The first Western Australian plantings were made on the Swan River near Perth in 1829, and the first plantings in Queensland were at Stanthorpe in 1859 and at Roma in 1863. The first vineyard in the Barossa Valley in South Australia was planted by Johann Gramp at Jacob’s Creek in 1847. Vineyards rapidly spread to the rest of the Australian colonies – vineyards were planted in the Yarra Valley in Victoria in 1830 and Adelaide in 1837. There are also varieties from older collections with obviously local names which remain to be identified. Other varieties since found and identified were Fer, Gamay, Gueche and Pougnet, and about 20 more varieties have been distinguished but not yet identified. Among the minor varieties, the discovery of surviving vines of Bourboulenc, Piquepoul Noir, Tocai Friulano and Troyen was of great interest. From the localities in which they have been subsequently found, it seems very likely that there are vines of varieties such as Crouchen, Chenin Blanc and Ondenc, as well as better known varieties such as Semillon, Riesling, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon which can be traced back to Busby (even though the major plantings of some of these varieties may have come from other sources). While the original collection and those established from it have been lost, more of the varieties have survived in Australia than is generally realised. Unfortunately, this collection was removed in 1857 – but not before cuttings had been distributed to Camden, the Hunter Valley and the Adelaide Botanic Gardens from where they spread throughout South Australia. ![]() It is clear from the catalogue of the collection put out by the Sydney Botanic Gardens in 1842 that some of the varieties may also have been confused, for example, Semillon is described as a black grape and Malbec as a white. At this time, varieties were not well characterised and it seems certain that some were repeated in this introduction under more than one name, perhaps many more – the same name may also have been used for more than one variety. He was recorded as having collected 433 varieties from the Botanic Gardens in Montpellier, 110 from the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris, 44 from Sion House near Kew Gardens in England and 91 from other parts of Spain and France. Interest in viticulture in the colony increased rapidly and in 1831 James Busby travelled through Spain and France collecting cuttings of grape varieties for the colony. John Macarthur planted a vineyard at Camden Park in 1820 and by 1827 produced a vintage of 90 000 litres. A subsequent parcel of wine was awarded a gold medal in 1827. Wine from this vineyard was sent to London in 1822, where it was awarded a silver medal. Blaxland planted a vineyard at Parramatta with vines introduced from the Cape of Good Hope. They had little success in controlling a major outbreak of ‘blight’ and were subsequently sent home (Gregory 1988). Unfortunately there was very little knowledge of grapegrowing amongst the convicts and soldiers and in 1801 the Duke of Norfolk sent out two Frenchmen, Landrier and de Riveau, who had been prisoners-of-war held at Portsmouth. ![]() ![]() In 1791 Governor Phillip established the first vineyard when he planted 1.2 ha of vines at Parramatta. Grape cuttings and seeds were collected in Rio de Janiero and from the Cape of Good Hope and planted at Port Jackson in Farm Cove, the site of the present Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens. Grapevines were brought to Australia with the first fleet in 1788.
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