine districts, as

bringing weight, energy, and capital to