Apples and pears, peaches and cherries, the fruits of human labour and the fruits for which Doncaster was renowned. For .100 years, the Doncaster and Templestowe district was a major fruit-growing area. The first orchards were planted in the 1850’s and by 1880, geometric patterns of fruit trees could be seen across the hills and valleys of the district. In the 1950’s orchards were being subdivided for housing and by 1980 red tile roofs had taken the place of green fruit trees. From small clearings in the bush, orchards spread across the land until the first years of the 1900’s. Doncaster and Templestowe had developed a characteristic appearance. Straight lines of pine trees planted as wind breaks bordered the blocks of orchard trees and in the corners, dams, like jewels, dotted the countryside.
The families who produced fruit from this land, lived on in the district. Sons and grandsons carried on the family tradition. Sometimes five generations worked the same orchard, for life on an orchard had an appeal to the men who spent their days working among the rows of trees. There was a yearly rhythm.
In spring, blossom coated the bare branches, turning the landscape into a mass of colour. As the blossom fell, it was replaced with rich green foliage, and from the blooms, tiny fruit emerged to develop and ripen into luscious fruit. In autumn, the leaves changed to warm colours and slowly fell away, leaving bare limbs once more. As the seasons changed, the men found a satisfying routine of work, spraying, ploughing, picking, packing and pruning.
The first settlers to grow fruit in this district came from a variety of places with varied experience. Some had been farmers in England or Germany, but for others farming was a new venture. Those who had come from farms in their homeland, found they had to face different conditions. The Australian land and its climate differed vastly from the conditions of their homeland.
Until the early seventeenth century, orchards had only existed as adjuncts to monasteries or convents. Then Lord Scudamore introduced commercial orchards at his farms in Herefordshire. Apples were the main fruit, for cider making was an important industry; then came pears, plums for tarts or wine, cherries, filbert, walnut, chestnut and elder.
In England in the nineteenth century, apple trees were grown in pasture with trunks 6 feet high so that cattle could graze under the branches. If the land was ploughed, then 6 feet around trees was left to avoid cuttings roots. The trees were spaced up to 30 feet apart, or if the soil was poor, 40 feet. Pruning was considered essential, but ideas varied. Some cut the points and trimmed the external branches, to render them pervious to light, so that the internal parts of the tree should not be shaded out. The alternate view was to keep the centre of the tree open. Diseases they faced were canker, gum, mildew and blight. Mildew was treated by spreading sulphur over the infected parts. For blight and caterpillar, rotten wood and straw was burnt on the windward side of the tree. Stems and branches of orchard trees were washed with a mixture of fresh cow dung, wine and soapsuds.
Fruit had been grown in Victoria for twenty years before Doncaster and Templestowe orchards were planted. Henty grew fruit soon after his arrival in 1834 and John Batman brought pips and stones from Tasmania to plant in Melbourne. In 1848, Crossman planted an orchard in Box Hill and in 1852, Tom Beavis purchased land, with established fruit trees from Arundel Wright.
The demand for fruit trees was filled by nurserymen who imported stock and propagated seedlings. One of these, James Read, had come from Bedfordshire, where he specialised in growing fruit trees. When Read came to Melbourne, he established a market garden and fruit tree nursery in Collingwood. In 1854, he purchased land in Strip Road (now Church Road) Templestowe which he cleared and planted as the first orchard in the district.
Gottlieb Thiele, a tailor in Bourke Street, was advised by his doctor to live in the open air. Thiele purchased twenty acres on Ruffey Creek in Bismarck Street (now Victoria Street) in 1853. Gottlieb farmed his land and planted fruit trees. Further north the Serpell family bought forty acres. The Serpells came from Cornwall, but the father returned to England where he was killed in an accident. Mrs. Serpell with her four sons and daughter lived in Glenferrie while they cleared the land and built a hut in the Highlands (now the East Doncaster area). In 1858, they planted 118 fruit trees, 112 vines, 59 currants and 66 gooseberries.
Another settler who was new to farming was Thomas Petty. He had been a weaver at Bradford, England. In 1853, Petty settled at Doncaster on the south side of Doncaster Road. He established a farm and planted a few fruit trees.
George Hislop, an early settler in Port Phillip, was an artisan with ability in many spheres. He had acted as secretary to the Governor in Van Diemans Land and in Doncaster made bricks while waiting for his orchard to come into bearing. Hislop bought land from Burnley at the corner of Wetherby Road.
Among those with experience on the land were John Whitten from Ireland and John Clay who had worked on a farm in Devonshire. August Aumann, Carl Hanke and Gottfried Uebergang came from Germany with Gottlieb Thiele. They helped form a German community called Waldau (which means ‘clearing in the forest’) in the 1850’s. These men had knowledge of farming, for Germany led the world in agricultural research and education at that time.
The pioneers came to a difficult land, heavily timbered and with hard rocky soil. As the land was cleared, the timber, box, messmate, stringybark and white gum, was cut and sold for firewood. Wood carting became an industry that lasted for many years.
Most settlers came to the district to be farmers, but a few came to grow fruit. They recognised the undulating land with its good clay base as land where fruit grew well in England. Fruit trees took several years to bear fruit and until then the farmers had to make a living.
Beans, peas, cabbages, turnips and berries were planted. On some farms, wheat, potatoes and grape vines were tried. The soil was too heavy and shallow for vegetables, but berries and vines were a success. For some years, raspberries, gooseberries and strawberries were a staple crop, but by 1860, fruit trees were being planted in larger numbers and there were some 50 acres of young orchards.
Source: The Orchards Of Doncaster And Templestowe By Irvine Green Published By Doncaster-Templestowe Historical Society 1985 - Original Scan.
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