W. S. Williams - Orchardist
In 1853, a nineteen year old boy, from South Wales, stepped ashore in Melbourne with only one shilling and sixpence in his pocket. The boy, William Sydney Williams, soon established himself in his new country for he was hardworking and resourceful. In a few years, he had 200 acres of land between Leeds Street and Wetherby Road in Doncaster.
William with his father John, first built a bark hut and cleared land to plant fruit trees and soon had thirty-five acres under cultivation.
Across Koonung Creek was the land of Thomas Toogood, a pioneer of the Box Hill district. The Toogoods were also members of the Doncaster community, for they owned land in Doncaster Road.
William married Anne, the eldest daughter of Thomas Toogood. They built a house on the west side of Leeeds Street. The main section of the house had a double ridge roof with a gutter in the centre and a verandah around the front and sides. At the rear a skillion roof section covered the full width of the house and the verandahs, a typical design in the early years of Doncaster but now William’s house is the only house of this type to still exist.
In 1870, a world wide interest in education and culture reached Doncaster. Williams was among a group of local men, leaders of the community, who planned to build an Athenaeum Hall in Doncaster and they elected him to the building committee.
His interest in education grew and and he took part in having a school built at East Doncaster. When this school, The Deep Creek School (later to become East Doncaster School) was opened, the school council elected W.S.Williams as correspondant to the Education Department.
His interest in public life grew and he was elected to the Shire of Bulleen in 1884.
All this experience gave Williams the ability to lecture and write on fruit growing. He had been the first to grow citrus trees in Doncaster experimenting on methods of cultivation and shared his knowledge with other growers. Williams soon gained a reputation and was asked to go to Mildura to give a talk on his methods to citrus growers there. Also, he was invited to judge the fruit section at the Brisbane Show.
Williams had considerable skill as an engineer. His dam in the valley between Leeds Street and Wetherby Road was the largest in the district, covering over two acres. The excavation was carried out mainly by bullock teams dragging two wheel scoops, but many local men came to help.
Whenever an orchardist was carrying oib a project such as a dam other men would drop in to help, bringing their own horses and scoops. It was said that everyone in Doncaster helped build William’s dam. It was a big job and they wanted to be in it.
The dam was the basis for an irrigation system. Water was pumped by steam engine to a hilltop dam at the Wetherby Road hill, from there Williams laid pipes to syphon water dawn the valley and up the other side to the Leeds Street hill to fill another dam. From these hilltop dams’ pipes reticulated water to cover the whole orchard.
When the system started working people were amazed that water would flow uphill in the syphon. Another of his accomplishments was a pump he designed that sprayed a mixture of water and kerosene for treating lemon trees.
During the 1880s, the weekly magazine "Leader" offered a cup for the best "Fruit Garden in the in the Melbourne District". (Last century orchards were always called gardens and orchardists were called gardeners or fruit growers.
The first to win the cup in 1883 was W.S.Williams. It was said that to win the cup, there could not be one weed in the garden, and every tree had to be in perfect condition.
Williams life centred on fruit and growing fruit. Wherever he went Williams stopped to look at orchards, fruit exchanges or just fruit. He was a good judge and would always give an honest opinion. However, when it came to his fellow Dosicaster growers, a bit of local jealousy crept in. Once when in Brisbane he saw a consignment of apples from a neighbours' orchard, he contemptuously dismissed them as being the size of marbles.
In 1909 his wife Anne had been suffering from an illness, so they sailed up the coast to Brisbane to escape the cold of a Melbourne winter. They purchased a beach front house at Manly, a suburb just south of Brisbane as a winter holiday home. Then every year, often with other members of the family, the Williams lived in Queensland during the cold winter months.
In 1911, while at Manly, Anne Williams died. Then Williams health deteriorated and the year after his wife’s death, W.S.Williams died at the age of 78.
The eldest son, W.S. Williams junior, was one of the pioneers who opened up the Park Orchards area. He cleared virgin bush land south of Petty’s Orchards and planter large orchard called Berringa Park. Williams Road North Ringwood is named after him. The other son John, continued on the orchard, he lived the other side of the Doncaster orchard, on Wetherby Road.
Williams’ daughter Alice married a dentist, William Zelius. They lived in the old house in Leeds Street. William practiced during the time when there was no electricity using a foot pedal to work his drill and often operated by candle light.
The orchard continued to flourish under the care of the Gedye family until it was subdivided in the 1950s. Now the one time orchard homestead remains in a street of suburban houses. Some changes have been made to the building, the roof shingles are hidden by corrugated iron and a verandah has been built in and the house has modern windows.
Source: Irvine Green writing in 1997 03 DTHS Newsletter
Images needed:
Williams had considerable skill as an engineer. His dam in the valley between Leeds Street and Wetherby Road was the largest in the district, covering over two acres. The excavation was carried out mainly by bullock teams dragging two wheel scoops, but many local men came to help.
Whenever an orchardist was carrying oib a project such as a dam other men would drop in to help, bringing their own horses and scoops. It was said that everyone in Doncaster helped build William’s dam. It was a big job and they wanted to be in it.
The dam was the basis for an irrigation system. Water was pumped by steam engine to a hilltop dam at the Wetherby Road hill, from there Williams laid pipes to syphon water dawn the valley and up the other side to the Leeds Street hill to fill another dam. From these hilltop dams’ pipes reticulated water to cover the whole orchard.
When the system started working people were amazed that water would flow uphill in the syphon. Another of his accomplishments was a pump he designed that sprayed a mixture of water and kerosene for treating lemon trees.
During the 1880s, the weekly magazine "Leader" offered a cup for the best "Fruit Garden in the in the Melbourne District". (Last century orchards were always called gardens and orchardists were called gardeners or fruit growers.
The first to win the cup in 1883 was W.S.Williams. It was said that to win the cup, there could not be one weed in the garden, and every tree had to be in perfect condition.
Williams life centred on fruit and growing fruit. Wherever he went Williams stopped to look at orchards, fruit exchanges or just fruit. He was a good judge and would always give an honest opinion. However, when it came to his fellow Dosicaster growers, a bit of local jealousy crept in. Once when in Brisbane he saw a consignment of apples from a neighbours' orchard, he contemptuously dismissed them as being the size of marbles.
In 1909 his wife Anne had been suffering from an illness, so they sailed up the coast to Brisbane to escape the cold of a Melbourne winter. They purchased a beach front house at Manly, a suburb just south of Brisbane as a winter holiday home. Then every year, often with other members of the family, the Williams lived in Queensland during the cold winter months.
In 1911, while at Manly, Anne Williams died. Then Williams health deteriorated and the year after his wife’s death, W.S.Williams died at the age of 78.
The eldest son, W.S. Williams junior, was one of the pioneers who opened up the Park Orchards area. He cleared virgin bush land south of Petty’s Orchards and planter large orchard called Berringa Park. Williams Road North Ringwood is named after him. The other son John, continued on the orchard, he lived the other side of the Doncaster orchard, on Wetherby Road.
Williams’ daughter Alice married a dentist, William Zelius. They lived in the old house in Leeds Street. William practiced during the time when there was no electricity using a foot pedal to work his drill and often operated by candle light.
The orchard continued to flourish under the care of the Gedye family until it was subdivided in the 1950s. Now the one time orchard homestead remains in a street of suburban houses. Some changes have been made to the building, the roof shingles are hidden by corrugated iron and a verandah has been built in and the house has modern windows.
Source: Irvine Green writing in 1997 03 DTHS Newsletter
Images needed:
- Portrait: WS Williams
- W. S. Williams house in Leeds Street taken in 1970
- Goole Maps picture
- The Gedye Family picking waterlilies on the large dam in 1930,
Problems with Marketing Fruit
In his orchard in Templestowe last century, James Read grew grapes. His vineyard was devastated by the Phyloxora disease but after resting the ground for eight years the disease was eradicated but by that time grapes were being grown in the irrigation areas north of Melbourne. With the warmer climate and plenty of water grapes grown there were larger and better than at Melbourne. On one occasion, Read took a load of his grapes to market but not one was sold. He returned home to Templestowe annoyed and disgusted after getting nothing after all his work. Arriving at his orchard, he leapt off his cart, leaving the horses unattended and, grabbing an axe, he went along his rows of vines chopping off every one. Fred Winter of High Street Templestowe had a similar experience with his peaches. He returned from market after not selling a single case of one variety. His reaction was more spectacular. Fred blew a trumpet to summon all his workers then shouted at them to chop down every the tree of that variety.
Source: 1994 09 DTHS Newsletter from Bill Read's story of his family and Leigh Marion's "Rosina' s Tree"
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