Des vins de la région de McLaren Vale, production petit de James Hook
1
Memory Lane…
MCLARENVALE. 1870’S.
JAMES HOOK
-IMAGINES ATIME FORTYYEARSBEFORE THEFIRSTMOTORCAR.SIXTY YEARSBEFORE THETRAIN CAMETO TOWN.VINEEXPORTSAREFALLING.SOUTHAUSTRALIAIS IN ADEPRESSION.THE REGIONS TWO OLDEST WINEMAKERS HAVE JUSTDIED AND THE HIGHEST PROFILE WINEMAKER ANDVITICULTURALIST WAS ABOUT TO GO BANKRUPT.
1875. It was the days before easy transport when people rode everywhere onhorseback or by trap. Goods came by bullock train from Adelaide, via the horseshoeat Noarlunga, down a road they called Stump Hill. The trees were too large to digout so, they tried to use explosives. The fuses were bad and they cut the stumps 3foot above the ground. They were named Hawker’s stumps, after the well knownaide de camp to Governor Gawler. Hawker was a hard working man and in truth itwas not his fault the fuses got wet. When he was doing his work it was 1839 andthe colony was ramshackle at best.By 1875 though, at the base of the hills, small villages and farmlets were ringedaround the twin towns of
Bellevue
and
Gloucester.
Some of the residentsremembered the region was surveyed by the 1839 survey party.The survey team led by John McLaren and included Mr Hawker. McLaren wasappointed as Senior Surveyor was given the task of surveying the southern districtsof Adelaide. He was the only man in his party with a horse and Mr Hawker walked.That’s how the fuses got wet, as he battled to clear a cut track that became the firstroad from Adelaide to Victor Harbor.Surveyor McLaren divided up thesouth of Adelaide into three districts- B, C and D to be released to thesettlers in stages. Section C includedall the land south of the OnkaparingaRiver to Willunga Hill and wasreleased from 1840.He called the wide valley that hecame to south of the Onkaparinga –the McLaren Vale, meaning theMcLaren Vale.Did he name the valley after himself?Or was it named after DavidMcLaren, who was appointed as thehead of the South Australia Companyin the Motherland at the time?McLaren Wharf at Port Adelaide wasnamed after Mr David McLaren.David McLaren was in a way the headof a company that employed JohnMcLaren to do his work.
June 2009
www.lazyballerina.com
Des vins de la région de McLaren Vale, production petit de James Hook
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By 1875 no one was sure who the valley was named after. It had become forgottenhistory and it seemed it did not matter who the valley honoured.In the 19
th
Century McLaren Vale was rarely seen on maps and addresses. Insteadthere were two towns,
Bellevue
and
Gloucester
, sitting three miles apart on theroad from Adelaide to Victor Harbor. Each had its own unique character and wasthought of as independent.
Gloucester
, was a triangle of houses between the
Salopean Inn
and
Kangarilla
road,established in 1851 and
Bellevue
, was located where
The Barn
and
Limeburners
stand, established in 1854.
Gloucester
was settled first. In 1841 two of the earliest settlers were Devonshirefarmers,
William Colton
and
Charles Hewitt
. The farmers bought workmen withthem and established neighbouring farms,
Daringa
and
Oxenberry Farm
.Daringa was named for the Kaurna name, meaning swampy place.
Oxenberry
reminded the Hewitt’s of their homeland. These farms were the nucleus for
Gloucester
which was proclaimed a town ten years after the first farms.There were other pioneers.
William
and
Elizabeth Oliver
traveled to South Australiafrom Scotland and settled in 1841. They called their lower farm
Taranga
, fromTaranga or Tarangk, a native word, meaning middle place.You can imagine this slight coupleweaving up a dirt track, with a horseand cart towing a scraped togethercollection of farming tools. Thehusband turns to his wife and says,‘
We will farm here, this is good ground.’
Maybe she rolled her eyesat him.She might have had good reason, lifewas hard, in those days the McLarenVale was a wild place with huge gumtrees and thick wattle scrub. Thetrees went for wood, the wattle cutown for bark and oil.As land was cleared and sliced out onsurvey maps, small hamlets sprangup as short ride from the main towns-
Landcross Farm, Tatachilla
oftenwritten as
Tortachilla, Bethany,McLaren Flat, Hillside, Beltunga
and
Seaview
. These housed settlers,farmers, smiths, school teachers,preachers and the odd winemaker.
Des vins de la région de McLaren Vale, production petit de James Hook
3
Thomas Coulton,
the second son of Gloucester pioneer William, set up house withhis English bride, in the region’s grandest estate. It was exactly half way between
Gloucester
and
Bellevue
. He called it
Sylvan Park.
During the 1860’s and 70’s heacted as the communities leader, and counselor.Further north
Richard Bell
had played at housing development. He built pugcottages with thatched roofs. His town he named
Bellevue
after himself. Thefeature buildings of his town were the
Barn
and
Limeburners Cottage
. He built ahotel in 1857 and named it the
Clifton
in honour of his wife, Ellen Bell nee Clift. Henamed a street after her,
EllenStreet
.Further to the south was
Willunga
,the districts thriving centre, with itsrich slate mining industry. The plainsgrew wheat, shipped out from
Port Willunga
. Fortunes were won andlost.In 1875 the fledgling wine industrywas lead by names like
Manning,Kelly, Reynell,
and some young punk
Hardy
having finished hisapprenticeship in the
Reynella
cellartwenty years before, and mined forgold in Victoria had set up his owndream vineyard on the banks of theRiver Torrens.Thomas Hardy had gained areputation as an ace wine marketer, but in all other ways the wine industry was notgoing well. The state was in a tough recession. Domestic sales were plummeting.Exports were a struggle. Dr A C Kelly was the Colonies gun viticulturalist. His firstbook,
The Vine in Australia
(1861) was an esteemed text, so well regarded anothernew Australian vine expert, the
Reverend Bleasdale
, owned a copy and kept notesin the margins.Kelly had spend his life studying vines and in his book displayed a deepunderstanding of making composts, recycling waste and caring for the environment.Despite of his knowledge, and the backing of many prominent Adelaidean’s likeCharles Kingston, Kelly’s wine venture was not going well.He had his first try at planting vines in 1842 at
Morphett Vale
, too far from transportand at 12 acres too small to make itself pay. His second venture, planting a vineyardat
Tintara
and forming a wine company lasted barely twenty years.Kelly was not alone. During the 1860’s the McLaren Valleys oldest winery,
HopeFarm
owned by
George Manning
had a cellar full of wine he couldn’t sell. He keptstockpiling wine.It was only the young punk
Thomas Hardy
with his gold field money and his knackfor marketing in the UK that kept the industry going. First he brought out half George Manning’s wine stocks, saving
Hope Farm
, then after the crash of 1870’sbrought out the bankrupt
Tintara
from Kelly’s creditors.
Thomas Hardy
then went on to move operations to the Flour Mill in the main streetof
Bellevue.
He called it
Tintara Cellars.
With success he brought up nearlyeverything in Bellevue including theformer
Clifton Hotel
, now the
BelleVue
. He used the pub as his headquarters.In many ways he became MrBellevue, as he visited from hisAdelaide operations every week.The story of Hardy is wellremembered due to his success andthe powerful company heestablished,
Thomas Hardy and Sons
.Dr Kelly is still noted in the winehistory books. He is credited as apioneer but he did not have the salesskills to survive the downturn in thewine industry.
1895. TWENTY YEARSLATER HISTORY WASALREADY BEINGFORGOTTEN AS THE FIRSTGENERATION OF PIONEERSPASSED AWAY. BUTHISTORY CAN’T ALWAYSHIDE, SCRATCH BELOWTHE SURFACE AND YOUCAN SEE THE OLD NAMESLIVING ON. THEY FINDWAYS OF LIVING ON LIKEECHOS.
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